Before hiring a lawyer to handle your workers' compensation case, you no doubt would like to know how much it's going to cost you. Because of the way workers' comp lawyers usually charge for their services in Ohio, the answer to that question will generally depend on the amount of benefits you ultimately receive.
In Ohio, like in most other states, workers’ comp lawyers typically work on a contingency fee basis. In this type of arrangement, the lawyer takes a percentage of any settlement or award that you receive from the insurance company. Your attorney only gets paid if you win your case.
Unlike most other states, however, Ohio law allows injured employees and their lawyers to agree to an hourly rate instead of of contingency fee. If you and your attorney decide on this arrangement, you would need to pay for the lawyer's work regardless of whether you win or lose, but you wouldn't need to hand over a large portion or your settlement or award. An hourly fee arrangement would benefit you only if your case requires very minimal work on your lawyer's part.
Ohio is also different from many other states in that it doesn't set a limit on how much a lawyer can charge in a workers' comp case. However, workers' comp lawyers must have their fees approved by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC). Many Ohio lawyers seek a fee equal to one-third of your award or settlement, which will generally be approved if you've agreed to it in advance.
Before any work is started in your case, you should have a written agreement with your lawyer outlining what fee will be charged. If there is later a dispute between you and your lawyer over the fee, you can ask the BWC to resolve the dispute. When deciding how much you owe, the BWC will look at your fee agreement, along with other factors including how much of your lawyer's time and effort was required to get the results in your case. (Ohio Rev. Code § 4123.06, Ohio Admin. Code § 4121-3-24 (2019).)
The contingency or hourly fee covers the work your attorney puts in on your case. However, there are also out-of-pocket expenses your lawyer will incur in representing you and gathering the evidence needed to win your case. These costs might include court reporter fees (for transcribing depositions), expert witness fees (for a doctor’s testimony, for example), and charges for obtaining copies of your medical records
Usually, your lawyer will agree to pay for these expenses as they come up and then deduct the total amount from your settlement or award. Before signing a fee agreement, you should also discuss how costs will be handled in your workers' comp case—including whether you'll be responsible for those costs even if you lose your case.
Workers’ comp lawyers generally provide a free initial consultation to injured employees. At this meeting, you will have an opportunity to ask questions about your claim and decide whether you want to work with the lawyer. The lawyer can also give you an idea of whether your case is simple enough to handle on your own.
And if you’re still wondering whether hiring a lawyer will be a good investment, check out the results of our national workers’ comp survey, which showed that injured workers with legal representation won significantly higher settlements and awards, on average, than those who went through the process on their own.
