Litigation Costs – Factors
When you suffer injury or loss as a result of someone else’s negligence you can get compensation. Such compensation can be done by filing a personal injury claim. Even with a lawyer contingency fee agreement, there are other costs that will result from taking your case to court. This article and a subsequent one will discuss the costs linked with taking your personal injury case to court (litigation costs).
When settlement negotiations and agreements fail, a personal injury case goes to court. Unfortunately, there are many costs linked to this. By definition litigation is “the process of resolving disputes by filing or answering a complaint through the public court systemâ€. There are many processes included in the litigation process and it can be very expensive. There are number of aspects that make litigation expensive, therefore, when a settlement offer is made, we link the costs. However, there a number of these factors linked to the expensiveness of litigation.
Factors Linked With Litigation Costs
Some of these factors include:
- Administrative fees – lawsuits use many documents and thus requires many services. These fees include the following service:
– copying
– delivery services
– message services
– transcribing of documents
– hiring a court reporter to take depositions
– making copies of transcripts or medical reports
– sending high priority documents
- Court filing fees – the cost of service of process is included in court and filing fees. While they amount to a few tens of dollars, during a trial the cost may get to several hundreds or thousands of dollars.
- Other expenses – out of pocket expenses are also incurred that add up. These costs are incurred by the lawyer and witnesses. They may include:
– travel costs
– renting of vehicles
– overnight stays
- Cost of time -Â one cost that cannot be matched is that of time. The amount of time it takes to resolve a personal injury matter is at least a year. And this is before the award is actually paid.
For legal advice and representation in your personal injury claim speak to a Vinson Law Office attorney.