Wrongful death cases require a significant amount of money, specialized knowledge, and a lot of time to litigate. Some personal injury lawyers simply do not have the time, expertise, or the preparation to commit the financial resources necessary to work wrongful death cases. It is common for an attorney to spend tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes hundreds of thousands, prosecuting a claim.
How Does Attorney Compensation Work?
Attorney compensation is typically executed on a percentage of recovery, called a contingency fee. No fee is owed unless a recovery is made. Often, the lawyers also finance the cost of putting the case together, so they have invested money, time, and staff from day one.
A contingency fee is often the best route for both the plaintiff and the attorney. To pay cash out of pocket for prosecuting a wrongful death case, the plaintiff would have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars upfront. Most plaintiffs are simply not able to do that. The attorney, meanwhile, has a strong incentive to litigate the case as effectively as possible while on a contingency fee. The better job they do, the greater the recovery and the more money they stand to make.
