Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

GENERALLY, attorneys handle personal injury, wage and hour, and insurance cases on a contingent fee basis. This means that payment for attorneys’ services is contingent (or dependent) on the final results of the case. Additionally, in a contingent fee arrangement, the attorneys and not the clients, advance the costs of litigation (The costs of litigation will include court filing fees, deposition fees, and fees to experts. These costs can be extremely expensive and may become prohibitive to the average individual.)

Unlike in criminal defense, immigration, or divorce cases, the client does not pay the attorney from out of his or her own pocket. Instead, the client pays the attorney a percentage of the monies recovered in the case. If there is no recovery, the client does not pay any fee.

The contingent fee system gives average persons the opportunity to seek redress when they are seriously injured, or when insurance companies deny them their lawful benefits, or when their employers do not pay them fair wages. This access to justice helps to deter bad corporate or employer behavior. The system levels the playing field between ordinary individuals and big businesses who can afford to pay expensive attorney fees.

Corporate interest groups have criticized the contingent fee system, claiming that it encourages frivolous lawsuits. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Because the attorney will be paid nothing if the client recovers nothing, the attorney must carefully evaluate and turn away frivolous cases, or else the attorney will soon be out of business.

The true reason why such groups oppose the contingency fee system is because they know that most of the people these corporations hurt could not afford to file a lawsuit against them. The fee rates for attorneys can be several hundred dollars per hour. For a typical lawsuit, the client would have to pay thousands of dollars per month in attorney fees. Even for people who could afford to start a lawsuit, if the case drags on and the attorney spends more and more time on the case, the attorney fees and costs will get bigger and bigger. These individuals would then face enormous pressure to settle their case for less than its real value.

Manufacturers that make defective products that injure their customers, insurance companies that treat their insured unfairly, or corporations that discriminate against women or minorities – these entities generally aim to avoid taking financial responsibility for the harm they cause. If seriously injured individuals or unfairly treated employees are unable to assert their rights because they cannot afford to pay an attorney to help them, then those who did them wrong would never be held accountable.

The contingency system provides the average citizen with a ticket to the court house. In this way, consumers, employees, and policyholders can seek remedies for the wrongs done to them and better protect their legal rights.

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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is an experienced trial attorney who has successfully obtained significant results, including several million dollar recoveries for consumers against insurance companies and big business. He is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum—a prestigious group of trial lawyers whose membership is limited to those who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience and excellence in advocacy. He has been featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements for his professional accomplishments and recipient of numerous awards from community and media organizations. His litigation practice concentrates in the following areas: serious personal injuries, wrongful death, insurance claims, unfair business practices, wage and hour (overtime) litigation. You can visit his website at www.joesayaslaw.com or contact his office by telephone at (818) 291-0088.