It depends on the lawsuit, and every one is different.
I don’t speak for all lawyers – the contracts they have with their clients are all a little different. But here is how my representation agreements typically work. And I think they work this way for most lawyers.
My attorney fee is usually one third (33 1/3 %) of the total that the insurance company pays to settle the case. (More if there is an appeal, but that hardly ever happens. Nearly all cases settle.)
I also get back money that I spend on the case (expenses) to help get you your money. “Expenses” includes, for instance, the cost of getting copies of medical records, making copies of the records and sending them to the insurance company, the fee your doctor will charge me for preparing a report, and filing fees for the lawsuit at the courthouse (to make the insurance company takes the case seriously, or to meet a filing deadline). It also includes any other payment that must be made to present your lawsuit.
But more has to be taken out. When your health insurance company pays your doctor or your hospital’s bills, the health insurer is entitled to be reimbursed out of the damages you recover.
The health insurer doesn’t always have the right to be paid before the money gets to you – but it almost always have the right to sue you after you receive the money. This is called subrogation. Medicare and Medicaid have this same right.
So the formula is simple:
MONEY RECEIVED
(minus) (ATTORNEY FEE)
(minus) (FORWARDED EXPENSES)
(minus) (HEALTH INSURANCE PAYMENTS)
equals WHAT YOU GET TO KEEP
Here are examples of how this has worked for some of my clients recently:
In the first lawsuit my client, an elderly man, suffered serious injuries:
Settlement paid by insurance company………….….$500,000.00
Less: Attorney Fees………………………………..($166,666.66)
Less: Expenses(estimated):………………………….($22,000.00)
Less: Subrogation Interest payable to
Health Insurance ………………………………..….($18,000.00)
PAYABLE TO: Clients…………………..……… $293,333.33
In the second lawsuit a woman in her 60’s, was rearended, and was treated for back strain:
Negotiated Settlement ………….…………………………$24,000.00
Less: Attorney Fees …………………………………………….($8,000.00)
Less: Expenses paid by attorney………………………..…..($193.88)
Less: Subrogation Interests of Health Care Insurers And Medicare………………………………………………($6,787.93)
PAYABLE TO: Client: ……………………………………$9,018.81
In a lawsuit against a local sheriff’s office for excessive force in detaining an inmate:
Net Recovery paid by County ………….…………….…..$35,000.00
Less: AttorneyFee…………………….……………………($11,666.66)
Less: Costs Advanced Payable as follows: …………..….($2,320.15)
Payable to Client………………… ………………………$21,013.19
Obviously, these lawsuits were very different.
In the first one, the health insurance company did not pay a lot of the medical bills – for some reason they were written off, and nobody had to pay them – so it wasn’t asking for much money. There were a lot of expenses because I paid an independent doctor to examine my client, and we hired a videographer to prepare an independent video presentation. We also hired a retired state trooper to reconstruct the accident.
As you can see, the extra money spent on expenses was worth it.
In the second, I didn’t have to spend much money on expenses; the lawsuit came to me late, and the insurance company had already paid for getting copies of the records, which is usually the biggest expense in cases that settle before trial.
In the third, the client had less than $700 in medical bills – but we had to file suit, and take the depositions of all the deputies who tased her, to get the county to pay.
Like most lawyers, I try to do everything to make sure you keep as much as you can. This might include getting your health insurance company to accept less. Or minimizing the out of pocket expenses. Or – most obviously – getting the other driver’s insurance to pay more.
I have been a lawyer over 30 years. It’s important to focus not only on the amount that the other person’s insurance company has to pay, but on the amount you walk away with. Ifyou want to know how much cash you will get to keep at the end of your lawsuit, talk with an experienced Cincinnati Injury Lawyer. Call me, William Strubbe, at 513-621-4775.
Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed.
Please forgive the formatting on the settlement examples in this entry – I did it myself. But I think the tables are pretty easy to follow, and I think it’s important for you to see where the money winds up in lawsuits.
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