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Can Wrongful Death Legal Fee be Renegotiated Down for Disabled Child?

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What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
My niece died from a blood clot. She has a minor daughter with multiple disabilities. An attorney obtained a $500,000 settlement offer with his contingency fee equaling $150,000. The case has not been finalized. The judge recently assigned a law guardian for the minor child. I've read about contingency fees but I've also read when a minor child is involved that could be an exception to the standard contingency fee calculation. Has anyone heard of a case where the legal fee was reduced for a child?
 


quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
My niece died from a blood clot. She has a minor daughter with multiple disabilities. An attorney obtained a $500,000 settlement offer with his contingency fee equaling $150,000. The case has not been finalized. The judge recently assigned a law guardian for the minor child. I've read about contingency fees but I've also read when a minor child is involved that could be an exception to the standard contingency fee calculation. Has anyone heard of a case where the legal fee was reduced for a child?
Contingency fees are almost always negotiable between client and attorney.

That said, over half of the states have placed upper limits on attorney contingency fees. Other states have no limits on attorney contingent fees. In some states, it is up to a court to determine the reasonableness of any contingent fee while in other states, a court will consider the reasonableness of a contingency fee upon request of a party. Some states (I believe New York is one) has a sliding scale for attorney contingent fees (e.g., 30% of first $250,000; 25% of second $250,000...).

In other words, there are not really any "standard contingency fee calculations." There are variations depending on the state and the attorney.
 
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Ohiogal

Queen Bee
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
My niece died from a blood clot. She has a minor daughter with multiple disabilities. An attorney obtained a $500,000 settlement offer with his contingency fee equaling $150,000. The case has not been finalized. The judge recently assigned a law guardian for the minor child. I've read about contingency fees but I've also read when a minor child is involved that could be an exception to the standard contingency fee calculation. Has anyone heard of a case where the legal fee was reduced for a child?
Why shouldn't the attorney be paid the agreed rate for the work that was done? Other than you being cheap.
 
Why shouldn't the attorney be paid the agreed rate for the work that was done? Other than you being cheap.
The child lost her mother when she was nine years old. Her father has been incarcerated since she was an infant. She has two serious disabilities. From what I can tell through reading the paperwork his fee is $150,000 for about 50 hours of work. That's $3,000 and hour. When I asked the attorney several questions about the process he couldn't answer them and responded "I'm only a street attorney". I think a good rate for a "street attorney" is $300 an hour so he is getting paid 10 times his usually rate. Definitely not "Cheap". I'm not saying not to pay him a fair and reasonable rate but $3,000 an hours, please. It appears in this case the defendant realized that a jury would be sympathetic to the child's dire situation so they settled without much effort for the attorney. I guess this attorney got lucky. Cheap, I don't think so.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The child lost her mother when she was nine years old. Her father has been incarcerated since she was an infant. She has two serious disabilities. From what I can tell through reading the paperwork his fee is $150,000 for about 50 hours of work. That's $3,000 and hour. When I asked the attorney several questions about the process he couldn't answer them and responded "I'm only a street attorney". I think a good rate for a "street attorney" is $300 an hour so he is getting paid 10 times his usually rate. Definitely not "Cheap". I'm not saying not to pay him a fair and reasonable rate but $3,000 an hours, please. It appears in this case the defendant realized that a jury would be sympathetic to the child's dire situation so they settled without much effort for the attorney. I guess this attorney got lucky. Cheap, I don't think so.
Are you a party to the case?
 

quincy

Senior Member
The child lost her mother when she was nine years old. Her father has been incarcerated since she was an infant. She has two serious disabilities. From what I can tell through reading the paperwork his fee is $150,000 for about 50 hours of work. That's $3,000 and hour. When I asked the attorney several questions about the process he couldn't answer them and responded "I'm only a street attorney". I think a good rate for a "street attorney" is $300 an hour so he is getting paid 10 times his usually rate. Definitely not "Cheap". I'm not saying not to pay him a fair and reasonable rate but $3,000 an hours, please. It appears in this case the defendant realized that a jury would be sympathetic to the child's dire situation so they settled without much effort for the attorney. I guess this attorney got lucky. Cheap, I don't think so.
Contingent fee agreements are always a financial risk for an attorney. There are times when an attorney invests more in a case than s/he can recover. In other words, there is never any guarantee a case will be settled or won.

The fact that this attorney was able to get for his client a $500,000 settlement is a good thing, not a bad thing. And, as far as taking it to trial for a jury to decide - that is a crap shoot. It is more costly to take a case to trial and the client can walk away with far less than what a settlement provides. BUT, it is the CLIENT who decides whether to accept a settlement or take the case to trial. It is not up to the attorney.

What has to be understood is that the settlement amount is not based on the past history of the client. That the father is incarcerated and the mother is dead does not play a factor. It is often not even introduced in trial unless it plays a role in the case before the court. It makes for a sad story for the disabled child but it does not make the merits of the case any stronger.

The bottom line is that, if the client was unhappy with the settlement amount, the client should not have settled. If the client was unhappy with the contingent fee percentage the attorney was asking then the client should have never signed the agreement with the attorney. But if the client wants to discuss the fee agreement now, after-the-fact, the client can. The attorney is under no obligation to reduce his fee, however, unless his fee exceeds the state limits.
 

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