In response to Nick’s post in which he asked why people do not call a lawyer, several responded that the cost of hiring an attorney was prohibitive.
Let me say this loud and clear: Most consumer lawyers will not charge you for a consultation. Further, most will not charge you for their services unless they win or settle the case in your favor, and then they will take their fee out of the settlement or award, not your pocket.
Lawyers charge in one of three ways: (1) hourly, (2) flat, or (3) contingency. (More on my own fee structures.) An hourly fee is probably the most common, meaning an attorney will charge you an hourly rate for the work they do. Pretty much anyone who has dealt with a divorce or other family law matter probably experienced an hourly fee structure.
A flat-fee structure is the next-most common. It is often used by criminal defense attorneys, who can reliably predict the amount of time and effort it will take to challenge a DWI, for example. I charge a flat fee for debt collection defense cases because there is no potential award that would allow a contingent fee.
A contingent-fee structure is common in consumer law and personal injury. A contingent fee means that the lawyer will be paid only if he or she wins. Contingent fees in personal injury cases are usually a percentage of the total. But most consumer protection laws give a successful plaintiff (the consumer) the right to collect attorney fees, so this usually becomes the measure of the contingent fee (this depends on how the case is resolved, since there may be no separate attorney fee in the event of settlement, for example).
If you think you have a case, please contact a consumer lawyer. Call one of the authors of this blog or look up a consumer lawyer on NACA.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
If FTC was so powerful why do debt collectors skate all over the law?Barrett Burke Wilson Castle Daffin & Frappier a houston law firm that collect debt has been trying to collect a 2000 discharge debt for some time now.They dont seem to respect the rules.We mailed these bad boys a copy of our discharge order Feb.2008,The Office Of Thrift Supervision mailed a copy to Midland Mortage Co who holds the discharged debt,that did not work.We wrote the FTC,that did not work.Our a bankruptcy attorney mailed them a copy of our discharge order,that did not work.You see the debt was sold to Aurora Loan Services by Cenlar Federal Bank right after our discharge in 2000.Wait,keep reading,Aurora sold the debt to Midland Mortgage in 2005,they all reported it on our perfect credit .This is Nov.2008 and we are about wore out.The Houston Chrnicle did an article on us ‘ZOMBIE DEBT REFUSE TO DIE’,google it.What Now?BBWCDF name has been changed to Barrett Daffin Frappier Turner & Engel(Super Lawyers).We just need a little respect,R-E-S-P-E-C-T thats all we want with our discharge order!!!
I submitted the following statement to Ask A Lawyer Online on this site, but it didn’t seem actually to be submitted. I am including the same question in your comment section
I hired an attorney to make up a retirement plan for my company. He had advertised on the radio and had an “educational seminar” for business people. His main business is in California, and we are in Washington where he as a rent-an-office. His $10,000 program was finally completed after many months, but it turned out to be unusable and was actually not legal in our state we were informed. We ultimately had to use another company to set up our plan.
We paid the California attorney but found a way to get some of our money back by reversing a couple of credit card bills. We had numerous conversations, but there was no satisfaction since they would not own up to preparing a plan that they should have known was unuseable for us.
His Disclaimer of Guarantee clause we didn’t notice when we signed says that whether or not we can use what he produced, he will get paid for his time. I argued that this disclaimer should not apply to incompetence or fraud.
Who is right?
John Fawcett
We do not have an “ask a lawyer” section on this site, and we have a policy of not giving legal advice on specific situations, in part because everything you say here is public and unprotected by the attorney-client privilege.
None of the authors are licensed to practice in Washington (or California, for that matter), so we would not be able to answer your question, in any case. You need to talk to a lawyer in your state. The lawyer database at the National Association of Consumer Advocates is an excellent place to find one.