Questions & Answers Concerning Costs & Fees

What Will It Cost?

We know you are concerned about what it might cost to hire an attorney knowledgeable in the area of consumer rights.  However, you'd need not be concerned that the cost will be prohibitive.  In fact, in the vast majority of the cases that we handle, the cost to the consumer is nothing at all unless we prevail for you.

Don't be too concerned about what is going to cost until you speak to us. We never charge you for a consultation, and we can often handle your case without charging you attorneys' fees and costs unless we prevail for you.  Then, we normally take a portion of the recovery.  If the case is lost we charge you nothing.  During that consultation you can be sure that we will advise you on our opinion of your legal position, what we expect you to pay. if anything, and whether we expect to be able to recover what you pay back from the other side.

Debt Collection Cases

With regard to debt collection cases, we work on contingency.  That means that you will not have to pay our attorney fees or any costs unless you prevail in your lawsuit.  And if you do prevail you can be sure that you will not have to pay anything out of your pocket.  The debt collector that we sue will pay us for our time, and our costs, and will also pay you for damages.  In California, consumers that are abused by debt collectors are sure to recover some amount of money when they win their lawsuit.

So, to be clear, you will never have pay us any attorney fees or costs unless you win your lawsuit.  The worst case scenario would be that you would lose your lawsuit and you would recover nothing.  In that case, you would still not have to pay us any attorney fees or costs.  We would simply absorb those fees and costs. That is, you would receive nothing, and we would receive nothing.  Because of this, we are very careful about what cases we take.  That means that if we agree to represent you you can be sure we are confident in your case.

Credit Card Defense Cases

Credit card defense cases are not the same as debt collection abuse cases.  The reason for this is simple.  With debt collection abuse cases the law provides that the other side must pay attorney fees and costs if the consumer prevails.  However, that is not the case when we defend you and you are being sued by someone. However, we can sometimes recover our attorney fees and costs even in those cases.  On those occasions, you will not be charged any attorney fees or costs.

In most credit card defense cases, you will be expected to provide an up front payment in the amount of 10% of whatever the debt is that is being sued upon, or a minimum of $750, plus any required court filing fee.  The court filing fees are normally around $200.  So, just as an example, if you are being sued for $8000, you would have to put up $800 plus a $200 court cost fee for a total of $1000.

It is possible that we will be able to recover that money from the other side if we win.  If that happens we will give you a refund.  The reason we are sometimes able to recover our attorney fees and costs is that the contract involved in the lawsuit sometimes requires this.  Furthermore, if there is any possible way to countersue the creditor and recover money under the debt collection statutes that we discuss at the top of this page we will also be able to recover our attorney fees and costs.  The point being, don't be too concerned about what is going to cost until you speak to us first.  We never charge you anything for a consultation, and during that consultation you can be sure that we will advise you on our opinion of your legal position, what we expect you to pay, and whether we expect to be able to recover what you pay back from the other side.

1. on a contingency basis;
2. on an hourly basis;
3. on a fixed fee basis.

Contingency fee cases are generally limited to consumer litigation, personal injury cases employment cases, worker's compensation cases, and civil rights matters.  In these types of cases, there is some expectation that you will receive some financial award either by settlement or by judgment from a court or jury.

In contingency fee cases, the attorney assesses whether or not he or she believes that you have reasonable chance of succeeding.  If the attorney feels that you do have a reasonable chance, the attorney may take your case by investing his or her time without a fixed payment from you up front.  Basically the attorney is counting on being paid from a percentage of any award which you receive from a settlement or from a court.  In some cases there is a cap or limit on the percentage or the dollar amount that an attorney is permitted to charge.  You should ask the attorney if there is such a limit and what it is.  In most personal injury cases, there is not a limit on what the attorney can charge.  If your case is lost, the lawyer is paid nothing for his or her time.

Hourly cases are different.  Attorneys charge an hourly rate for most standard routine matters.  The amount your attorney charges per hour will be determined by a number of factors.  The most important factor is his or her experience in the type of matter for which you are being represented.  Another factor will be the generally accepted charges for similar matters in your legal community.  In most hourly cases, your attorney will request that you pay a retainer fee up front against which the attorney will bill his or her time.  When your attorney is charging you an hourly rate, you should always ask your attorney to periodically provide you with an itemized statement of the time which he or she has expended on your behalf.

Fixed fee cases.  Sometimes, attorneys will charge a fixed fee.  That is, a one time lump sum payment.  Attorneys charge a fixed fee for standard routine matters such as wills, deeds, the search of a real estate title, representing you in a simple bankruptcy, drafting a basic contract, traffic offenses, or minor criminal matters. These are some but not all of the examples of tasks for which an attorney may charge you a fixed fee.

Whenever you believe that you need an attorney, you should discuss attorney's fees during your first conference with the attorney. You must clearly understand the way in which the attorney intends to bill you for handling your legal matter. You should expect to sign an agreement with your attorney regarding fees so that both you and your attorney have a clear understanding of what to expect. In some cases, a contract of representation between you and your attorney is not required.

You should never be afraid to discuss attorney's fees or to negotiate attorney's fees with your attorney at the beginning of your representation. Having a clear understanding between you and your attorney on the issue of fees will assure a good working relationship between you and your attorney.

Generally, Hyde & Swigart Charges Attorney Fees As Follows.

Below are guidelines to help you anticipate what might be expected of you with regard to attorneys’ fees.  However, because we want to help you if you need us, we can sometimes be flexible in these arrangements.  If you feel you need some flexibility, be sure and discuss this with us during your first consultation with us.  Keep in mind that we never charge anything for a case evaluation.

Consumer Cases (Debt Collection Abuse, Debt Negotiator Lawsuits, Cases In Which We Represent You Suing Others) – These cases are taken on a contingency fee basis,  Our office pays the costs up front with the expectation that we will be reimbursed if we prevail.  We keep track of the attorney fees incurred and attempt to have the opposing party pay them.  In these cases, if we do not prevail you are not expected to reimburse us.  In that situation, we waive the attorneys’ fees and costs.

Litigation always includes expenses.  Litigation expenses may include such things as court fees, jury fees, service of process charges, court reporters' fees, videographer fees, photocopying and reproduction costs, notary fees, messenger and other delivery fees, postage, deposition costs, travel costs, including parking, meals and hotel costs, investigation expenses, consultant costs and fees, expert witness costs and fees, professional mediator costs and fees, arbitrator and/or special master fees, facsimile charges, mileage charges, Federal Express deliveries, and other similar items.  Costs and expenses are usually, but not always, charged at our cost.  Costs and expenses do not include attorney fees.

In most cases, our office pays all fees and costs related to litigation at the beginning of the case or as the fees and costs are incurred.  Once the case is over, we are reimbursed from whatever is eventually recovered.  If there is no eventual recovery we do not look to you to pay these expenses.  Instead, we waive them.  Because of this we are very careful with cases selection.  We only take on cases we expect to win.  Further, because we have a financial stake in the case, you can be certain we are working hard to recover as much as possible.