Contingency Fee

A contingency fee is a payment arrangement where your attorney is paid only if your case results in a settlement or court award. Instead of charging hourly rates or upfront fees, the law firm takes an agreed-upon percentage of the recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney's fees.

Origin

The term comes from the Latin contingere, meaning "to happen" or "to depend on." Contingency fee arrangements became widely accepted in American legal practice in the 19th and 20th centuries as a way to give injured people access to courts they otherwise could not afford. They are now standard in personal injury and toxic tort litigation, including asbestos cases.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Nearly every mesothelioma and asbestos-disease law firm works on a contingency fee basis, which means patients and families can pursue compensation without paying out of pocket during a serious illness. Typical contingency percentages in asbestos cases range from roughly 33% to 40% of the recovery, though this varies by firm, state, and case complexity. The written fee agreement should also explain how case costs (expert witnesses, medical record retrieval, depositions, travel) are handled, whether they come out of the recovery before or after the attorney's percentage is calculated, which can meaningfully change what the family actually receives. Because asbestos cases often involve both trust fund claims and lawsuits against solvent defendants, ask whether the same percentage applies to both, since trust claims usually require less attorney work.

Example Sentence

The family signed a contingency fee agreement so they would not have to pay any legal fees unless the mesothelioma case produced a settlement.

Related Terms

Retainer Agreement, Asbestos Trust Fund, Settlement, Case Costs, Wrongful Death Claim

Notes

• Read the fee agreement carefully before signing and ask the attorney to walk you through how the percentage is calculated and whether costs are deducted before or after the fee.
• Ask specifically whether the contingency percentage changes if the case settles early, goes to trial, or is appealed. Many agreements use a tiered structure.
• Request a written explanation of how recoveries from asbestos trust funds are handled, since these often pay smaller amounts than lawsuits and may warrant a lower fee.
• Keep a copy of every signed agreement and every periodic accounting the firm sends you; at the end of the case you should receive a written settlement statement showing the gross recovery, attorney's fee, costs deducted, and net amount paid to you.