What is a Contingency Fee?
No. That is the short answer to whether hiring our firm is going to cost you money while your case is open. We work on a contingency: no hourly billing, no retainer, no consultation fee. Our fee is a percentage of what we recover. If we do not recover, you owe us nothing.
That two-sentence answer is what most people need to hear first. But there is real detail behind it — detail that separates what you see on the settlement check from what ends up in your pocket. The Florida Bar rule that governs these fees, the case costs that run alongside the fee, the medical liens that come out before your net check is written — those are the pieces that actually decide what the case is worth to you at the end. I want to walk through each one the way I would sitting across the table with a new client in Bonita Springs or Fort Myers.
What Florida law actually says about contingency fees
Contingency fees in Florida personal injury cases are governed by the Florida Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct, primarily Rule 4-1.5. The rule sets tiered caps on what a plaintiff’s lawyer can charge as a percentage of the recovery. It also requires that the fee agreement be in writing, that the client receive a statement of client rights, and that the client sign both documents before the lawyer goes to work.
The Bar’s tiered cap structure, in plain English, looks like this:
- Before a lawsuit is filed (or before the defendant files an answer in the lawsuit): 33 1/3% of any recovery up to $1,000,000. Lower percentages apply to portions above $1,000,000.
- After the defendant has filed an answer, or after the time for an answer has passed: 40% of any recovery up to $1,000,000, again with lower percentages above that.
- If liability is admitted and only damages are contested, the cap drops back down.
- On appeal, a further percentage can be added.
Those are not numbers your lawyer invents. They are written into the Bar rule and they show up on the statement of client rights you sign. If a fee agreement you are reading does not match the structure above, ask why before you sign.
Two Florida statutes also matter to how the math works at the end of a case. The first is §768.81, Florida Statutes, the modified comparative negligence rule. After the 2023 reform, if a jury finds you 51% or more at fault for your own injury, you recover nothing. Anything from 1% to 50% reduces your recovery by that percentage. That matters for the fee because the fee is calculated on the reduced recovery, not on some theoretical gross number.
The second is §627.736, Florida Statutes, the PIP (Personal Injury Protection) statute. PIP pays up to $10,000 in no-fault medical and 60% of wage loss regardless of who caused the crash. PIP runs alongside the third-party claim and does not come out of the contingency fee, but the PIP carrier sometimes asserts a repayment right against the eventual recovery, which is one of the line items we negotiate down before the net check is cut.
Four contingency-fee scenarios from our practice
In our office, contingency fee questions break down into four common scenarios. None of them is unusual. All of them have a clean answer.
- The pre-suit settlement. Most of our auto cases settle before a lawsuit is filed. Demand letter, medical records, insurance adjuster, negotiation, settlement. In that posture the fee is 33 1/3% of the gross recovery.
- The case that has to go into suit. When the carrier will not pay fair value, we file. Once the defendant answers, the fee tier moves to 40%. The reason the rule allows the higher tier is that the workload jumps. Now there are depositions, written discovery, motions, mediation, and trial preparation. We tell clients this before we file, not after.
- The catastrophic case. When the recovery crosses $1,000,000, lower percentages kick in on the dollars above the threshold. On a large case the average fee percentage on the whole recovery ends up lower than the headline number.
- The shared-fault case. Under §768.81, the recovery is reduced by the client’s percentage of fault. The fee is taken on what is actually recovered, not on what the gross damages would have been if fault were not an issue. We talk through this on intake whenever a crash has any shared-fault component.
What the percentage does not tell you about your net recovery
The percentage is the part everyone focuses on. The part most people do not focus on, until the end of the case, is what else is coming out of the recovery before the net check is written. There are usually four buckets:
The attorney fee. The percentage we just discussed, taken off the top of the gross recovery.
Case costs. Out-of-pocket expenses the firm advanced. Medical records cost money. So do deposition transcripts, accident reconstruction work, treating-physician affidavits, court filing fees, and process servers. On a serious injury case that goes into suit, costs can run into five figures. At our firm those are advanced by the firm and reimbursed from the recovery. If we do not recover, the costs are not billed back to the client. Not every Florida firm handles costs the same way, so read the cost provision of any fee agreement carefully.
Medical liens, PIP repayment, and health insurance subrogation. Hospitals, surgeons, and health insurers (and Medicare or Medicaid if either paid your bills) have rights against the eventual recovery. Reducing those liens is part of what a personal injury lawyer does for the fee. A $200,000 hospital bill negotiated down to $60,000 is real money in the client’s pocket, and it is invisible in the headline settlement number.
The client’s net. What is left after fee, costs, and liens. That is the only number that matters to the family at the end. Any lawyer who is not walking you through the projected net before you sign the settlement check is doing it backwards.
The reason these cases are harder than they look is that the percentage is the easy part. The lien negotiation, the cost discipline, and the timing of the settlement (do we settle now at 33 1/3% pre-suit or push into litigation at 40% with a higher expected gross) are the parts that actually determine what a client takes home.
How this played out on a Naples case we settled
A case from our practice will make the math concrete. A client of ours went in for what was described as a routine abdominal procedure at a surgical center in Naples. During the procedure the surgeon nicked the bowel and did not catch the perforation before closing. By the time she made it back to an emergency room she had gone septic. She needed life-saving surgery, a colostomy, and a three-week stay in the intensive care unit.
The defense position at the outset was that perforation is a known risk of the procedure and that no one had deviated from the standard of care. Our position, after working with a general surgeon as a consulting witness, was that the standard of care includes a thorough post-operative inspection precisely because nicks happen. The failure to look was the breach. We worked that case along the I-75 medical corridor that runs through Lee and Collier Counties, pulled records from three different facilities, and built a damages picture that included the ICU stay, the colostomy reversal, lost income, and the long tail of future care.
The matter settled for $900,000. The fee on that case was the pre-suit Bar rule percentage because we resolved it before filing. Costs included the consulting surgeon, records from multiple facilities, and a life-care planner. The client’s net check, after fee, costs, and reduced liens, was a number she could live with for the years of follow-up care ahead of her.
I will not pretend every case lands there. Some do not. But the structure of how a contingency fee actually plays out on a real file is what that file looked like.
What to do if you are about to sign a contingency fee agreement
If you are sitting at a kitchen table in Bonita Springs or Fort Myers with a fee agreement in front of you, here is what I tell my own friends and family to do before they sign anything, mine included.
- Read the percentage tiers out loud. If you cannot say the pre-suit percentage, the post-answer percentage, and what happens above $1,000,000 without flipping back through the document, ask the lawyer to walk you through them on the phone.
- Read the costs paragraph twice. Look for who advances costs, who is on the hook if there is no recovery, and whether there is any cap.
- Ask for the Statement of Client’s Rights. Florida requires it. You sign it alongside the fee agreement. It restates the percentage tiers in plain language. If a firm does not hand it to you, that is a flag.
- Ask how liens are handled. Specifically ask whether the firm negotiates medical liens, PIP repayment, and health insurance subrogation, and whether those negotiations are part of the contingency fee or billed separately.
- Ask what the projected net looks like in a range. No lawyer can promise a number on day one. But a seasoned personal injury lawyer can give you a reasoned range and walk you through how each line item affects it.
- Take the agreement home overnight. Any firm that pressures you to sign on the spot is the wrong firm. We are happy to email a draft and let people sleep on it.
I have used this approach with clients for thirty years and I have noticed that the ones who walked through these steps on day one are the ones who, two years later, remember the case as a fair process rather than a mystery.
Key Takeaways
- A contingency fee means no attorney fee unless the lawyer recovers for you. No hourly billing, no retainer, no consultation fee at our office.
- Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5 sets the percentage tiers. The pre-suit number on most personal injury matters is 33 1/3% of the first $1,000,000, rising to 40% once the defendant answers a lawsuit, with lower percentages above $1,000,000.
- Case costs (records, depositions, reconstruction, filing fees) are separate from the fee. At our firm the firm advances them and they are reimbursed from the recovery if there is one.
- Medical liens, PIP repayment, and health insurance subrogation all come out of the recovery. Negotiating those down is part of the work the contingency fee pays for.
- Read the fee agreement, ask for the Statement of Client’s Rights, and ask the firm to walk you through the projected net before you sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I pay anything up front to hire Pittman Law Firm on a contingency?
No. We do not charge an hourly rate, a retainer, or a consultation fee. Our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you. If there is no recovery, you owe us no attorney fee. Case costs are also typically advanced by the firm and only reimbursed out of the recovery if there is one.
What percentage does a Florida personal injury lawyer take on a contingency?
The Florida Bar’s contingency fee rule sets tiered caps. For most pre-suit auto and premises cases the fee is 33 1/3% of the first $1,000,000 recovered. Once a lawsuit is filed and the defendant answers, that tier moves to 40%. Higher tiers apply to amounts above $1,000,000. The exact percentages are spelled out in your written fee agreement before you sign.
What are case costs and who pays them if I lose?
Case costs are out-of-pocket items like medical records, accident reconstruction, deposition transcripts, filing fees, and witness fees. At our firm, the firm advances those costs. They are reimbursed from the recovery. If we do not recover, you do not pay them back. Read your fee agreement carefully because not every firm in Florida handles costs the same way.
How does the contingency fee work if a doctor or hospital has a lien on my recovery?
Medical liens, PIP repayment, health insurance subrogation, and Medicare or Medicaid claims all attach to the recovery. Our office negotiates those down before the net check is cut to you. The fee is calculated on the gross recovery, then costs and liens are handled out of the remainder, and you receive the balance.
Can I switch lawyers if I am already in a contingency agreement?
Yes, a client can change counsel. The prior firm may assert a lien for the value of work it performed, which gets sorted out of the eventual recovery rather than out of your pocket. Before you switch, read both fee agreements side by side and ask the new firm in writing how the prior firm’s lien will be handled.
Talk to Pittman Law Firm Before You Sign Anything
If you were hurt in a crash, a fall, or any kind of injury caused by someone else’s carelessness, the consultation with our office costs you nothing and there is no obligation to hire us afterward. We will read the police report, look at your medical picture, and walk you through what a contingency fee would look like on a case shaped like yours.
Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
About the Author
David B. Pittman, Esq. founded Pittman Law Firm, P.L. and has spent more than thirty years handling personal injury cases across Southwest Florida. The firm represents injured clients across Lee and Collier Counties — Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Naples, Estero, Cape Coral, and Lehigh Acres — with offices in Bonita Springs and Fort Myers, and a particular focus on commercial-vehicle, complex-liability, and serious-injury cases.
David’s background includes The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, for his undergraduate degree; the University of South Carolina School of Law for his JD; an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell; and membership in the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
David has held a Florida real estate broker license for twenty-five years, a credential that shapes how the firm reads the property side of premises cases. The firm handles personal injury cases across Lee and Collier Counties, serving Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Naples, Cape Coral, Estero, and Lehigh Acres, with offices at Windsor Place in Bonita Springs (main) and Fort Myers (satellite). Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation.
The information on this page is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice for any specific case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Pittman Law Firm, P.L. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future matter. This page may be considered attorney advertising under Florida Bar rules.