Estimating the Cost of Your Lawsuit

Lawsuits cost a whole bunch of money.  Remember that joke, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it?"  Welcome to justice in America.  Based on my experience, I feel that even a relatively small case -- the kind of case you probably have -- costs between $20,000 and $40,000 to fully litigate.  In a recent "multi-party" case I was working on, one of my adversaries submitted an accounting for attorney's fees of over $200,000.00.

Does litigation ever get "cost effective?"  No.  As the amount at stake goes up, so does the cost of litigating over it.  What typically happens is people fight until they are unwilling or unable to pay anymore attorney's fees and costs -- and then they give up and settle.  Since litigation is generally a war of attrition, the "rich guy" usually wins.  But then again, the law of diminishing returns tends to kick in.  So, the rich guy doesn't come out ahead either.  Like I said, "welcome to justice in America."

Do I have any suggestions to make the system better?  Sadly, no.  

Law work is most often billed on an "hourly" basis.  Most attorneys (including me) charge for the time they expend working on your case and they require you to pay all costs involved.  The time we spend on your case includes phone calls, driving to court and depositions, research and writing, court appearances, etc.  Now, you may have a "contingency" agreement with your lawyer -- but these are the time considerations that determine whether the attorney thinks the case can be done profitably.

It is impossible to predict precisely what will be done in your case; and it is also impossible to say how long it will take to do each of the tasks involved. However, litigation follows a general pattern, so we can make some ballpark guesses as to what your case will cost you.  Remember, these are just estimates to give you a sense of what a case might cost.  In each category, the time and costs could exceed or even greatly exceed, the estimates given.  In addition, "difficult" is far from the "maximum," as there are many, many more things that could occur in a difficult or highly difficult case.

Item	Easy		Difficult		Comments
Initial client meetings/phone conversations	1.0	$250.00	5.0	$1,250.00
Document/Case review & research	1.0	$250.00	5.0	$1,250.00
Research and Draft Complaint	4.0	$1,000.00	10.0	$2,500.00
File and Serve Summons and Complaint		$500.00		$2,500.00	Costs only
Draft interrogatories, requests for admissions, requests to produce	3.0	$750.00	8.0	$2,000.00
Draft deposition notices	1.0	$250.00	2.0	$500.00
Further client meetings, discovery and document review and discussion	3.0	$750.00	20.0	$5,000.00
Draft discovery responses	5.0	$1,250.00	15.0	$3,750.00
Court status conferences, discussions with opposing counsel	3.0	$750.00	20.0	$5,000.00
Various correspondence	2.0	$500.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Attend depositions	8.0	$2,000.00	40.0	$10,000.00	2 @ 4hrs./ 10 @ 4 hrs.
Court reporter costs		$750.00		$7,500.00
Analyze documents produced by opposition	1.0	$750.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Make/Oppose Motion to Compel, meet and confer letters, etc.	`	$0.00	20.0	$5,000.00
Contacts with and preparation of Expert Witnesses		$0.00	15.0	$3,750.00
Expert Witness Fees		$0.00		$10,000.00
Attend Expert Witness Depositions		$0.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Court reporter costs re expert witnesses		$0.00		$2,500.00
Arbitration preparation/brief	3.0	$750.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Arbitration hearing	4.0	$1,000.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Miscellaneous motions/appearances		$0.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Make/Oppose summary judgment motion		$0.00	30.0	$7,500.00
De Novo and Status Conference	2.0	$500.00	2.0	$500.00
Mandatory Settlement Brief	2.0	$500.00	6.0	$1,500.00
Mandatory Settlement Conference	4.0	$1,000.00	8.0	$2,000.00
Trial preparation/trial brief	10.0	$2,500.00	40.0	$10,000.00
Jury instructions and other jury related documents	`	$0.00	5.0	$1,250.00
make/oppose motions in limine		$0.00	10.0	$2,500.00
Trial	8.0	$2,000.00	70.0	$17,500.00
Jury fees		$0.00		$1,750.00
Miscellaneous post-trial activities (not appeal, though)	2.0	$500.00	8.0	$2,000.00
	67.0	$18,500.00	399.0	$124,000.00