We understand that you are concerned about the cost of bringing a legal claim. Because everyone has different needs, Tucker & Ludin offers a variety of attorney fee options:
Every one of these options may not be available in every type of case. Your attorney will discuss what options may be available on your case.
A note about Contingency Attorney Fees:
As noted above, most of our Disability and Life Insurance clients select the Contingency Attorney Fee option. Simply put, when you choose a contingency fee, you do not need to put any money into attorney fees up front and Tucker & Ludin has a vested interest in you winning. If you lose, we do not get paid for our time on your case. We need to help you win, and we don't take cases that we don't think can be won. So, if we take your case under a contingency fee contract, you can rest assured that we are working as hard as possible to make sure you win.
Please understand that in most health insurance cases, a percentage attorney fee alone is not possible. However, we will work with you to develop a fee structure that works for you and our firm.
In Lien Reimbursement and Subrogation claims, Tucker & Ludin will consider a Contingency Attorney Fee, but it may not be practical for either you and/or our firm depending on the amount involved. In these types of fee arrangements, the contingency percentage would be calculated on the amount saved from having to be paid back (i.e., the amount of the lien that is avoided). Sometimes, an hourly fee may be more beneficial for our clients, because the contingency fee would be very large, yet other circumstances may dictate that a percentage fee would be more workable in the situation. Like all cases, we evaluate these on a case by case basis.
In addition, your case will involve various expenses like filing fees, document reproduction, expert witness fees, deposition and court reporter fees, and possible, travel expenses. These costs are in addition to attorney fees, and your fee contract will address how they have to be paid. Once again, depending on the type of case, we may be able to advance costs for you, but you will be obligated to reimburse Tucker & Ludin for these costs.
We know that you are scared about money problems now that you are disabled, but you are hiring us to win your case. Our job is to solve your problem, and that is getting your claim paid. You do not want to handle your case on the cheap. If you want us to skimp on costs, you will tie our hands, and may easily find yourself 2 or 3 years down the road having lost the case and being without any money.
Keep this in mind too....we will not needlessly spend money, because at any time, we have well over $200,000 in advanced costs outstanding. That is our money that has been spent. We don't want to waste our money just like we don't want to waste your money.
If you do not agree with our philosophy, we are not the right law firm for you. Understand that, unlike attorney fees, you are obligated to reimburse the firm the amount of the costs that are paid on your case whether you win or lose. In other words, paying for costs is not contingent on winning the case. However, we will discuss significant expenses with you before you are obligated to pay us anything. Again, rest assured that we would not advance costs on your case if we did not think it is helping the case and that we have a good chance to win the case.
To formally hire Tucker & Ludin, you will have to sign a Representation Contract outlining the scope of our representation, the amount of the attorney fee and how costs will be paid. We welcome your questions, because we want you to understand the fee and cost arrangement, and be comfortable with what you have agreed to pay. Once you sign a fee contract with our firm, it typically cannot be changed, so be sure to ask as many questions as necessary to understand the agreement.
