Explanation of Fees in Personal Injury Litigation
Explanation of Costs to Client
You have retained Bogoroch & Associates to institute proceedings to recover damages for the injuries you and your family members have sustained as a result of an accident. You will be designated as "the plaintiff" in these proceedings. The person you are suing will be designated as "the defendant".
General
In the Province of Ontario, a plaintiff who achieves any reasonable degree of success in his/her lawsuit is entitled to recover, from the defendant, party and party costs, in addition to any damages to which he or she is entitled. This happens whether your case is settled or proceeds through a trial to Judgment. The party and party costs are calculated according to a strict schedule of fees and disbursements and will defray a portion of our total legal bill to you. We will have an account to render to you at the conclusion of your case in excess of the party and party costs which will have been recovered from the defendant. By experience, and assuming a reasonably successful result in your case, the portion of our bill which you, as our client, will be responsible for will likely be in the range of 15% to 20% of the amount recovered for you, over and above the party and party costs. This is not a percentage fee. I am able to provide this estimate after a careful review and consideration of the costs involved in conducting personal injury litigation for our clients compared to the amounts recovered from defendants.
Re: Motor Vehicle Accidents after November 1, 1996: Bill 59
You should be aware that if your claim arises out of a car accident from November 1, 1996 onwards, to succeed with your claim for pain and suffering, your injuries must meet the requirements of the "threshold" set out in the legislation, and if during your lawsuit or at trial a court finds your injuries do not meet this threshold, you will not be entitled to recover any damages for your pain and suffering.
The changes to the law which came into effect on November 1, 1996 prohibits lawsuits for pain and suffering unless the accident resulted in:
- death;
- permanent serious disfigurement (for example, scars); or
- permanent and serious impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function.
Claims for pain and suffering are precluded unless you "cross" this threshold; however, claims for loss of income and loss of earning capacity are not affected by this "threshold".
It is extremely important to remember that if you are unsuccessful in your lawsuit, you will have to pay our total bill, and you may be required to pay a portion of the defendant's legal costs as well. If your lawsuit carries with it a risk, however small, that the case could be lost, rest assured that I will discuss these risks with you in detail so that you may properly assess the risks involved and make a decision about whether or not you wish to proceed further with your case.
In addition to the considerable time and effort which myself, my associates, law clerks and legal assistants will spend on your case as it proceeds, we will be required to expend considerable sums of money on the reports of doctors, accountants and other experts. In the normal case, these disbursements can vary between $1,000.00 up to $5,000.
If this is so, we will discuss it with you and make some mutually satisfactory financial arrangements. While no deposit is required, and while we are content to wait until your case is concluded to be paid, we do require our disbursements to be paid should you change your legal representation. We will, however, generally wait for our solicitor-client fee to be paid when your case is concluded.
Normally, we do not ask clients for any further forms of financial assistance with their lawsuit. We are content to await the conclusion of their lawsuit to be paid. However, on some occasions, we do insist on a financial retainer. If we reach a fundamental and serious disagreement with you over a settlement offer, we reserve the right to insist on a substantial financial contribution from you, before proceeding to trial. Also, occasionally a client will insist on proceeding with very risky litigation, against our strong recommendations. Again, in these circumstances, we always reserve the right to ask for a retainer prior to continuing with your case.
NOTE: Any deposit paid to us during the course of your lawsuit will be credited against our total account at the end of the case.
The explanation of fees deals with a lawsuit that is either settled or proceeds through a trial. It does not contemplate an Appeal. If, in fact, your case is one of the very few cases that proceeds to trial and is appealed, there may well be additional fees and disbursements involved. In those circumstances, we will discuss the approximate costs of an appeal with you.
GST
Since 1991, legal services are subject to GST. Unfortunately, this means we will have to charge you 5% on the fees charged (not the amount that you recovered) for this tax. We are advising you of this simply so you will not be taken by surprise by this additional expense which we must charge you at the conclusion of your case.
NOTE: This explanation of fees is designed to inform in a general way what your fees are likely to be. Fees can vary depending on the complexity of the case. The percentage fee can vary between 12.5 – 20% of the amount recovered. All clients are provided with written confirmation of the fees applicable to their cases.
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