Texas injury lawyers commonly charge a contingency fee somewhere in the one-third to forty percent range, and many agreements step the percentage up once a lawsuit is filed or the case is set for trial. No Texas statute fixes the rate for ordinary injury cases. Your exact percentage comes from the agreement you sign.
The Percentage Comes From a Contract, Not a Statute
There is no state-set contingency rate for ordinary Texas injury and auto cases. The number is negotiated between you and the firm, written into the fee agreement, and it must be reasonable. That means two firms in the same building can quote different percentages for the same claim.
Because the number is contractual, comparing firms on percentage alone is a weak test. A firm charging slightly less that never files suit can produce a smaller net recovery than a firm charging slightly more that does. Compare the percentage together with the step-up terms and the expense treatment.
The only percentage that governs your case is the one printed in the contingency fee agreement you sign. Anything quoted on a website, including this one, is background.
Typical Tiers and Why They Step Up
Most Texas contingency fee agreements are tiered by how far the case travels. A claim resolved with the adjuster before any lawsuit sits at the lowest tier. Filing suit moves it to the next tier, and an appeal, or a case retried after appeal, usually moves it again.
The “step-up” is not a penalty for going to court. It reflects a real shift in the work: written discovery, depositions, expert reports, motions, mediation, jury selection. Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code §33.004 a defendant’s designation of a responsible third party is generally due 60 days before trial, which is one of many litigation deadlines that generate work which no pre-suit claim ever sees.
It also reflects risk. A firm that files suit is committing to spend far more of its own money on a case that could still end in a defense verdict.
Stage the case resolves
Range commonly seen in Texas
What changed
Settled before a lawsuit is filed
About one-third
Investigation, demand package, negotiation
Settled after suit is filed
Often around 40%
Discovery, depositions, experts, mediation
Tried to verdict
40% or higher under some agreements
Trial preparation and trial
Appealed, or retried after appeal
Highest tier in the agreement
Appellate briefing and additional trial work
Illustrative ranges commonly used in Texas injury practice. They are not this firm’s published rates; your tiers are set in your signed agreement.
Gross or Net: How the Fee Meets the Expenses
This is the single most overlooked term in a fee agreement, and it can move your net recovery by thousands of dollars without changing the percentage at all. The question is whether the fee is calculated on the gross recovery, or on the recovery after case expenses are subtracted.
Take a simple arithmetic example, using round numbers rather than any actual case. On a $90,000 recovery with $9,000 in case expenses and a one-third fee: calculated on the gross, the fee is $30,000 and the client’s share before liens is $51,000. Calculated after expenses, the fee is $27,000 and the client’s share before liens is $54,000. Same percentage, same recovery, $3,000 apart.
Neither method is improper, and gross calculation is common. The point is to know which one you signed, and to ask before rather than after.
What Filing Suit Actually Costs to Run
The higher post-filing tier makes more sense once you see what starts spending money. In Tarrant County a new civil suit carries a filing fee, a fee for for citation issuance, a fee for constable service, and a jury fee.
That is the inexpensive part. Deposition transcripts, treating-physician testimony, expert witness fees, accident reconstruction, medical illustrations, and mediation fees are where a filed case becomes expensive, and those are case expenses rather than attorney’s fees.
Tarrant County civil district courts sit at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun St., Fort Worth 76196; the District Clerk’s office can be reached at 817-884-1574.
Where a Percentage Is Not Simply a Percentage
A few situations complicate the arithmetic. If two law firms work on your case together, the fee is divided between them; you should never pay two full fees, and the division should be disclosed to you in writing.
Damage caps can also affect what the percentage is applied to. Texas places no cap on non-economic damages in ordinary negligence and auto cases, but medical malpractice claims are capped at $250,000 per claimant against practitioners under Civil Practice and Remedies Code §74.301, and exemplary damages are capped under §41.008 at the greater of $200,000 or twice economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000.
And, if a workers’ compensation carrier has paid benefits, its lien on your third-party recovery under Labor Code §417.001 et seq. is reduced by attorney’s fees under §417.003, which changes the arithmetic in your favor but adds a step to it.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Ask for the percentage at each tier, the precise event that triggers each step-up, whether the fee is figured on gross or net, and what an appeal does to the number. Ask the firm to point to the paragraph rather than describe it.
Then ask for a copy of the signed agreement to keep. You will want it when the settlement statement arrives.
Jim Ross Law Group offers a free consultation at 817-275-4100, at the Arlington office or by phone, and there is no fee unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 33% or 40% the standard rate in Texas?
Neither is a legal standard. Around one-third is commonly quoted for claims that settle before suit is filed, and roughly 40% is common after filing, but these are market conventions rather than rules. Texas sets no rate for ordinary injury cases. Treat any figure you read online as a starting point for the conversation and rely on the number in your own agreement. There are fee limitations when the U.S. government is a defendant.
Why does the percentage go up when a lawsuit is filed?
Because the work and the risk both change. Filing starts discovery, depositions, expert retention, motion practice and trial preparation, and it commits the firm to advancing far more money on a case that can still end with nothing. The tier structure prices that. Ask which specific event triggers the step-up: the filing of the petition, service on the defendant, a trial setting, or other.
Is there a legal maximum contingency fee in a Texas injury case?
There is no statutory percentage cap for ordinary negligence and auto claims. The governing standard is that the fee must be reasonable, and the agreement must be clear about how it is calculated. Different rules can apply in specialized areas, so if your claim involves anything other than a standard state court injury case, ask the lawyer directly how the fee is set in that context.
Is the fee taken before or after case expenses come out?
It depends on your contract. If the fee is calculated on the gross recovery, the percentage applies to the full settlement and expenses are deducted afterward. If it is calculated after expenses, the percentage applies to a smaller number. On a $90,000 recovery with $9,000 in expenses and a one-third fee, the two methods differ by $3,000. Ask which one your agreement uses.
If two law firms work on my case, do I pay two fees?
No. When firms associate on a case, they divide the single contingency fee between them, and the division should be disclosed to you in writing and agreed to. Your total percentage should not increase because a second firm became involved. If anyone tells you otherwise, ask to see exactly where the agreement says so.
What percentage applies if my case goes up on appeal?
Most agreements set a higher tier for appellate work, because an appeal means additional months of briefing and possibly a retrial. The exact number varies by firm and is often the least-read line in the contract. Ask what the appellate percentage is and whether it applies to an appeal you file or only to one the defendant files.
Does the lawyer still take the full percentage on a small settlement?
Usually yes, because the percentage is set by contract rather than by outcome size. The more useful question on a small claim is whether pursuing it makes economic sense at all once the fee, expenses and any liens are subtracted. A firm acting properly will tell you when the arithmetic does not work rather than pushing a claim that leaves you with almost nothing or nothing at all.
Can I ask for a lower percentage if liability is obvious?
You can ask, and clear liability with an admitted-fault rear-end collision is the classic example people raise. Bear in mind that clear liability rarely means clear damages; the fight usually moves to whether your treatment was reasonable and necessary. Any negotiated change to the percentage must appear in the signed agreement to mean anything.
This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Jim Ross Law Group, P.C., 2201 E Lamar Blvd #110, Arlington, TX 76006.