Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
I have a injury case with insurance company that returned a very low offer. The offer I received would not cover the total cost in medical and legal expense. I do believe I don't have to pay lawyer if I were to loose the case. The question I have is since I was offered a settlement, does that mean I win(technically) the case, even though I yielded a negative gain? And am I still entitled to paying the attorney and medical potentially having to end up with a bill since the settlement I was offered is lower than total cost of both expenses?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If your lawyer is representing you on a contingent-fee basis and you already had the offer in hand when you hired her (and you told her about the offer at the time), then she is only entitled to a share of any additional amounts you recover. That's true whether you recover after a trial, in a settlement, or by other means.
If the lawyer got you the offer, then she will be entitled to be paid from it as spelled out in your contract. If you accept the payment, you cannot claim to have lost the case just because you had hoped to recover more.
Read the retainer agreement.
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