Should lawyer fees be 50%?

[OhZyeah]

Just reached a settlement with the insurance company. They offered 10K for stres and punitive damages per person. Our lawyer took 50% of the settlement. Is that a fair percentage?

So we each got 5K (three of us, 10K settlemnt each), and the lawyer got 50% of each of our settlement (5K x 3 = 15K)

Did we get screwed by our lawyer?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

A little late to ask?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Oh, can you explain why this settlement occured and what for?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: OhZyeah
Just reached a settlement with the insurance company. They offered 10K for stres and punitive damages per person. Our lawyer took 50% of the settlement. Is that a fair percentage?

So we each got 5K (three of us, 10K settlemnt each), and the lawyer got 50% of each of our settlement (5K x 3 = 15K)

Did we get screwed by our lawyer?

yeap sure did.

We sued the insurance agency when i was hit by a car a few years ago. the agreement was %25 if we settled out of court and %35 if we went to court.

Talked to a few lawyers around here and they were all the same.

 

[OhZyeah]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Oh, can you explain why this settlement occured and what for?

Some druck ran into us on the freeway head first. He was going against traffic. We sued him but he wasnot insured on his car....so then we looked to my friend's insurance (he has an uninsured motors policy) for settlement. They offered 10K each and we took it.
But lawyer fees were 50% per person, so we each ended up getting only 5K.

 

[dullard]

You should have come to this agreement BEFORE going forward with that lawyer. You generally have two options:
1) Pay the lawyer an hourly rate. If it is a short battle that you win, you come out big. If you lose or if the battle is long, you lose big.
2) Pay the lawyer a percent of the ruling. Typically this percentage is about 33%. My parents just went through this and negotiated a lawyer down to 25%. I've heard 40% thrown out as well. 50% is very high.

Sounds like you didn't shop around for lawyers.

 

[kranky]

What did they offer you before you got a lawyer involved?

 

[dman]

Another you got screwed, but, it's your fault for not shopping around response.

My sister was in an auto accident (passenger). Got banged up.

Lawyer agreed to 30% if not trial and 35% if trial (might be +/- a few percent on the no trial). There were some fixed fees but they were clear.

 

[Kelvrick]

Usually 30-35%. You got hosed unless he was some bigshot lawyer.

 

[AlienCraft]

YES! Typical fees are 30 -35 %

 

[Frenchie]

For a personal injury case, 1/3 is typical. Many attorneys will use a sliding scale, lower if it settles early, higher if it settles after trial. 50% is not unheard of, but it is high. Especially if you were able to settle without a trial. I would discuss with him the issue of his dropping the rate down to 1/3. Also, the rules of professional conduct in many states require that an attorney have a written fee agreement with a client prior to handling a case. Both the 50% and failure to have a fee agreement may be violations of the attorneys professional (ethical) requirements. Check with the local bar association or lawyer referral service. Many will have a fee dispute committe that can halp mediate the matter for you.