Anyone used a lawyer to settle with ICBC?

[Elmore]

I am sure there are a ton of people with plenty of experience with this sort of thing.
I was in an accident a while back and ICBC is pushing to settle and of course everyone and their dog who knows me is suggesting that they are completely lowballing. My main concern has always been my health as it was in my only other accident more than 20 years ago when I settled without a lawyer.

But I am rethinking things in terms of whether or not to hire a lawyer...especially since I am not where I was before the accident and am losing faith that I ever will be.

When a lawyer works on a contingency fee, do they just get the agreed upon % upon settlement or are there other fees. And if so, is there a way to ballpark them in advance of signing an agreement.

 

[almost_anonymous]

Usually a contingency retain requires that the client pays all disbursements (any filing fees or other costs incurred except lawyer fees) but lawyer fees, in the agreed % are only payable if you are successful. In your circumstances it would seem that it is not a question of if you will receive compensation, but how much. While unusual, the % fee could be indexed with the amount of compensation, if certain benchmarks are achieved, the % fee is increased. It really depends on the agreement you make with the lawyer.

There's no harm in asking questions about fee arrangements, in fact it should be encouraged to avoid surprises and unhappy clients when billing time rolls around.

 

[badbadboy]

Never gone to battle with ICBC but I have with a former employer and a family law case. It has to be a pretty sweet case for any lawyer to give up their billable hours to take a contingency fee.

I had a pretty slam dunk case vs a former employer and my lawyer said he would only work on an hourly basis. Reason being when you get assigned a judge at the Court House you may get a Judge whose specialty has absolutely ZERO to do with your case. For instance you may get a newly appointed judge who worked corporate law and my case was wrongful dismissal; therefore he has no expertise about HR related issues but more of mergers and acquisitions etc.

If I were you, I would ask a few lawyers you may have come in contact with in the past and ask their opinion on who to talk to about a potential ICBC case. Some will give you an hour for free and some will charge you. Worst case is you may end up spending $400 to see if your case is worthy of pushing ICBC. You never know, the lawyer may be able to sweeten the deal without seeing a courtroom.

Be prepared though if you do go to battle with someone with deep pockets they may stretch things out for a while and snow you with request for documents, affidavits etc etc. Basically trying to kill you with a million paper cuts which cost you $400 per hour to respond to in a timely fashion.

I was in an accident ten years ago that was a mere bump with the other driver. Zero damage to either vehicle. The other party attempted to sue me and ICBC. It was seven years before they eventually gave up. I hate to think how much it cost them before walking away with a huge debt and nothing more.

 

[Mr.]

Don't deal with those assholes at ICBC without one no matter how major or minor you accident is. You should never have to go "represent yourself" with an adjuster - how absolutely wrong!!! Protect yourslf it's worth it - lawyers don't collect unless you do......

 

[bigguy]

Yo Elmore:

I am in the late stages of an injury claim arising from an auto accident in August 2009. Three months after the accident I retained a law firm (on contingency). I am much "LESS" than prior to the accident so I deserve compensation. Lower back, low impact injuries provide a statistical "precedent award" advantage to ICBC, so a lot depends on your particular details. Free to PM me if you wish to seek my advice. A reputable law firm would assess your accident circumstances and prior injuries. The firm may choose not to represent you. Good luck.

bigguy

 

[chilli]

Do not trust ICBC for even one second.

I had a very good friend who was rear ended - and the other party admited to 100% fault - and 5 yrs later ICBC still hadn't settled.

ICBC's whole strategy is to wear you down to where one day you just say fuk it and settle.

 

[Sucre]

ICBC is smart and cheap. They will lowball you, knowing that you do not have a lawyer. But if you get a lawyer, their contingency fee will often eat up the bulk of any extra money they get for you. Depending on how major the case and the risk as assessed by the lawyer their contingency fee will often be 30%, 40%, 50% with the higher fee if they have to go to trial and the lower if they settle, and the agreement will normally allow them to settle, or they will dump the case as the lawyer will lose if the case goes to trial unless you become a paraplegic, or brain damaged or the like.

Lets say liability is not in issue and the case is worth $100,000 after a trial. You get a lawyer, after some discouvery and medical reports ICBC will offer $70,000. ICBC knows you will pay your lawyer 40% so you end up with $42,000. If you do not hire the lawyer, after they give you a hard time and stress you out ICBC wil offer you $40,000, knowing you cannot get more without a lawyer and do not have expertise to take it to trial yourself. Now you say to lawyer take it to trial, yes you get 50% of $100,000 or $50,000, but trial will be 2 years away and trial will take say 4 or 5 days will consume an extra 80 hours of his time, at $300 /hour rate, it will cost the lawyer forgone billable hours of $24,000 but he will only receive an extra $10,000 for his effort, so your lawyer would not take it to trial unless he is confident he will receive after trial a lot more than his extra cost. ICBC also knows this and offers the lawyer settlements accordingly.

 

[bigguy]

WOW!!

What responses in a short timeframe from Elmore's initial thread!! (I expected his thread would languish into the "no interest" bin.) How incorrect was I. And I sense more responses when more normal-hours PERBites pickup on Elmore's thread.

bigguy

bigguy

 

[greatshark]

the max a lawyer can take is 1/3 or 33%.

Go get a lawyer. Any half decent lawyer will get you at least 33% more. You will not have to pay any of the disbursements out of your pocket, the lawyer will cover that, and take it out of the settlement at the end.

Do not represent yourself. ICBC will low-ball you, knowing that you have no recourse unless you go to court self-represented. If you do, good luck as the supreme court rules are quite complex for most individuals and even if you do go to court, there are all types of issues dealing with disclosure and pre-trial motions before trial. It is a steep learning curve, and most judges will be biased against you simply because you have no lawyer and will listen to ICBC's lawyer. I have seen it happen before to other people.

You don't need the aggravation. You will also be further ahead by using a lawyer and get one that goes to trial, as ICBC knows which lawyers fight them in court and which ones settle. The latter they give low settlement offers to knowing that the lawyer won't fight them.

 

[Elmore]

Thanks for the responses guys.
I had no intention of representing myself in court as my expectation was to settle way before then. All of the advice I have received from colleagues at work also led me to believe it was pretty rare to end up at trial even if you have a lawyer..as Borko mentioned.

I guess what I was looking to find out is if my case is in the 50K range and ICBC is also paying disbursements, then would I end up with $37,500? I understand each contract may vary but one guy said that the lawyer will charge for every staple and piece of paper used in a case. I am fine with that because even if 2000 copies are made and they charge a premium (like 10 cents per page), $200 is not a huge impact on my portion of the settlement. But this guy is trying to suggest that I would likely get dinged like 3 or 4 grand for those sorts of things which makes no sense to me.

 

[uncleg]

You might want to check what costs the courts allow. You'll find that lawyers are going to charge you $.25 to $.50 per page for copies and stuff like that. If you tax the bill then you can get that knocked back to the court rates. Also while 1/3 is the norm on ICBC claims, shop around, you'll find lawyers that'll go for less. The more clear cut your case is, the less experience your lawyer needs. The main thing for ICBC is to keep it out of court. Remember they have to pay for the lawyers on both sides. If your case is really cut and dried, deal with it yourself. Be prepared to do some pounding on the table and you should do o.k.

I handled my last two claims myself, tripled the initial offer on one claim and doubled the offer on the second one.

 

[Guardian Angel]

I am sure there are a ton of people with plenty of experience with this sort of thing.
I was in an accident a while back and ICBC is pushing to settle and of course everyone and their dog who knows me is suggesting that they are completely lowballing. My main concern has always been my health as it was in my only other accident more than 20 years ago when I settled without a lawyer.


I used an appraiser who gave me a half dozen quotes on the depreciation of my vehicle as the result of the accident. ICBC did not give me the so called depreciation cheque, but bumped my personal injury up to the amount I suggested from my appraisal. BTW, I never ever discussed the appraisal with them, Just put it on the desk so they could read the cover and then said we needed to discuss the personal injury payment amount. The appraisal cost me $300 and the claim went from $1500 to $7500.

G.A.

 

[Elmore]

Hey Elmore if you need the name of a good ambulance chaser. I can refer you to a friend, who says he's one of the best in the city

Hey...I appreciate it, but I have received a few recommendations here privately along with a few from those I know. Between the several that I have, I should be able to pick someone.