Affording a Civil Rights Claim

Answer:

As with any type of case, there’s always the question of, “Can I afford this?” One of the unique things about civil rights litigation is that you have more options as it relates to paying for it, unlike in a criminal case. You can’t take a criminal case on a contingency; it’s against the ethics rules. Civil rights is a little different. You have more flexibility.

In our office, generally there are some type of contingency component to a civil rights case. Sometimes there’s a little fee up front to mitigate some of the costs in printing and filing and experts and all of that stuff, but it’s minimal compared to the amount that would be pursued in litigation. Every case is different – it depends on the strength of the case – but we have so many more options. It depends on the evidence, for one. In civil rights litigation, if you are successful, under some statutes, there are what we call fee-shifting provisions, where the lawyer can ask the judge to order the other person be responsible for their attorneys’ fees and sometimes it’s statutorily required that the other person is responsible for your legal fees upon the successful litigation of the case.

You want to sit and talk with a lawyer. Every case is different. Sometimes there’s a little retainer up front; sometimes there’s a payment plan towards that retainer, and then the rest is handled with contingency, but every case is different. It depends on the strength of the case. It’s worth a phone call to the office to discuss with one of our lawyers. Some cases we take on pure contingency, if the case is that strong. You want to call one of our staff members, speak with them about your case, the facts of your case, and we can craft a plan to work with you regarding your civil rights violation.