Much like other personal injury cases, workers’ comp cases are usually contingency fee based. This means that you are not required to pay any fees unless you win compensation in your case. If the attorney is unsuccessful in getting benefits, you will not be responsible for any attorney fees. Regardless, you will not have to pay any fees upfront whatsoever. If your claim is successful, the attorney will take a percentage of the dollar amount which is awarded to the injured worker.

The attorney bears the cost of preparing your case which they may or may not recover depending on the overall outcome of the case. These fees and expenses can add up quickly depending on the complexity of the claim and how much expert testimony is required. In many cases, attorneys will have to pay doctors for examinations and opinions. These doctors usually charge a high amount and it can be a long time before the attorney can actually recover these costs if at all. There are also court costs including court reporters which must be paid out of pocket by the attorney handling your case.  For more information about workers comp in Michigan, visit http://theclarklawoffice.com/workers-comp-attorneys/.

There is a set maximum which attorneys are allowed to charge, and much like the calculation for wage loss, it can be quite confusing. Take for example a worker who was injured on the job on January 1st, 2012. Suppose this worker seeks the advice of an attorney on April 1st, 2012 which implies that the injured worker is already owed 3 months of benefits. The attorney will take the necessary actions to get your benefits, but this usually takes a substantial amount of time. Usually the attorney will need to file a petition. After this, you will need to have medical examinations and opinions which can take even more time. Next, either a mediation hearing or a pre-trial will take place and finally a trial might be necessary. Before everything is all said and done another year could go by making it April 1st, 2013. The benefits have been accruing since the date of the injury making it a total length of time of one year and 3 months. The attorney fees are calculated based on this total length of time. An attorney is not eligible to receive any portion of the benefits going into the future, only the benefits which are still owed, which in this case is 15 months. If an appeal is necessary, this time will also be added to the previous total length of time.

The attorney is taking a risk when taking your case because if the claim is unsuccessful, he/she will be responsible for all the associated costs over the 15 month or longer period and will not be recovering any money for the risk. If the injured worker does win benefits, the attorney fee does a maximum rate. The attorney is entitled to 30% of the wages which are awarded from the date of injury, and as I stated earlier cannot receive a fee on the future benefits. There is also a provision stating that the maximum attorney fee is 2/3 of the state weekly average wage. Even if the worker is collecting 80% of the weekly average rate, the calculation for the attorney fee will be based on the 2/3 figure.