http://www.727injury.com (727) 381-2300 St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas
The topic of this video is how much of a personal injury settlement should you be receiving. Now I want to use the term you, I'm referring specifically to the client in a personal injury case and with us being lawyers in Saint Petersburg, Florida, we process injury claims day in and day out, and our clients often come to us throughout the course of the case. And their primary question is, well, what? What does it mean for me? What is the net settlement? To me, I understand Mr Mcquade, you're talking about x number of dollars, but what's the net to me? So what I like to do in every single case where there's been, there have been numbers discussed, we produce a settlement sheet and now I don't know if every lawyer does that, but my office does. So we prepare a settlement sheet outline outlining what the offer is and then again, deducting out all of the expenses and showing the net settlement to the client.
Because think about it, at the end of the day, you as the client, you're primarily concerned with, what do I get? What is the check to me? I understand you may have settled for a huge number of dollars, but if I'm not receiving a big proportion of it, what does it really matter? So, uh, I'd like to go through using this video just to sort of discuss where the fees costs and other, uh, itemized expenses come out of a settlement that you need to be prepared for. So right off the top you have attorney's fees out. Uh, if a case goes into litigation, the fee is 40%. If it's settled prior to litigation or lawsuit, it's a third. Now that number is also somewhat flexible. Uh, for example, if I filed a lawsuit and the case has not gone on for years, often I will go back and say to the client, I'll reduce my feedback down to a third in order to maximize the number of dollars.
So again, it's something to think about when you're negotiating these settlements with your lawyer. That additional 7% right off the top is potentially negotiable. We normally do it here, it's not hard and fast, but we normally do it. Uh, the next item comes out of the settlement is costs. So there are hard costs and there are soft costs. Hard costs are our costs that the lawyer has to pay a copy charges to medical providers for records. Uh, for example, um, postage perhaps if you're in litigation, a court reporter fees, transcript fees. So those are hard costs. Uh, they're also soft costs. Soft costs are those costs that the law firm will charge in addition to the hard costs for their own sort of overhead expenses. So we charge a certain copy charges if they're facts charges related to it. So, um, there are hard and soft costs, they are added up and then they come out of the total settlement as well.
But that's something you need to watch for. We try to really watch those costs and keep them down. I have heard that certain other firms really run up those costs so they can double dip. Do you, if you're not careful with fees plus costs and they're making money on costs on the backend too. So that's something to look out for out of your settlement money. Lastly, you've got potentially medical bills and Liens to be repaid out of the settlement. So, for example, you've got a doctor that runs up a say an additional $5,000 bill that you're on an lop for. Well that's something that you're going to have to repay out of the settlement, but that 5,000 may not always be dollar for dollar. So at our firm, once a settlement offer has been made, we go back to the doctor said, hey doc, are you willing to accept um, 4,000 on the bill, 3000 on the bill, whatever the case may be.
*The above has been transcribed by a third party service and has not been checked for accuracy
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St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas
5858 Central Ave suite a
St. Petersburg, FL 33707
St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas are committed to helping their clients achieve the best possible outcome. If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence, don’t hesitate, contact us today at (727) 381-2300. We are open 24/7 and you will be speaking with an attorney.
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