Opinion ID: 2543254
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Whether a fee is fixed or contingent.

Text: Fees agreed to represent T.S. and F.M. on a contingent-fee basis. We recognize that when an attorney accepts a client on a contingent-fee basis, the attorney assumes the risk of nonpayment for expenses and is acting at his own peril. If someone is willing to take the great risk of giving up the sure quantity for the uncertain, and wins, then the uncertain prize should be worth more than the certain one. Peebles v. Miley, 439 So.2d at 142. Therefore, this risk must be considered when determining the reasonableness of a fee. In this case, the attorney fee awarded ($262,500) results in Fees receiving $18,750 per week for his 14-week representation of T.S. A careful balance must be struck between the need to maintain public confidence in the fairness and integrity of the bar against the need to encourage attorneys to take doubtful cases and to pursue them vigorously. When Fees accepted this case, the known facts indicated that there was little risk involved in the litigation, i.e., that an award for damages to some degree was a virtual certainty. We further note that the majority of the expenses were incurred after Ability Plus indicated its willingness to engage in early mediation. Therefore, the risk of Fees not recovering expenses was minimal, and the fact that Fees was acting on a contingent-fee basis deserves little weight in determining the reasonableness of the fee.