Two numbers really determine how much of a $25,000.00 settlement you will get: 1) the fee the lawyer is charging and 2) your total medical expenses. If the lawyer is charging 45% you are going to get less. If your medical expenses are high you will likely get less. On average a client gets between $7,000.00 and $16,000.00 of a personal injury settlement of $25,000.00.
Keep in mind: some lawyers settle cases that are worth $50,000.00 for $25,000.00. Other lawyers resolve $15,000.00 cases for $25,000.00. Picking the right lawyer the first time around makes all the difference on a case. This is really the question you should be asking yourself in my humble opinion.
Different Lawyers Charge Different Rates
I get in hot water with Personal Injury Lawyer Groups when I post and blog about the fact lawyers working on car crash cases don’t need to be charging 45% for pre-litigation work. You are basically paying for your lawyers advertising budget if you are paying 45% for cases we work on every single day with nothing specialized. On the other hand some lawyers charge 25% which I gives them too much of an incentive to churn and burn a case. 25% is great… but if the total settlement or verdict is less because the lawyer is less invested it results in less money for the client (see above). At Dettman Law my pre-litigation rate is 33.3 of the recovery. The math looks like this:
Example 1: $25,000.00 times a 45% lawyer fee you pay: $11,250
Example 2: $25,000.00 times a 33.3% lawyer fee you pay: $8,325.00
Example 3: $25,000.00 times a 25% laywer fee you pay: $6,250.00
Take whatever number the lawyer is charging and then take that off of the settlement.
Your Medical Expenses Are Deducted
Say you have insurance on your car and only $8,000.00 in medical care. If that is the case your own insurance will pay the $8,000.00 in expenses and you will not owe any money from the settlement. However, lets say you have $15,000.00 in total medical expenses. Normally your own insurance pays the first $10,000.00 of medicals. This leaves you with $5,000.00 in outstandings. Sometimes this number is negotiable by your lawyer with the providers. If the number is not negotiable you take out $5,000.00. If the number is negotiable then you minus the amount the providers agree to take as full and final for the medical expenses incurred.
Lets do an example with $12,500.00 in total medical expenses and a $25,000.00 settlement exclusive of PIP with a 33.3% lawyer fee.
$25,000.00 minus $8325.00 minus $2,500.00 (12.5K minus 10K PIP) the client would pocket 14,175. This assumes the lawyer is not charging an arm and a leg for legal costs. I’ve seen $600.00 on simple cases charged to the client for costs that I belive are aggressvie.
You should ask a lawyer about costs before you hire them. Don’t agree to pay for nonsense costs.
There are tons of factors to consider before hiring a personal injury lawyer. What you get out of a settlement is a nice starting place, but the real analysis is how good is the lawyer.
12 Years Ago. Time flies.
email me at bdettman@dettmanlawgroup.com for a free consultation.
