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Old 05-08-2003, 12:08 PM   #1
Fencerider
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13 states consider proposal to limit certain personal injury contingency fees

Hey all, following is a clip I received from my Law.Com update this morning. Haven’t heard any discussion to this either around here or within ATLA and etc. Thought I’d pass it along for comment. I can appreciate it is obviously directed at shops that do volume insurance claims. I don’t know if it’s good or bad in that regard (either for the client or for business). In my little sphere (catastrophic injury/settlement of at least 2 mil.) I think it is bullshit, its just going to delay recovery an additional 60 days because we ain’t going to start sinking big cash into experts, 30(b)(6), and etc until we get beyond this 10% and 5% business.

Anyhow, my synopsis of the article:

Arizona was one of 12 states where petitions were filed Tuesday with lawyer discipline authorities to limit attorneys' contingency fees in personal injury cases that reach quick settlements.

The proposal requires attorneys for personal injury claimants to give defendants notice of their claim so they can make an early settlement offer. After a defendant is served with notice of the claim, it is then obligated to make an offer within 60 days to gain the benefit of the lower fees required by the rule. The defendant would be given an option of sending the offer directly to the client as well as the attorney.

If client accepts the initial offer, attorney fees are limited to the lawyer's customary hourly rates for time expended on the case. Fees could not exceed 10 percent of the first $100,000 of the settlement amount, plus 5 percent of any remaining amounts. Failure of the attorney to serve the required notice of claim would be subject to the fee limits set forth in the rule

In addition to Arizona, petitions were filed in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia. The first petition was filed in Texas last month.

The rest of the article can be accessed at:
Daniel Wise, Attorney Fees in Personal Injury Cases Targeted, New York Law Journal, 05-08-2003 available at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1051121852037
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