In the days following your Marietta car accident, you may feel overwhelmed. Between the ambulance ride and fighting with the insurance company, you’ll have your hands full. Rather than try to handle everything yourself, you should call an experienced Marietta car accident lawyer. They’ll handle the legal side of things while you focus on getting better.
One reason a lot of people shy away from talking to a lawyer is that they’re afraid it’ll cost a lot of money. They assume it’ll cost thousands of dollars to hire a Marietta personal injury lawyer. The truth is that it costs nothing to meet with a lawyer for the first time. We offer all clients a free, initial consultation. This gives them a chance to decide if they want to retain our services. It also gives our attorneys the chance to determine if they want to handle your case.
Here, we’ll discuss how much it really costs to hire a Marietta personal injury lawyer. We’ll also briefly discuss why you should want an attorney by your side. If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to call our office and schedule your free, initial consultation.
How Can Marietta Personal Injury Lawyers Afford to Work for Free?
When we tell people they can hire a Marietta personal injury lawyer for free, they look at us like we’re insane. Perhaps they assume personal injury lawyers don’t get paid for their work. The truth is, we’re so confident that our associates will get you the best possible outcome, we don’t charge anything upfront. We don’t get paid until you’ve either settled or won your personal injury case.
The way our attorneys are paid is through a contingency agreement. When you retain our services, you sign one of these agreements. It will specify that our firm recovers a certain percentage of your settlement proceeds. Or, if your case goes to trial, we recover a percentage of your jury award.
When your settlement proceeds are paid out, the check will be made out to your attorney or their firm. The check is cashed, and your Marietta personal injury lawyer will take their fee out first. Then all other outstanding bills will be paid. This could include medical bills, mechanic’s bills, and other bills that accrued as a result of the accident. Once this is done, your attorney will recover the costs they fronted during your case. After this is done, the rest of the money is yours.
How Much Does Your Marietta Personal Injury Lawyer Charge?
For the most part, personal injury lawyers charged around 33% (one-third) of your settlement proceeds. Some people complain that they don’t want to hire a lawyer because they want to keep all the money for themselves. What they don’t realize is that their chances of winning are much higher if they’re represented by an attorney. It’s better to have 2/3 of something than 100% of nothing.
If your case goes to trial – which very few personal injury cases do – the percentage will go up to 40%. There is a good reason for this. If your lawyer has to dedicate all of their time and attention to preparing your case for trial, they won’t be able to handle other cases. This means they’re losing revenue that they could have earned had you agreed to a settlement. This extra few percentage points makes up for part of this lost revenue.
It also makes sense from a commonsense perspective. Lawyers have to work a lot harder if their client insists on going to trial. They need to recruit expert witnesses and travel to conduct depositions. They have to track down witnesses and try to get them to make a statement on your behalf. This takes time and a lot of money. That’s why you’ll pay a higher percentage for a trial than you do for a settlement.
Is it Ever Too Late to Hire a Seasoned Marietta Personal Injury Lawyer?
We always recommend that accident victims reach out to our office as soon as possible after their injury. The last thing you want to do is wait until the last minute to hire your lawyer. If you miss the filing deadline as outlined by the Georgia statute of limitations, your case will be dismissed. Once this happens, there’s no going back.
This is one reason why you want to meet with one of our Marietta auto accident lawyers sooner rather than later. This gives your attorney plenty of time to prepare your case. It also helps them avoid any deadline issues. The statute of limitations is very strict. You’re not going to convince a judge to give you more time. You’ll lose your chance of pursuing the defendant and you’ll walk away with nothing.
How Do You Go About Retaining a Skilled Marietta Car Accident Lawyer?
It’s very simple to retain an auto accident lawyer. All you have to do is call our office and schedule your free, initial consultation. You’ll come into the office and sit down with one of our attorneys. They’ll briefly review your case and let you know where you stand. They can give you an idea of what your case is worth. They’ll also let you know what to expect in the coming months.
Since the consultation is free, you really don’t have anything to lose. Rather than risk losing your case, talk to one of our associates and then make an educated decision.
Speak With an Experienced Marietta Auto Accident Lawyer Right Away at Diaz & Gaeta
Even if you decide not to hire a Marietta auto accident lawyer, you still want to take advantage of the free consultation. This will give you a chance to ask any questions you may have about the legal process. Your attorney will also explain what your options are. The last thing you want to do is go it alone. The defendant will have an attorney by their side. They’ll also have the insurance company and their legal team working for them. You’ll be at a serious disadvantage if you aren’t represented by legal counsel.
It would be one thing if you had to pay out-of-pocket for a lawyer’s services. However, since it costs nothing to hire one, you really have nothing to lose. Of course, you’ll want to make an educated decision. The only way to do that is to meet with one of our Marietta personal injury lawyers at Diaz & Gaeta as soon as possible after your accident. This way, you have plenty of time to make your final decision.
Call us today at [phone] to schedule a free consultation.
