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My wife's contingent fee contract states that a fee of 46% will be divided amoung councel as follows: class councel 9%, out of state attorney 23%,local attorney14%. What should be the total % withheld from my wife's claim?? My thoughts are that since the cc"s fee is to be paid from the amount the attorneys receive and the contract states 23% and 14% in attorney fees,for a total of 37%,that the total deduction would be 37%,plus expenses???
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Marie, we need your help. RadioRalph, my understanding was that if attorneys went with the 7th Amendment, the maximum they could receive from the client settlement was 40%. That 9% is embedded within the 40%. This is what i am worried about in my present situation. I received a letter from my attorney Saturday, May 10, that said nothing about what percentages attorneys would take. My attorney also referred my case to out of state attorney.
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Pretty sure as it's been stated before that the total amount they can charge you is 40% at lest if your read the PTO it specifically says you should talk home 60% of the total minus reasonable experiences. So from what I have read no matter what you signed the Judge has put a cap on the dollars they can withhold.
Go to the 7th site and download the PTO.
http://www.7thamendmentdietdrugs.com/news/
Thore
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I pulled this from the PTO,
1. Payment to attorneys shall be in accordance with the terms of any applicable contingent fee contract and applicable law, provided that:
a. The attorney or attorneys may not charge or collect a contingent fee that is, in the
aggregate, larger than 40% of the total Individual Payment Amount, for all Class Members entitled to participate in the distribution of such Individual Payment Amount, as computed before deduction of the Common Benefit Percentage Amount;
Bottom line here folks is unless you are Pro Se or have a different arrangement with your Lawyer at a lower percentage you'll receive 60 % of the balance due after 6.4 CC and 33.6 for your own Lawyer has been deducted.
They aren't suppose to take more than that.
Thore
Last edited by mthore43 (2008-05-13 12:22:15)
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Ralph,
As everyone else so far has said, the 7th settlement capped attorney fees at a total of 40%. That includes the common benefit fee which was recently set at 6.4%. This means your attorney was allowed to take no more than 40% (plus expenses) from any interim payment you might have already recieved and that he can take no more than 33.6% from this final distribution payment because the 7th will have already taken the 6.4% from it before your attorney even gets it.
It sounds like your wife's contingency fee contract for a total of 46% was what was originally agreed to when the claim was filed in the original settlement. Doesn't matter though, because as already mentioned, the 7th capped the maximum at 40% "in the aggregate" which means the combined total of common benefit fee and the percentage your private attorney is allowed to take can not total NO MORE THAN 40%. You may find, once you recieve the money, that this is what he did. If not, bring it to his attention and demand that it be recalculated correctly. If you already know he's planning to take more, give him a call now. You can easily determine the maximum amount you should be paying in attorney fees by multiplying the total amount of your compensation by 40%.
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First multiply your points by the point value and you will get the total amount you should receive from your settlement. Once you get that amount take 40% off for the amount your Attorney should receive including the common benefit fee. Then take off the amount that you received in the first distribution. The amount left over is the amount you should be receiving from this distribution other than the expenses charged by your attorney. I hope it all comes out OK for all of you.
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