What Does it Cost to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
After suffering a personal injury, you likely have many questions regarding who is at fault and how to hold them accountable. You may be unfamiliar with the legal process or believe that hiring an attorney is too expensive. You could even think your claim isn’t worth the time and expense it takes to work with a trained legal professional.
However, getting solid advice and guidance is much easier and less costly than you may think. A qualified attorney from Tyroler Leonard provides insight into what it costs to hire a personal injury lawyer and what you can expect when seeking compensation from those who hurt you.
Your Initial Consultation is Often Free
Whether you decide to pursue a claim or lawsuit against the liable parties, you can typically get answers to your questions without cost. Most personal injury law firms understand that potential clients may be unclear about the strength of their claim, so they offer free case reviews. This gives you the chance to get more information, and the attorney can assess whether your case could be successful.
At Tyroler Leonard, we ask about the circumstances surrounding your injury, educate you about your legal options, and answer your questions about what your case could be worth. We also provide an estimate of the services we may need to provide, including hiring any outside services from experts or specialists. Once your consultation is complete, you are under no obligation to hire our firm, but we believe you’ll have more confidence to partner with us for your case.
Several Factors Affect the Cost of Managing Your Personal Injury Claim
Pursuing compensation from at-fault parties involves more than just your attorney’s fees for their services. There are a number of elements that could impact the final cost of filing a personal injury claim. Every case is completely unique, so there may be additional considerations that could affect your final bill.
We make every effort to reduce your costs by negotiating a fair settlement as quickly as possible. Whether we are working with an insurance company for a claim or with opposing counsel during pre-trial proceedings, we know that every day equals more money out of your pocket. However, some cases take more time because of the following factors:
How Much Evidence is Available and How Quickly We Can Gather It
For some personal injury cases, such as motor vehicle accidents, gathering evidence can be fairly easy. Your attorney can collect photos, accident reports, medical records, and auto repair estimates to show what happened and how you were injured. In other circumstances, the information may be more challenging to collect. If your accident involved a tractor-trailer carrying flammable cargo, the resulting fire may destroy much of the evidence.
Our attorneys work with accident reconstruction specialists and other experts to establish a timeline based on available evidence. We also conduct witness interviews and scour social media platforms to pull together everything we can to support your case. This level of research strengthens your case, but it can also add to your fees.
Whether You Are Partly at Fault
In Minnesota, there is a legal doctrine of comparative fault. If you played a part in the incident that led to your personal injury, it could negatively impact your case. Insurance adjusters and defending attorneys will try to push as much blame onto you as they can. This is because it could reduce what they have to pay if you win.
Comparative fault in MN mandates that if you are 50% or more at fault for your injury, you can’t claim any damages from the other party. So, decreasing their client’s fault means the insurer or defendant pays less or even nothing at all. Because your personal injury lawyer will need to prepare arguments against these claims, they must spend more time investigating and developing your case. This can affect your total cost.
How Long Negotiations Take
The personal injury lawyers at Tyroler Leonard are highly skilled negotiators who understand the law and insurance policies. We know the insurance company’s tactics to lower their payouts, but we aggressively push to secure the maximum compensation available for you.
In some instances, insurance companies will offer settlements that are far too low for your needs. We don’t let them get away with that when we feel they could pay more. Although we work to obtain a satisfactory settlement as soon as we can to reduce your costs, sometimes the other side simply holds out. They may think that if they make you wait long enough, you’ll take what you can get.
Your attorney will keep you updated on the offers they receive and advise you on how to proceed. They don’t accept offers on your behalf, but let you guide them. When you are ready to settle, your lawyer will try to get the best settlement we can. The more time it takes, the more it can add to your legal expenses.
Contingency Fees Can Reduce Your Upfront Costs
Many personal injury attorneys will offer contingency fee structures in addition to their free consultations. Contingency is based on taking a portion of your settlement to cover the attorney’s fees. This lets you get the legal representation you need within the Minnesota statute of limitations (usually six years from your injury) without paying a large retainer.
When a lawyer works on contingency, they have incentive to maximize the compensation. Their fees are a percentage of the settlement, so the more they win for you, the higher their paycheck for the case. The percentage is discussed during your initial case review and part of the agreement you sign when the law firm accepts your case. This way, there are no surprises.
Contingency fees cover the following services:
- Legal guidance: This includes the hours your attorney meets with you to discuss your options, provide recommendations for settlement offers, and prepare you and your case for court, if needed.
- Professional representation: This covers the time your lawyer spends negotiating with insurance providers or opposing attorneys. It also includes appearances at hearings or in court.
- Litigation: When your case can’t be settled out of court, your attorney prepares the case for trial and manages the necessary procedures. This includes filing paperwork and motions, along with engaging experts for testimony and preparing exhibits.
Additional Costs for a Trial
Negotiations can break down when the insurer refuses to offer the settlement you need for all your expenses after a personal injury. When this happens, it can be time to go to trial if your attorney feels you have a strong case. If the evidence is compelling enough and it’s clear you are in the right, they may recommend hiring medical experts and other professionals to build your case up even more.
Other costs could include the extra hours of research and travel to obtain evidence. Staff members may need to secure information such as:
- Employee training records
- Maintenance schedule and repair notices
- Driving histories
- Cell phone records
- Photographs and videos from security, traffic, and dashboard cameras
- Event Data Recorder (EDR or “black box”) data.
In addition, there are court fees and filing costs for various forms and motions your lawyer may need to file. Preparing exhibits sometimes involves special printing processes, which could add to your expenses. At Tyroler Leonard, we always reduce costs whenever possible, balancing this concern with providing the most persuasive case possible.
Learn More Today
Contact the personal injury attorneys at Tyroler Leonard to discuss your case for free with no risk and no obligation. Use our online form or call us today.
Attorney Isaac Tyroler
Attorney Isaac Tyroler has been a strong advocate for injured people his entire legal career. He has a passion for righting wrongs, and he deeply cares about representing injured clients who may feel overwhelmed or uncertain about how to navigate the legal system. He is compassionate toward clients and aggressive with insurance companies and defendants. He is on the elected Board of Governors of the Minnesota Association of Justice (MAJ), the top personal injury lawyers’ group in Minnesota. And is currently the chair of MAJ’s legislative committee. [ Attorney Bio ]
