Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California
contigency fee dispute - no contract
I retained an attorney for a personal injury suit. We recently settled in mediation for a considerable amount. I was handed an accounting listing legal fees of 40%.
I was never asked to sign a contract. I was never shown a contract. There is no contract. He says he lost the contract. He says this is the standard amount he always charges.
My case settled at a high number (6 figures) because the defense medical was totally in my favor. Nobody had ever seen anything like it.
This guy is a good guy and took my case but forgot to get the contract. I believe he should be fairly paid but he really aggravated me with this accounting. There was no pretrial prep and not many hours of work involved. I would have agreed to a more reasonable fee without ever mentioning that we had no contract. I was shocked and upset that he went for it all hoping that I would be naive enough to accept it.
What would happen in arbitration? What's the down side for me? I believe his down side is reasonable fees on an hourly basis. What do you recommend I do at this point?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: contigency fee dispute - no contract
It is not standard, there is no standard, though 40% is not unusual. If there is no contract it is a fair amount based on this work. You should hire an attorney to assist.
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