Is it common for an attorney to charge 40% PLUS expenses on a case that never went to court (just mediation)?

Also, they have charged us over $22,000 if "office expenses"...in a relatively short amount of time. There are charges on the billing statement (several of them) for a few hundred dollars each that supposedly they were charged by my doctors for getting medical records....does that seem right?

Yes it does. They don't work for free, and neither do doctors.

Sounds about right. Lawyers are expensive. They have to pay to get the medical records, and for all the copies they had to make during the whole case which can add thousands. You can still negotiate the fees to some extent I believe though.

40% is a percent of the settlement. Most lawyers who are taking part of the settlement have that as their entire fee.
You need to read the agreement you signed in hiring this lawyer. Most likely, you signed away all your money, your right to contest his charges, and your first born daughter.

We don't know the details of the case, or your contingency agreement,.

I think 40% is at the high end, but not unheard of.

I don't think the charges for medical records were just to recoup the doctor's fees - they probably also included their in-house expenses.

If you didn't understand or manage the financing of your case - which has cost you nothing until now, then whose fault is that? This took months if not years to play out, right?

general agreement is between 30 and 40%. They should have definitely disclosed the amount upfront. expenses are normal. check with your medical offices to see how much they billed the attorney. depending on the amount of records, the cost could easily be a few hundred dollars. Dr.'s offices just gouge attorneys on copies. often time .40 cents per page. do your homework and be sure you are confortable with the expenses. good luck

Yes. Pay.

doctors records and stuff like that can cost that much. You are paying for the physical copies plus the time it takes to retrieve the file, copy all the stuff and send it out, so that's pretty normal.

In a contingency agreement you are always paying a percent PLUS expenses.

Personally, 40% seems a bit high,especially because it never went to court.

The norm is about 30% maybe 35% if it goes through a trial. Contingency fees are high for a reason. If you lost, the lawyer would get nothing (although probably could still go after you for expenses) the added risk of spending weeks/months on a file and getting nothing justifies the higher amount charged in the event of a win.

Did you sign a contingency agreement or were you ever sent a letter from the office stating the terms of their contingency? If so, you probably can't do much. If not you should try talking them down to about 30-35%. Certainly can't hurt to ask.

Generally if they took the case on a contingent fee arrangement (they only get paid if they win) they would contract for 33-35% at the outset of the case. If they took it hourly then you agreed to pay them for their time, whatever time that was.

40% is high but not unheard of. $22K for office expenses is ridiculous in a case that never went to trial. Any office that you request copies from can charge you for making the copies. That should be a relatively small charge...somewhere around 10-20 cents per page at most. A few charge more (which is gouging if you ask me). You should call a few of the institutions and find out what they charge per page. Find out how many pages and do the math. If it seems that you were overcharged take your findings immediately to the attorney's office. If they refuse to listen...contact your state's bar association or office of attorney regulation (usually an office of the State Supreme Court). Hope this helps.

Seems a little steep although I do not know the nature of the case. Most attorneys would not get 40 percent unless they filed suit in court. If the mediation was court ordered then litigation was under way and 40 percent would apply but if the mediation was prior to filing suit then max should be a third. I usually give my clients the special deal which is 25 percent before suit and 33.3 percent after suit. I am giving up some present earnings but I am gaining the trust and respect from my clients in their time of need and I am well rewarded with future referrals. I have a small 3 attorney practice so I can be more flexible since I am my own boss but bigger firms are really just machines and rarely make their clients feel special. Good luck and I hope who ever was injured gets back to 100 percent. P.S. Charging for medical record fees is very common place and if there were big injuries then it is likely to generate a lot of paper in way of records which can be expensive to obtain from a hospital or doctor office.

Typically lawayers charge $300 per hour. The charges for the doctor items are because your attorney may have subpeana certian records in which the doctor can request at the time of service that a charge be made. Doctors are just as bad a attorneys.

I worked for attorneys both defense and plaintiff and what they are charging is about right. What you are paying for is their time and understand that they do not normally keep 8 to 5 hours. They can and do work weekends, holidays, evenings. This covers the research they have to do on your case including checking correct legal codes and rules along with defenses for you. Then there is the cost of their assistants who do the paper work. They run to the court, they schedule meetings, the call the dr's to find out the procedures to obtain records from their offices and a thousand other details.

The bills from the doctors offices are about right. Unfortunately in some states there is no set figure for medical records. Some do have set figures where they charge anywhere from .50 a copy to $1.00 a copy then after a certain amount of pages they increase the fee. You are not actually paying for the paper but the time it takes them to pull the file, prepare it for copying, and then copying it. Remember you are helping pay the salary of someone.


I once knew a dr. in Dallas that was granted the right by the courts to charge $5.00 a page for his medical records plus because he could be called to court or mediation or a deposition he was considered an expert so he could charge $250 for him to fill out the affidavit that has to prove up the medical records as being true and correct copies kept in the normal course of business.

So unfortunatly yes all of these charges sound normal. A contingency fee based case can actually be a 50/50 case with you plus the cost of the other documents. Remember they have to pay the mediator too so a portion of that 40% pays other bills associated with your case.

Good luck

40% sounds a bit light. That's a good deal.

Yea, that sounds right. It costs a lot of money for copies of medical records, unfortunately, and if the attorney fronted the money to get them for your case, then you owe them back now. As far as the percentage, go back and look at the contract that you signed when you retained these attorneys. More than likely, there are several numbers listed, one for if they settle the case without a trial (which includes mediating) and other amounts for if they have to go to trial, etc. If you agreed to pay it, then there really isn't anything you can do about it now.