Contingency Fee Lawyers in Vero Beach
Vero Beach, FL
Most people are fortunate to go through life without needing a lawyer. However, if you are in a situation where you need legal representation – such as a car accident or medical malpractice- it can be overwhelming. You might not know how to choose a law firm or how you will pay for their services.
Most personal injury law firms work on a contingency fee basis. This is a special type of fee arrangement where you don’t pay an hourly fee or anything up-front. Instead, you only pay a fee if you recover money through a settlement or verdict at trial. The attorney’s fee will be a percentage of your total recovery and will be deducted from the check issued by the insurance company.
Gould Cooksey Fennell, based in Vero Beach, Florida, represents accident victims throughout Florida’s Treasure Coast and all parts of the State of Florida.. Our experienced personal injury attorneys work hard to help our clients get maximum compensation for their claims. Reach out to our law offices today to schedule a free initial consultation with a member of our legal team.
What Is a Contingency Fee Attorney?
Most personal injury law firms, including Gould Cooksey Fennell, represent clients on a contingency fee basis. This is a unique type of fee arrangement where your lawyer won’t get paid unless you receive a financial recovery.
In the legal industry, there are several different types of fee agreements. The most common are:
- Hourly fee: with an hourly agreement, the lawyer is paid an hourly rate based on the amount of work that they perform on a case. Attorneys typically track their time in 6-minute increments (1/10th of an hour). Typically, the client will pay a retainer and then the law firm will deduct their fees from the retainer. Once the retainer is depleted, the client may either pay another retainer or pay a monthly bill for hours worked.
- Flat fee: a flat fee agreement is used with certain types of legal work that involve a large volume of similar work, such as DUI defense and immigration. The client pays an agreed-upon amount for legal services. Most flat fee agreements include a provision for further fees if more legal work is required (such as filing an appeal).
- Contingency fee: a contingency fee agreement does not require the client to pay anything up-front. Instead, the attorney’s fee is contingent upon the client winning their case through a settlement agreement or verdict at trial. The client pays an agreed-upon percentage of their total recovery – usually between 30 and 40%.
For example, consider a pedestrian accident case where you signed a contingency fee agreement for 30%. If you settle your case for $15,000, then your attorney will deduct $4,500 from the check that they receive from the insurance company.
The contingency fee percentage will be the same no matter how much work your lawyer puts into the case. This type of agreement means that you don’t have to worry that sending an email to your attorney will result in a $500 bill. Their fee will be that same percentage of your recovery, regardless of whether they put 100 or 500 hours into your case.
Contingency fee agreements typically require clients to pay for expenses related to their case. This may include the cost of obtaining medical records, filing fees, investigator fees, expert witness expenses, and deposition costs. The law firm will cover all of these costs as your claim proceeds, keeping track of what they spend. This amount will then be deducted from your settlement to reimburse the law firm.
When you hire a lawyer on a contingency fee, you will only pay for their legal representation if they are successful in getting you compensation for your injuries. If they don’t recover money for you, they will not receive an attorney’s fee or be reimbursed for the expenses they paid on your case.
Advantages of a Contingency Fee Arrangement
If you are hiring a personal injury law firm for the first time, you may be wondering whether a contingency fee agreement is a good idea. It is possible to hire a personal injury lawyer for an hourly fee or another type of fee arrangement. However, there are several advantages to contingency fee agreements – especially for personal injury claims.
First, a contingency fee agreement means that you don’t have to worry about how you are going to afford to hire a lawyer. You won’t have to come up with thousands of dollars for a contingency fee or worry about getting a massive bill at the end of the month. This is especially important when you might already be out of work after an accident and dealing with things like medical bills and lost wages.
Second, hiring a lawyer on a contingency fee basis means that there is no risk to you. You can set up a consultation without any cost or obligation. If your personal injury claim isn’t successful, then you won’t have to pay an attorney’s fee. As a result, you won’t have to worry that you’re wasting your hard-earned money on a case that may be unsuccessful.
At the same time, this reality means that a personal injury attorney probably won’t take on your case unless there is a good chance that it will succeed. Because they only get paid if you do, their incentive is to take on strong claims.
This leads to the third benefit of contingency fee agreements: your interests will be aligned with your attorney’s interests. Both of you want to resolve the case for as much money as possible – and as quickly as possible. Because your lawyer only gets paid when you do – and the amount that they get paid is based on your recovery – their goal is to get the best possible outcome for you.
Finally, contingency fee agreements allow you to level the playing field in a personal injury claim. The at-fault party will be represented by their insurance company – which has its own team of adjusters and lawyers. Their goal is to resolve your case as cheaply as possible. When you have your own legal representation, you have a far better chance of getting a fair settlement.
At Gould Cooksey Fennell, we handle a range of personal injury matters on a contingency fee basis. Our practice includes:
- Bicycle accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Trucking accidents
- Wrongful death claims
- Traumatic brain injury cases
- Premises liability (slip and fall claims)
- Products liability (dangerous and defective products)
- Rideshare accidents
- Distracted driving accidents
If you have been hurt in any type of accident, we are here for you. Reach out today to schedule a free consultation with a Vero Beach contingency fee lawyer.
How Our Law Firm Can Help
Contingency fee agreements make high-quality legal representation accessible to everyone. With a contingency fee, you will pay nothing out of pocket and will only pay a fee if you recover money through a settlement or trial verdict. You won’t have to worry about paying huge lawyer bills, which leaves you to focus on healing.
At Gould Cooksey Fennell, we advocate for accident victims in the Treasure Coast area. We handle all personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. To learn more or to schedule a free consultation with a Vero Beach contingency fee lawyer, call our law offices at 772-231-1100 or fill out our online contact form.
FREE PERSONAL INJURY CONSULTATION
- No Fee Until We Win
- $150M+ in Recent Personal Injury Verdicts & Settlements
- U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms for 10 Consecutive Years
Our firm is here to take that burden off of our clients and handle their claim completely. We will help you get the compensation you deserve.
Notable Medical Malpractice Settlements and Verdicts
A 52 year old man arrived at a hospital ER with a UTI, resulting in negligent, non-emergency intubation that caused the catastrophic anoxic brain injury leading to his death. After a trial involving complex medical and technical issues relating to critical care medicine, infectious disease, hospital administration, and electronic medical record systems, the family obtained a wrongful death settlement of $31.9 million.
Medical Negligence claim arising out of a breach in the standard of care by failing to follow physician’s orders and hospital policies with regard to timely assessments of the Plaintiff and her vital signs; failing to recognize signs of respiratory distress; and failing to follow hospital policies regarding recording and disposal of PCA morphine.
Trial arising from failure to diagnosis colon perforation after a laparoscopic hysterectomy surgery causing permanent injury to the Plaintiff. After a three week trial a Martin County jury rejected the Defendants’ position finding the hospital 70% responsible for Mrs. Moore’s damages and the physician 30% responsible. The award included just over $600,000 for past medical expenses, $370,000 in future medical care, and non-economic damages of almost $2 million.
Gould Cooksey Fennell served as Co-Counsel in a Georgia case involving alleged misdiagnosis/mistreatment of preeclampsia resulting in the death of a 39 year old mother.
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If you’ve been harmed by a health care worker, you deserve amends and compensation. Allow our team at Gould Cooksey Fennell to get you the justice you have a right to. We proudly represent clients in Indian River County, Treasure Coast, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Stuart, FL. We look forward to hearing from you.
Our Personal Injury & Wrongful Death Attorneys
David M. Carter
Brooke W. Odom
Jason L. Odom
Dane R. Ullian
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Recent Personal Injury Verdicts & Settlements
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