Law Office of Craig Jordan
990 S. Sherman
Richardson, Texas 75081
(214) 855-9355
(214) 855-9389 (fax)
craig@warybuyer.com
My Fees
I take most of my cases on a contingency fee basis. That means that I don't get paid unless I get money for you.
This doesn't mean that you don't have to invest in your case. My clients and I are partners in my cases. This means that I ask clients to pay the out of pocket costs as we go, and there can be financial consequences if a client abandons ship in midstream.
The Nutshell Explanation: How Much Will It Cost Up Front?
The short answer to this question is either:
a. $200 plus expenses (most of my cases),
b. $500,
c. $3,000 plus expenses (for difficult cases),
d. $300/hr plus expenses
e. $1,250, or
f. $0.
More Details About Up Front Costs
$200 plus expenses: I charge $200 for a consultation. If I am willing to file a lawsuit for you on a contingency fee basis, you won't have to pay any more for fees up front, but you will be responsible for all of the out of pocket expenses as we go. I will ask you for a refundable $1,000 expense deposit to start work on your case. If expenses exceed $1,000, I will ask you to replenish the $1,000 deposit. I will waive the $200 consultation fee for clients who submit cases using my Free Case Review form.
$500: I charge $500 for a consultation and a letter, for those people who don't really need a lawsuit, but need some help from an attorney to get a difficult situation resolved. This also includes a reasonable amount of time negotiating to get the matter resolved and drawing up any settlement papers.
$3,000 plus expenses: For certain difficult cases, I ask for a refundable $3,000 fee deposit in addition to the normal expense deposit. This deposit is used to pay for the first 10 hours of work I do on the case. I typically do this for cases with some combination of the following elements: difficult proof of liability, difficult proof of damages, and/or a small business defendant from whom it may be difficult to collect. I most commonly do this with eBay car cases.
$300/hr plus expenses: I charge $300 an hour plus expenses to people who don't want to hire me on a contingency fee basis. There are three reasons people want to do this: 1) they are a defendant in a lawsuit and therefore won't have a recovery that will cover their fee, 2) they want legal advice without filing a lawsuit, or 3) they want to avoid paying a percentage of their recovery as a contingency fee. If you are hiring me to file a lawsuit on an hourly basis, I will ask for a substantial fee and expense deposit, generally $1,000 plus $5,000 times the number of days I expect a trial of the case to last. I will bill you on a monthly basis for fees and expenses as they are incurred. Any unused portion of the deposit will be returned when the case is concluded. If you are just hiring me for specific legal advice, we can agree to a budget so that you can be sure your fee will not exceed an agreed upon amount.
$1,250: I charge a flat fee of $1,250 to defend consumers from simple debt collection, arbitration, sequestration, or garnishment lawsuits, as well as credit card arbitrations. As long as the issues are fairly straightforward, I find the flat fee approach works pretty well. If a case is significantly more complicated, I may require a larger amount or I may only be willing to handle the case on an hourly basis.
$0: If you can't afford to pay these fees and have a good case, I may agree to waive the consultation fee and advance some or all of the expenses myself, so that your up front cost will be substantially reduced or even $0. Of course, I waive the consultation fee for clients who submit cases using my Free Case Review form.
The Rest of the Nut: How Much Will It Cost in the End?
In most consumer cases, the defendant pays an amount for attorney's fees in addition to the amount of your damages. That means that you will generally retain more of your damages than you would in a personal injury case where defendants only pay for damages. For example, in a consumer case with damages of $40,000, a defendant might have to pay $20,000 in fees in addition to the damages. A 33% contingent fee would leave you with $40,000. In a personal injury case where the defendant doesn't have to kick in for fees, a 33% contingency fee on damages of $40,000 would leave you with only $26,800.
If you have hired me on a contingency basis, you agree to pay me a percentage of the net recovery, either 25%, 33% or 40% of the recovery, depending upon how much work I've done on the case, or the amount that the court requires or would likely require the defendant to pay for your attorney's fees if that amount is greater than the contingency percentage.
What If a Contingency Fee Client Gives Up On a Case?
We are partners in our case. When I take you on as a contingency fee client, I am expecting to invest thousands of dollars of my time into your case. A typical figure for taking a simple case to trial is $20,000 worth of my time. More complicated cases can cost substantially more. If you choose to dismiss your case or settle it for less than the amount of my fee calculated on an hourly basis, then you have to pay me at my hourly rate out of your own pocket. So far, none of my clients has ever had to do this. This does not apply to situations where we lose the case. If we lose, you pay no fee.
The Nitty Gritty Details: Here Are the Fee Provisions of My Standard Contingency Fee Contract:
5. We agree that the base amount of my fee will be 25% of the net recovery if your claim is resolved before suit is filed, 33% of the net recovery if your claim is resolved after suit is filed, and 40% of the net recovery if your claim is resolved after two weeks before the first trial setting in the case. Net recovery means the total amount actually recovered minus the expenses incurred at the time of the recovery.
6. We agree that this base fee may be increased in 2 circumstances:
a. If your recovery includes an amount determined by a court or arbitrator to be a reasonable or necessary attorney's fee for my services and that amount is greater than the base amount, the fee will be increased to the amount determined by the court or arbitrator to be reasonable or necessary.
b. If you settle or dismiss your case before a court or arbitrator has determined the amount of a reasonable or necessary attorney's fee and the base amount is less than the amount of my regular hourly fee, determined by multiplying $300.00 by the number of hours I have worked on the case, the fee will be increased to the amount of my regular hourly fee. We agree that my regular hourly fee is reasonable.
7. We agree that my fee is contingent upon us obtaining a net recovery. Except as provided in paragraph 8 below, if there is no net recovery, you pay no fee and the amount of your fee is limited to the amount of the net recovery.
8. You have an absolute right to voluntarily settle your case at any time, for any amount of money. You also have the absolute right to voluntarily dismiss your case at any time. I am agreeing to make a substantial investment of my time and energy into preparing and presenting your case, with the understanding that you do not presently intend to either voluntarily dismiss your case or settle it for an amount insufficient to cover my fee. In order to protect my investment, we agree that if you take either of these voluntary actions and they result in a recovery too small to cover my fee, you will pay my fee even if you have to pay the fee out of your own pocket. This paragraph only applies if you voluntarily accept a recovery that is insufficient to cover my fee or voluntarily dismiss your case. If, for example, we lose the case, a court or an arbitrator makes an award that is not large enough to cover my fee, or we are unable to collect from the defendant, this paragraph will not apply and your liability for my fee will be capped at the amount of your net recovery.