At Texas Truck Accident Lawyer, our ordinary contingency fee is one third of the recovery — 33⅓% — which is in line with industry-standard personal-injury fee arrangements. The rate rises to 40% if your case goes to trial, and our fee never exceeds 40%, including on appeal. A contingency fee is a percentage of the money recovered, rather than an hourly bill for the lawyer’s work.
If we recover no compensation for you, you owe no attorney fee and are not left with case expenses or medical bills connected to your case. Our no-recovery protection covers all three—not just the lawyer’s fee.
For federal cases, we charge a 25% contingency fee, except where applicable law limits the fee to 20%.
There is no upfront attorney fee. When we recover compensation, our attorney fee is always deducted first, before case expenses and medical bills or valid repayment claims are deducted from the recovery. If there is no recovery, our no-bills protection applies instead.
Are these fees in line with industry standards?
Our ordinary one-third fee is in line with industry-standard personal-injury fee arrangements. The American Bar Association describes contingency fees as often one-third to 40% of the recovery.
Industry-standard does not mean every lawyer charges an identical rate. Lawyers’ terms vary, and the ABA notes that a lower percentage can be negotiated when both sides agree.
Compare the fee at each stage, not just the starting percentage. Our 40% rate applies if the case goes to trial—not merely because a lawsuit is filed—and 40% is our ceiling, including on appeal.
If another firm’s agreement increases to 40% when a lawsuit is filed, 45% at trial or 50% on appeal, compare that schedule with ours: filing alone does not raise our fee, and our fee never exceeds 40%. Check the actual agreement when comparing firms; fee schedules are not identical.
What is the difference between attorney fees and case expenses?
The attorney fee pays for legal representation. Depending on the case and the agreed scope, that work can include investigating responsibility, reviewing evidence, dealing with insurers, negotiating a settlement, and presenting the case at trial.
Case expenses pay for outside costs incurred in pursuing the claim. A truck accident case may require crash reports, medical records, court filing fees, deposition transcripts, vehicle inspections, electronic truck-data analysis, or expert witnesses. Not every case needs every expense, and these are possible costs—not a quote for your case.
A dispute over how a crash happened may require an accident reconstruction specialist. A dispute over future treatment may require medical evidence. These costs are different from the percentage charged for the lawyer’s work.
Medical bills and valid liens or reimbursement claims are separate from both. Some medical providers, health plans, or government benefit programs may have payment rights that affect the money available to you when a case recovers. Which claims apply, and for how much, requires a case-specific review. Do not subtract the attorney’s percentage and assume everything left is yours to spend.
Is the fee calculated before or after case expenses?
Before. Our attorney fee is always calculated on the gross recovery and deducted first—ahead of case expenses, medical bills and liens. This is our fee policy, not just an assumption used in the example below.
Gross recovery means the full amount recovered before anything is taken out of it. In an ordinary case the fee is one third of that gross figure. If the case goes to trial, the fee is 40% of it, and no event takes the fee past 40%.
When you compare written fee agreements, check the deduction order as well as the percentage. Both affect the amount you receive.
How much would you receive from a settlement?
Your net recovery is the money remaining after the attorney fee, case expenses, and any medical bills or valid repayment obligations paid from the recovery.
Here is one worked example. The dollar amounts are hypothetical. They were chosen to show the arithmetic, and they are not a quote for your case, an expected result, an estimate of typical costs, or a prediction of your settlement. The order of the deductions is not hypothetical—it is our actual fee policy.
- $120,000 gross recovery. The full amount recovered, before anything comes out of it.
- Attorney fee, deducted first: one third of $120,000 is $40,000.
- $10,000 in case expenses comes out next.
- $70,000 remains before medical bills or liens.
- An assumed $15,000 in valid medical liens is paid from that amount.
- $55,000 is the client’s net recovery, with no other deductions.
Different recovery amounts, expenses or valid medical claims change the final number. Our fee-first policy stays the same. The example assumes no deductions beyond those listed.
A fee percentage is only one input into that final number. Our semi truck accident settlement calculator works through the loss categories that determine the recovery a percentage is applied to.
What happens if no money is recovered?
If we recover no compensation for you, you are not left owing an attorney fee, case expenses, or medical bills connected to this case. That protection applies if your case ends without compensation, whether before trial or after a trial with no recovery.
Those are three separate promises, because they are three separate kinds of money:
- Attorney fee: nothing. The fee is a percentage of a recovery, and there is no recovery to take a percentage of.
- Case expenses: nothing. Filing fees, records, transcripts, inspections and expert costs incurred in pursuing the claim are not billed back to you.
- Medical bills connected to this case: you are not left owing them.
This is our commitment to our clients, not a description of the law. A contingency-fee arrangement does not by itself erase a debt owed to a medical provider. Our protection goes beyond “no attorney fee unless we win”: it also covers case expenses and medical bills connected to your case if we recover nothing.
A case that does recover money works differently. Medical bills, health-plan reimbursement claims and valid liens may need to be paid from the recovery and can affect what reaches you. The assumed $15,000 in the example above illustrates that deduction. Our no-bills protection applies when there is no recovery.
What must a Texas contingency-fee agreement explain?
Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 1.04(d) requires a contingency-fee agreement to be in writing and explain how the fee will be calculated.
If different percentages apply to settlement, trial, or appeal, the agreement must state them. It must also identify the litigation and other expenses deducted from the recovery and explain whether those expenses are deducted before or after calculating the fee.
Our stated terms are a one-third ordinary fee, 40% if the case goes to trial, a 40% maximum including appeals, and attorney fees deducted first. Review those terms and our no-recovery protection with us before signing.
When the matter ends, the lawyer must give the client a written statement describing the outcome. If there is a recovery, that statement must show the amount paid to the client and how it was calculated.
Ask to have any unfamiliar term explained before you sign. A percentage alone does not tell you the full cost of representation.
Why do some federal claims have a 20% or 25% fee limit?
Our stated policy for federal cases is 25%, except where applicable law limits the fee to 20%.
Separately, federal law sets attorney-fee limits for covered claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. 28 U.S.C. § 2678 limits fees to 20% for covered administrative recoveries under § 2672 and 25% for covered judgments or settlements under §§ 1346(b) or 2677 after suit.
Those statutory limits do not apply to every accident lawsuit simply because it is filed in federal court. The type of claim and the governing law matter.
Five questions to ask before signing, and our answers
- What percentage applies to settlement, trial and appeal, when exactly does it change, and can it ever rise above 40%?
Ours: 33⅓% in an ordinary case, 40% if the case goes to trial, and never above 40%, including on appeal. Filing a lawsuit alone does not change the rate. - Is the fee calculated before or after case expenses are deducted, and is it taken on the gross recovery?
Ours: the applicable attorney fee is calculated on the gross recovery and deducted first, before case expenses, medical bills and liens. - Could I owe case expenses if there is no recovery?
Ours: you are not left owing case expenses if the case ends with no recovery. - If the case recovers nothing, who is left holding the medical bills connected to it?
Ours: not you. Put this question to every firm you talk to and get the answer in writing, because the answer varies from one agreement to the next. - Which expenses require my approval, and what written accounting of the fee, the expenses and the bills paid will I receive?
Ask for the approval terms in the agreement and for the closing statement Texas requires when a case ends.
Fee terms are one part of the decision. Our guide to when to hire a truck accident lawyer covers the timing and the evidence questions to raise in the same conversation.
Get a free case review
You can discuss your truck accident and our fee terms before deciding whether to hire us. Call (832) 250-4888 or request a free case review. Ask us to explain the fee agreement and expense terms for your case before you sign.
This article provides general information, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
No fee unless we win.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.