Have you or someone you love recently suffered debilitating physical injuries or significant losses due to the negligent actions of another? If so, they can be held accountable for their negligence if you pursue a personal injury lawsuit against them. There are many misconceptions surrounding personal injury claims, but after hiring a Castle Rock car accident lawyer from Mountain States Injury Law, you can get the legal support and guidance you need.
Although you might think that hiring an attorney is expensive, the good news is that when you work with a knowledgeable and experienced Colorado car accident law firm, you do not need to pay any fees upfront. You can avoid financial ruin by hiring a legal advocate.
We believe legal representation should be accessible to injury victims across the state. Contact our office for a free consultation to learn more about working with a personal injury lawyer on contingency and what to expect from your car accident case.
Costs Associated With Pursuing a Personal Injury Claim in CO
When you are seriously injured in a car crash or any other type of accident, and someone else is responsible, you have the right to be made whole. This means you should be compensated for every single loss you experienced related to the accident. Some of the most common types of damages injury victims seek include:
- Lost wages
- Diminished earning capacity
- Medical expenses
- Future healthcare costs
- Personal property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Vehicle repair or replacement costs
- Diminished quality of life
- Emotional distress
- Inconvenience
- Rental car expenses
- Loss of employee benefits
- Diminished value of the vehicle
- Punitive damages
Some of these damages can be sought via an insurance claim. However, insurance companies sometimes take advantage of injury victims by offering insurance settlements that do not cover the economic and non-economic damages. For some victims, going to trial is the only way to recover money for their financial compensation.
However, pursuing a personal injury lawsuit can be expensive. When you are still healing from your injuries and do not have any income due to your inability to work, you may not be able to afford those costs.
Fortunately, when you have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side, you do not need to worry. Your Colorado car accident lawyer will be responsible for covering any of the costs that may arise as they pursue your case. Some examples of expenses include:
- Personal injury lawsuit filing fees
- Costs of analyzing forensic evidence
- Obtaining copies of medical records
- The cost of hiring accident reconstructionists or other expert witnesses
- Expenses of obtaining copies of important documents, including chemical blood or breath alcohol test results, driving records, criminal records, background checks, and crash and police reports
- Court costs associated with pursuing personal injury cases
- Other legal services
These are just a few examples of costs that could arise when you move forward with your personal injury claim. Thankfully, when you have a dedicated injury lawyer working on your case, these expenses do not fall on you.
We believe you should never be held back from demanding justice just because you cannot afford the expenses. Let our legal team work for you on a contingency fee agreement and take charge of your future.
How to Afford the Costs of a Personal Injury Attorney
Personal injury lawyers are responsible for advocating for the rights of injury victims. After being involved in a catastrophic accident, injured victim’s lives are often turned upside down. In addition to significant emotional distress and physical injuries, the financial consequences of a devastating accident can be life-changing.
If you are out of work and temporarily unable to earn a living, you may not have any income, which could prevent you from covering your necessary household expenses, let alone the costs of hiring a legal advocate.
Fortunately, the vast majority of personal injury lawyers recognize the trauma you have been through and hope to get you through these difficult times. At Mountain States Injury Law, we use contingency fees.
Unlike other areas of law that require attorneys to demand retainer fees and down payments, we work for you without requiring any upfront costs. You do not even need to pay for any of the expenses that come up as we move forward with your case.
We use our considerable resources to build a compelling case against the liable party. In exchange, when we win, a percentage of your settlement award will be used to cover our expenses. However, if we do not win, we do not get paid. This is because payment for our services is contingent upon winning your personal injury case.
Benefits of Colorado Contingency Agreements
Contingency fee agreements make it possible for you to get justice without putting your money on the line. Colorado has rules and regulations to protect injury victims. According to Colorado laws, personal injury lawyers are not legally allowed to charge more for their services by working on contingency. Generally, the most you could expect to pay in attorney fees is 40% of your compensation payout.
However, according to the American Bar Association (ABA), most car accident lawyers charge legal fees at an average of 33% to 40% of the settlement. When your case is particularly complex, working on contingency makes it possible to hold the liable party accountable for their negligence without risking your financial future.
If you were working with a criminal defense lawyer or even a family law attorney, you might need to take out a home equity loan, apply for a personal loan, borrow against your retirement savings account, or borrow money from friends and family to cover the costs. When you are injured in an accident of any kind, you can avoid this by working with a personal injury attorney on contingency.
Why Hiring a Car Accident Lawyer On a Contingency Fee Basis is Necessary in Colorado
You want to keep as much of your injury settlement as possible. While there is no legal requirement to have a car accident lawyer, many injury victims find that a personal injury attorney is necessary. Your injuries may prevent you from doing anything besides recuperating. When you are struggling financially, you may not be able to afford the costs of pursuing your case.
When you have a legal representative advocating for your rights, you have a better chance of a successful claim. Your attorney can negotiate with the insurance company and protect you from being taken advantage of by profit-motivated insurers.
We can also help you get fair compensation for your damages by accurately calculating the value of your claim. You might be shocked to learn about some of the damages you can be compensated for after an accident.
Have our Colorado car accident attorneys fight for your rights and hold liable parties accountable to the fullest extent of the law to get the justice you deserve.
How to Choose the Ideal Law Firm
Once you decide to hire a personal injury attorney to take your case, it is time to choose the right law firm. When you use Google, you will be inundated with thousands of search results with most personal injury attorneys claiming to be the top choice to take on your case. You will have to narrow down your options until you find a legal advocate that makes you feel confident.
Prepare to meet with prospective car accident attorneys during a free consultation. This way, you can learn about your attorney’s potential strategy, their experience handling cases like yours, and how they might approach your case. You should also discuss prospective attorney’s qualifications and find out why they believe they are best suited for your case.
The Car Accident Claims Process
You may feel overwhelmed about the car accident claim process. However, that should not stop you from pursuing maximum compensation for your damages.
Once you know more about how car accident and personal injury claims work, you may feel encouraged and ready to demand the compensation you are owed. Although every person’s case is different, here is a brief overview of how car accident cases unfold:
- You hire a car accident attorney
- Your lawyer investigates the cause of the accident
- We collect valuable evidence to support your case throughout our investigation
- We determine who is responsible for causing the crash
- Your personal injury lawyer evaluates your damages to accurately calculate the value of your lawsuit or insurance claim
- We evaluate whether you have the right to file a claim with the insurance company
- If you are filing an insurance claim, we prepare all necessary documents and negotiate settlement terms
- If the settlement is insufficient or the at-fault party does not have insurance coverage, we prepare to bring your case to trial
- In court, we will present the evidence obtained during our investigation that proves the defendant’s negligence and liability for your damages
Colorado Car Accident Lawyer Cost FAQ
We understand how confusing this time in your life must be. In addition to understanding how car accident and personal injury laws in Colorado work, you are also trying to wrap your head around how you will afford to hire a lawyer without putting any money down or jeopardizing your personal finances.
For this reason, we have answered some frequently asked questions regarding Colorado car accident attorney costs below. If we did not answer your question on this page, do not hesitate to contact our law office to request a free consultation to discuss your specific questions or concerns in greater detail.
What percentage do most injury lawyers take?
The amount most reputable lawyers charge varies on a case-by-case basis. This is, in part, because the amount of work, time, energy, and resources that go into each case is never the same. Every single injury victim’s case is different. Your car accident attorney may need to spend more time collecting evidence that supports your claims for liability if you have been accused of sharing fault, for example.
Generally, the percentage you can expect to be deducted from your personal injury settlement will range from 20% to 40%, depending on the details of your contingency agreement. When a personal injury lawyer needs to charge more, it is because they need to utilize more of their resources or put more time into your case to maximize your financial compensation.
You can learn more about the percentage outlined in your contingency agreement when you discuss the future of your personal injury claim with your attorney.
How much does an attorney cost in Colorado?
You should not need to worry about the costs of hiring an attorney when you have suffered a devastating injury in Colorado. By working with you on contingency, you will never have to pay any upfront fees or cover any costs as we pursue your insurance claims or civil lawsuit.
A percentage of your settlement will go to your experienced lawyer to cover your car accident lawyer fees once your case has been resolved. This means your attorney’s fees depend on how much they recover in your personal injury claim.
If your attorney expects you to recover $2 million for your damages, depending on the complexity of your case, attorney’s fees could be between 25% and 40% of your settlement award.
How do you calculate pain and suffering?
Many injury victims look to the average claim settlement for car accidents when they want to figure out how much they could be awarded if their case is successful. However, there are many factors that skew average settlement claims.
These average numbers are not reliable, as they include the highest and lowest settlement amounts in their calculations. If you want to find out how much your case could be worth, the best way to do so is by working with your personal injury attorney to examine your damages in detail.
It is especially important to consider the impact of your pain and suffering or non-economic damages. These types of damages do not have a set financial value which can make them more difficult to quantify. It is the extent of their impact on your life both now and in the future that will determine how much your pain and suffering damages are worth. Your personal injury attorney can use multiple methods to calculate your pain and suffering. One of these methods is the multiplier method.
Here, the impact your injuries have had on your life will be assigned a multiplier, usually between one and five. Then, your attorney will calculate the value of your economic damages and multiply that value by your assigned multiplier.
For example, if your economic damages were valued at $500,000, and you were assigned a multiplier of four, your lawyer will multiply 500,000 by 4 to get the value of your non-economic damages or pain and suffering damages, at a value of $2 million.
Alternatively, your personal injury lawyer can use the per diem method. The impact of your injuries will be assigned a per diem value which is multiplied by the number of days you have suffered and are expected to continue suffering from the effects of your accident.
For example, suppose you were assigned a per diem value of $250. If your healthcare provider expects your injuries to have a significant effect on your life for the next 10 years, or 3,650 days, your attorney would multiply 3,650 days by $250 to get the value of your pain and suffering damages, which would be $912,500.
You can expect your car accident attorney to utilize both methods and use the larger figure.
What is the highest retainer fee for a lawyer?
When you work with a personal injury lawyer, you do not need to pay a retainer fee. If you were working with another type of attorney, you may be required to pay a retainer worth thousands of dollars.
Those lawyers require retainer fees to move forward with your case and utilize the costs to hire expert witnesses, analyze evidence, and cover court filing fees or bail expenses, for example.
We never require a retainer fee because we work on contingency. Our clients do not put money down and do not use their personal finances to pursue their cases. We cover everything and only get paid if we win.
Meet With a Colorado Car Accident Attorney for Free
Now that you know a little more about how contingency agreements work and why you will not need to put your personal finances on the line to demand justice, are you ready to make the liable party pay? Are you ready to demand total financial compensation for your damages and suffering? If so, our dedicated Colorado car accident attorneys at Mountain States Injury Law are ready to start investigating.
Our legal team offers 100% free consultations to car accident victims and individuals dealing with personal injuries across Colorado. You can visit our Castle Rock office, give us a call, or schedule your complimentary case review online, as our attorneys are able to practice anywhere in Colorado. Fill out our convenient contact form or call us to begin working on your car accident insurance and civil claims.
