Cost is always an important consideration for car accident injury victims. A popular misconception holds that accident attorneys are after one thing: the money of the clients they represent. This leads some car accident victims to choose to gamble with their potential compensation award by representing themselves in their car accident case. This can end up costing the victim much more than hiring an attorney.
Many South Carolina car accident lawyers take cases on a contingency-fee basis. This means that the victim is not held responsible for paying the attorney’s fees unless and until the attorney is able to recover compensation on behalf of the victim. In a contingency-fee arrangement, the lawyer’s fees are usually set as a percentage of the compensation he or she is able to recover for the victim: the more compensation the lawyer recovers on behalf of the victim, the greater the amount of fees the lawyer collects. If the lawyer is unable to recover any compensation for the victim, then the victim does not owe the attorney any payment for his or her fees (note, though, that some contingency-fee agreements will require the victim to pay the costs of litigation – such as filing fees and deposition costs – regardless of whether the lawsuit is successful).
Before deciding that an attorney’s advice and assistance is too costly, you should speak with several South Carolina car accident lawyers about their fees, the manner in which you would be billed (i.e., hourly or on a contingency-fee basis, etc.), and what costs you would be responsible for before deciding a car accident lawyer is too expensive.