How Contingency Fees Deter Frivolous Car Accident Lawsuits

Many politicians and members of the news media proclaim that there is an “epidemic” of lawsuits in this country. The inference is that attorneys often encourage frivolous lawsuits to make more money, and that those lawsuits are the cause of rising medical and insurance costs, not to mention the logjam of cases flooding our courts. This is simply not true.

The reality is that nearly all personal injury attorneys handle cases based on what’s called a contingency fee agreement, which means that the attorney only gets paid if he or she recovers damages (money) for the client. Houston automobile lawyers working on a contingency basis are careful to assess the merits of each case to determine if the lawsuit is legitimate. Let’s face it, attorneys are unlikely to accept a case that has little or no merit as they would bear the costs associated with the litigation with almost no hope of being paid.

Contingency fee arrangements also produce another benefit – they improve access to our legal system by people with limited funds to participate in litigation they could otherwise ill afford. This particularly applies to medical malpractice claims in which expert witnesses are often called to testify. Under the contingency arrangement, the attorney would bear the substantial cost for the witnesses and be paid only if the verdict is favorable to their client.

Please call us if you have any questions about our fees or how your case will be funded.