Nearly every Kansas City personal injury lawyer, including our firm, works on a contingency fee. You pay nothing to start, nothing while the case is open, and nothing at the end unless we recover money for you. What follows is how that arrangement works, what comes out of a settlement before you see it, and what Missouri and Kansas require your fee agreement to say.
Key Takeaways
A contingency fee is a percentage of what the lawyer recovers for you. No recovery means no attorney fee.
Missouri Rule 4-1.5 and Kansas Rule 1.5 both require a written agreement that states the percentage and lists the case expenses that will be deducted.
Kansas requires expenses to come off the top before the fee is calculated. Missouri lets the agreement set the order, so read that line closely.
Medical liens come out of your share, so a lawyer's work reducing them matters.
How a Contingency Fee Works
The fee is a percentage of the recovery. If the case settles for $100,000 and the agreed percentage is one-third, the fee is $33,333. If the case recovers nothing, the fee is zero. You never receive a bill for the attorney's time.
That structure does two things. It lets someone with a broken leg and no savings hire the same quality of lawyer the insurance company has. And it keeps the lawyer's interest in line with yours, because the fee only grows when your recovery does.
It also shifts the risk. We carry the time, and usually the expense, of building the case. If a jury disagrees with us, that loss is ours. Insurers know a represented claimant can afford to wait, which is why negotiating with insurers directly tends to go badly for people who try it alone.
What Percentage Do Injury Lawyers Charge?
One-third is the most common starting point in Kansas City. Many agreements step the percentage up if a lawsuit has to be filed, and again if the case goes to trial, because the work multiplies at each stage. A 33 percent fee on a pre-suit settlement and a 40 percent fee on a verdict is a typical range.
Both states leave the number to the agreement but require that it be reasonable. Missouri Rule 4-1.5 lists the factors a court weighs, including the result obtained, the lawyer's experience, and whether the fee is contingent. Kansas Rule 1.5 uses the same factors and adds a right most clients don't know they have: on request, a Kansas court will review the fee contract and set a reasonable fee if the contract isn't.
Case Costs Are Separate From the Fee
Costs are the money spent to prove the case. Court filing fees. Medical records. Deposition transcripts. Expert witnesses, which in a trucking or catastrophic injury case can run into five figures for accident reconstruction or a physician's testimony about life care plans. Most firms, ours included, advance these costs and are reimbursed from the recovery.
Where that reimbursement comes out matters. Kansas Rule 1.5(d) requires all expenses to be deducted before the contingency fee is calculated. Missouri's rule only requires the agreement to say whether expenses come out before or after.
Here is the difference on a $90,000 settlement with $6,000 in costs and a one-third fee. Costs first: the fee is $28,000 and you receive $56,000. Fee first: the fee is $30,000, costs come out of the remainder, and you receive $54,000. Two thousand dollars, decided by one sentence in the contract.
What You Pay If the Case Is Lost
You will pay no attorney fee if your case is lost.
Costs depend on the contract, and this is the line to read before you sign. Some agreements make the client responsible for advanced costs regardless of outcome. Missouri's rule requires that a client be clearly notified of any expenses they will owe whether or not they prevail, so the answer has to be on the page. At our firm, you don't pay unless we win.
Ask it directly anyway: if we lose, what do I owe you? The answer should be a number.
What the Fee Agreement Must Say in Missouri and Kansas
Both states require the agreement in writing. Missouri also requires your signature. The document must state the percentage, or the separate percentages for settlement, trial, and appeal; the expenses that will be deducted; and, in Missouri, the order of deduction.
The rules cover the end of the case too. When the matter closes, the lawyer must give you a written statement showing the outcome and, if there is a recovery, the amount paid to you and how it was calculated. Kansas additionally requires that statement to tell you about your right to court review of the fee.
A fee agreement can't be contingent in a divorce or a criminal defense, and it can't be changed mid-case without telling you.
How the Settlement Is Paid Out
The check goes into the firm's trust account, not its operating account. From the gross amount, case costs and the fee come out in whichever order your agreement sets. Then liens.
Liens are the part people don't expect. A hospital that treated you, a health insurer that paid your bills, or Medicare may have a legal right to reimbursement from your recovery. Those claims come out of your share, not the lawyer's. Negotiating them down is real work, and on a case with a thick file of medical records it can change your net by more than the fee percentage does.
Two other things shape the final number. The first is the filing deadline, which is five years for most Missouri injury claims under RSMo 516.120 and two years in Kansas under K.S.A. 60-513. The second is your own share of fault. Kansas bars recovery entirely if you were 50 percent or more at fault under K.S.A. 60-258a, while Missouri's comparative fault rules reduce the award by your percentage instead.
Why Choose The Tourigny Law Firm LLC
Greg Tourigny founded the firm in Kansas City after earning his J.D. from UMKC School of Law in 2018 and interning with the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. His biology degree from Western New England University is put to use in a practice built on medical records and forensic evidence. He was named to the 2024 Rising Stars list.
Every case here is handled on a contingency fee with a free consultation and no upfront cost. Greg represents injured people on both sides of the state line, from car and truck accident cases to wrongful death claims, from the first call through trial when a fair offer never comes.
If you're deciding whether you can afford a lawyer, the first meeting is where you find out. It costs nothing. Call (816) 379-7240, fill out the form below, or reach us through our contact page.
