Who pays for Litigation Costs?

The costs of litigating an accident case can total hundreds of thousands of dollars. The expenses may include expert fees, deposition costs, investigation costs, and court fees. Under the contingency fee agreement, those costs are paid by the attorney, not the client. The attorney is reimbursed only if there is a settlement or a judgment in the client’s favor.

Not all attorneys have the financial strength to fund a case properly. As the case progresses, some attorneys may feel pressure to settle on terms that aren’t in the client’s best interests rather than risk their “investment” by pressing further. Defendants can sense when a contingency attorney cannot afford to take a case to trial and they take advantage of that weakness. Therefore, before signing a contingency fee agreement, the client should satisfy himself that the attorney is capable of easily funding the litigation all the way to the end.