How Much Will It Cost To Prosecute My Personal Injury Case?

A personal injury case is one in which the victim suffered an injury because of the negligent behavior of another party. Normally, the way that these cases go is that the attorney for the victim files a personal injury claim against the insurance company of the at-fault party. In most cases, the insurance company will accept the settlement offer or negotiate a reasonable counteroffer. However, there are some cases where the insurance company will refuse the settlement offer or make an offer that is too low to take care of the victim’s expenses. When that happens, the victim has no choice but to sue the at-fault party.

It is rare for personal injury cases to end in a lawsuit since most of them are resolved before that becomes necessary; however, there are cases where a lawsuit is the only remaining choice. No matter where a personal injury case takes you, lawyers like J. Hipskind and B. McAninch recommend that you retain a personal injury attorney to help you. That is because an attorney is helpful whether or not a lawsuit becomes necessary.

The Costs of a Lawsuit

Lawsuits are rare and discouraged in personal injury cases because they can be expensive and time-consuming. That is because there are many different kinds of expenses to worry about.

Lawyer Fees

In personal injury cases, the lawyer for the plaintiff— the person who was injured— will work on contingency. That means they do not get paid unless they win the case, in which case they receive a percentage of the plaintiff’s settlement. That percentage is usually 33% but it goes up to about 40% if the case ends up going to trial. However, few personal injury cases end up going to trial so that outcome is unlikely.

Expert Witness Fees

If a case goes to trial, then there will need to be expert witnesses to testify on behalf of the plaintiff. The types of experts depend on the type of case and could include anyone from medical experts, accident reconstruction experts, engineers, and more. The services of some of these experts can cost up to thousands of dollars.

Administrative Fees

There are a lot of documents involved in a court case such as depositions and medical reports. There are also transcription, copying, and delivery costs for those documents. Those costs add up over the course of a trial.

Court Filing Fees

The cost of court fees and filing fees are only a few dollars, but over the length of a trial, those costs can add up to hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.

Other Expenses

There can be other out of pocket expenses as well, such as travel costs, food, lodging, and so on. As with the other minor expenses, the cost of these expenses could add up to a large total the longer the trial continues.

The Complete Cost of a Trial

As you can see, there are a number of variables, mainly the complexity of the case and the length of the trial, that can affect how much the trial costs. That means there is no real average cost of a trial, but a relatively minor trial could cost approximately$15,000, while a more complex case could cost about $30,000 and up. Fortunately, personal injury cases rarely go to trial so those costs are not usually an issue. However, you should make sure to hire a personal injury attorney as soon as possible because they can help you no matter where the case takes you.