How Much Does It Cost to File a Lawsuit in Texas?

05 Aug How Much Does It Cost to File a Lawsuit in Texas?

The cost of filing a lawsuit can vary depending on the jurisdiction as well as the type of lawsuit you’re looking to file. Since our firm is a personal injury law firm, we will discuss the cost of a personal injury lawsuit in Texas.

When many people think about hiring a lawyer, their first thought is cost. Fortunately, with personal injury lawsuits you never have to pay anything up front. The injured victim does not assume any financial risk (no lie!). You literally only pay your attorney if and when your case is won.

All personal injury lawyers offer free telephone consultations, so take advantage of this! Take time to call several personal injury law firms in order to assess which lawyers have relevant experience and enough time to provide your case the attention it deserves.

After you interview several law firms and choose the one you feel best meets your needs, you will sign a “contingency agreement.” A contingency agreement essentially states that you will not owe anything unless your lawyer wins the case for you, and you receive a monetary award. If you do win your case and recover money, all you need to pay is a percentage of that amount to your lawyer instead of the flat fee that is customary in other types of legal cases. The contingency fees in Texas range from 33 percent to 40 percent depending on the individual law firm and whether the case proceeded to trial or was settled out of court.

Repayment of Actual Expenses

While the lawyer’s fees, paralegal time, copies, and similar fees will be part of the percentage the lawyer deducts from your monetary award, you may have to repay some specific expenses the lawyer had to pay up front in order to ensure success in your case. This might include things such as a court filing fee (generally around $200), costs for vehicle storage, and other similar expenses. From a legal standpoint, an attorney is not permitted to include these expenses within the contingency fee as this makes it appear to be a gift and would therefore be unethical.

However, with all this in mind, you need to rest assured that if you hire an attorney to handle your case, your attorney will not incur any of these expenses if unnecessary. Neither you nor your attorney will want to needlessly tie up money.

Dealing with the Insurance Company

Make no mistake about it: if forcing an insurance company to pay you what you are justly due was easy, there wouldn’t be any need for personal injury lawyers. The fact of the matter is that if you’re looking to file a personal injury lawsuit, you NEED an attorney. Work with top-rated New Jersey attorneys for successful legal settlements in New Jersey. If you attempt to negotiate a personal injury settlement without an attorney, you will only hurt your case in case you failed to find pre settlement funding services. What you need to understand is that the insurance company has no reason to fairly negotiate with you. Why? Because you have never won a case against them in court. They are not afriad of you.

Even if the insurance company says that they will take care of your medical bills, you can be sure that when you submit them several months in the future, they will deny your claim. This is standard practice with insurance adjusters. They act friendly and convince you that you can handle this yourself, and by the time you realize you DO need a lawyer, it’s already too late.

Initially, you may not like the idea of paying a percentage of your award to your lawyer, but we at Rasansky Law Firm are on your side and will work hard to get you the largest settlement possible for your injuries. Working on a percentage basis allows you the victim to pursue your claim with no risk, while providing your attorney with an incentive to work hard toward reaching the ultimate goal – a large settlement or trial verdict in your favor.