Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

It is in fact the usual practice for insurance to pay one lump sum, out of which you must pay your legal and medical expenses, with whatever is left over being your "net" recovery. Without knowing more details about your case, I can say that the typical soft-tissue (chiropractor) case with bills between $3-5k will settle between $12k to $15k, so the amount you're talking about is actually higher than average for that kind of case. If you have more serious injuries, like a fracture, then it might be low. Fracture cases go for $25k and up, on average. It all depends on the injury.

One year is a bit long for a simple chiropractic case, but it's not unheard-of. I typically turn those around in six to eight months, but I've had them go longer. Sometimes you have to hang in there to get the bigger numbers. As to the percentages, the typical split is 33% for an out-of-court settlement, 40% if a lawsuit is required. Some offices charge a third level at the time of picking a jury, between 45-50%, but not many. Anyway, it's a question of contract. There's no law that controls what percentages can be charged (except in the case of minors, who can't be charged more than 25%).

I'm not sure what your expectations were, but I often tell people that nobody WANTS to have a valuable personal injury case. As I mentioned, the value of the case depends on the seriousness of the injury. The really valuable cases involve horrible, horrible injuries which really destroy a person's life. If you can walk away from an accident and finish treatment for only $3-5k in bills, you're getting a benefit already far more valuable than $6k in your pocket. My advice is to take this deal, which seems fair enough, and go out to a nice dinner with friends and family and everyone you most love, to remind yourself how lucky you are.

Is this settlement fair? Should I go to trial? What are normal lawyer fees?

The amount the insurance company agrees to pay in settlement covers everything. Your medical bills and attorneys' fees are paid from your settlement.

"$6,200 just seems like a low amount...". I agree that it may not be adequate compensation for what you have gone through. There are hundreds of factors that go into your gross settlement amount that do not accurately reflect what you have been through. Some of those factors are the severity of the collision, the makeup of your jury, the type of injury you suffered, your lost income, the type of witness you and the negligent driver will make, the actual amount of medical bills that were paid and yet to be paid, the negotiating ability, the litigation history and the reputation of your law firm.

The insurance company is trying to get out of your case as cheap as possible. They are not looking for what is "fair" or "right". They are looking at the bottom line of what you can make them pay.

You have to access what is in your best interest. What is your alternative to accepting the settlement regardless if the amount is "fair"? If you go to trial will a jury award you enough money to cover your trial costs (at least a few thousand dollars), your increased attorneys' fees and your increased involvement (interrogatories, deposition, settlement conferences and trial time)? Going to trail to net an extra $5,000 would not be worth your time and aggravation, in my opinion. In order to net an extra $5,000 a jury would have to award you over $40,000 (this assumes a 50% attorney fee, $5,000 in litigation costs and $5,000 in medical bills to be paid).

Will a jury award you over $40,000? If yes, you can consider trial. If no, it would make no sense to go to trial. Juries are not push overs. Juries these days are much more frugal than in days past. The insurance defense trial attorneys are very experienced and know how to work a jury in the insurance company's favor. If your attorney has a track record of trial success and is in trial regularly, you may have a chance of netting more.

Regarding fee schedules, our standard personal injury fees start at 25% for early quick, policy limit recovered cases. Thirty-three percent for most personal injury cases. Your case appears to fall into our 33% category. Once a lawsuit is filed and formal discovery has been initiated our fee moves to 40%. Our trial fee is 45%. We have handled 6,000+ cases since 1978.

I am not aware of personal injury attorneys in California charging a 50% fee. A 50% fee may be justified in very challenging cases with very high litigation costs. We have never charged a fee that high even in auto defect cases where there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs we have advanced and stand too loose if we don't win the case.