Which Cases Do We Accept on Contingency?
Which Cases Do We Accept On Contingency?
Regan Atwood managing partner and attorney Jeff Regan answers the question: Which Cases Do We Accept on Contingency?
We get clients that call us and say, “I don’t want to pay any money. Just take it on a contingency.”
Contingency is a little bit different in business, construction, and real estate litigation cases than in the personal injury field where you generally have an insurance company that would pay. In any contingency fee case we take, you have to be able to collect on the contingent basis cases.
When We Take a Contingency Case
Our cases tend to be on the liability side, substantially more complex, not in all instances, but in most instances. And so it takes a lot more time. So when we take a contingency case, it’s very rarely that we we say, “this is a full contingency.” The contingencies on the personal injury side start at 40% of the recovery.
Other Fee Structures
We’ll often do what we call a split hourly contingent case or a blended case, and we will reduce our hourly rate.
A common thing we will do when we agree to go on a blended fee is that we will charge 20% of the recovery and we will charge 50% of our normal hourly rates.
- Rarely full contingency fee
- Split hourly contingent
- Blended case fee
And so that allows the client to have a lower rate going forward on what they’re paying per hour. And then we try to make up that rate on the back end, by collecting 20% of whatever the recovery is.
Before We Accept Cases:
- Thorough evaluation
- Determine risk tolerance
- Is opponent collectible?
- Financial resources?
Contingency cases are something that we have to evaluate much further and deeper than on an hourly rate coming in.
We have to determine for ourselves what our risk tolerance is in connection with the ability to recover. And that risk tolerance involves not just the ability to win the case on a liability side, but the ability to collect it.
We have to do a little sleuthing to determine that there’s going to be financial resources to pay a judgment if we take a case on contingency.
Jacksonville, Florida, and Orlando, Florida firm Regan Atwood handles construction law, business litigation, and real estate litigation for clients across the state. Regan Atwood. Experience. Integrity. Results.
