I recently went out to seek assistance with a law suit, and the attorney believes there are FDCPA violations... and as such drafted the enclosed agreement. I've never worked with an attorney before, so I want to be sure I'm not being taken advantage of... legal minds and senior members please review and comment... so I know what to question. A . You will pay an attorney fee of $250 with the signing of this agreement to cpver my investigation, my appearance and the opening of a file in the [County] case. I will bill for the rest of my time in that case at my usual hourly rate for defending consumers in state-court collection cases, $265, with paralegal time being billed at $65. However, I will only collect this additional fee if we recover from Plaintiff. The most you will have to pay out of your pocket for the County representation is $250. B. If we obtain a money recovery in any litigation related to this debt, I will calculate the hours I have spent on the entire matter, multiply that number by $265, and add $65 per hour for paralegal time. I will also add the amount of the money recovery to the amount of the debt which was cancelled and multiply that by one-third. The higher result (plus the $250 already paid) will be my fee, but only to the extent the creditor or its attorney pays us -you will not be responsible for any attorney fee out of your pocket other than the $250 mentioned above. C . You will also be responsible for costs, which may include electronic research fees, court costs (the FDCPA filing fee will be $350 and there will be $25 for certified mail service), filing fees, copying or duplicating at 14 cents per page (or the third-party charge, if applicable), deposition costs, including costs of transcriptions and fees of court reporters, fees incurred by experts, whether they become witnesses or not, and any other expenses incurred in connection with the legal services being rendered`on your behalf. I will not incur any expense over $250 without obtaining your approval in advance. I will send you backup for all expenses. I do not expect that we will have any significant costs in this case but if we have to depose someone on the other side it will cost at least several hundred dollars. D. You will pay the costs as best you can at the time they are billed to me. E. You agree that I will have an enforceable lien on any amounts or other benefits generated or available by suit, settlement, or otherwise for legal fees and all advanced and/or guaranteed costs. All such rights to fees and recovery of costs belong to me and may not be waived by you. F. Any amounts ordered by a Court to be paid as sanctions upon any opposing party or counsel shall belong to me. If you agree with the above, please sign below where indicated.
Translation: I you don't recover $10,000 damages in a case with a $1000 maximum damages recovery limit, you ain't getting a dime.
It looks to me like he/she doesn't want to take the case but can't come out and say "no." keep shopping.
You are on the hook for all "expenses" and these can add up big time. If you chose at a later date not to approve expenses then your attorney may leave you hanging due to their inability to advance the case and then you would have to proceed on your own. If you recover then you will have to pay all fees, expenses AND 1/3 of any money received. Not good in my book.... He also is going to retain all attorney fees and cost that may be awarded by the court....
I don't read it this way. He's saying his hourly fees are contingent on a "win": However, I will only collect this additional fee if we recover from Plaintiff. The most you will have to pay out of your pocket for the County representation is $250. Since FDCPA and FCRA allow for legal fees to be recovered from the defendant if you win, he gets his compensation that way. He get's a third of the sum of the award plus the cancelled debt as his contingency fee. I'm not sure I agree with the "cancelled debt" part, unless it's particularly large in this case. One thing I'd ask for clarification on is whether you'll get reimbursed out of the award of legal fees for the expenses he's charging you for up-front. This is not clear, but it almost reads like you won't, which is not appropriate IMO. "Legal fees" should cover ALL expenses: time, materials, depo, expert witness fees, etc. Why should you end up paying for this stuff out-of-pocket if "you" get reimbursed for it if you win? In other words, he's only charging you $250 for his time, plus all expenses as they are incurred. If he wins the case, he gets a third of the kitty plus his fees -- and you should get your expenses reimbursed as part of the settlement. This can work well for both of you if there are punative damages awarded; if not, you might be able to buy yourself a nice dinner somewhere. If he loses the case, you're only out the initial $250 plus the expenses you've already paid him for. (You might check with your CPA and see if those expenses are deductible in any way.) BTW, at 17 cents a page for copies, I'd be tempted to buy a copy machine and paper for him and tell him to use that for your copies. (Law firms consider their copy and FAX machines to be profit centers. There's darn little you'll find in a law office that isn't somehow charged back to a client. Their processes are extremely inefficient because they cannot bill investments made in running "efficiently" to their clients. If they could justify having a room full of scribes to make copies, rather than a copy machine, they'd do it.)
