In most cases you won’t pay anything before settlement. We charge fees based on the amount recovered. If we don’t recover anything you pay no fee. We usually also pay the expenses associated with running your case until it settles. This includes court filing fees, the cost of expert reports, private investigators, etc. At the conclusion of your case we claim most of these expenses from the insurance company, so you only pay a small portion of them out of your settlement. In the very rare case where we cannot recover anything on your behalf, you become responsible for paying the expenses that have been incurred running your case. However, in an effort to minimize this possibility, we investigate liability fully at the outset.
In car crash cases, you will be required to pay for a portion of your treatment up front to the treatment provider. ICBC will pay the treatment providers directly, or reimburse you, for medication or treatment such as physiotherapy, massage, counseling, etc. They will not, however, pay for user fees up front. In other words, ICBC may pay $25 of the $40 physiotherapy treatment and the user fee is the remaining $15. This will be recouped by you at the end of the case, maybe years after the car crash.
In car crash cases, you will be required to pay for a portion of your treatment up front, to the provider of the treatment. So, be sure to obtain receipts for the portions you have to pay for out-of-pocket and give them to us, so that we can ensure those amounts are recovered at the end of the case.
For slip and falls or other types of personal injury cases, you may have to pay for your treatment up front and recoup those expenses of the resolution of your case unless you have extended health insurance purchased on your own or through your employer.
Hoogbruin & Company may be able to secure deferred payment plans with certain service providers (physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapist, psychologists, etc). This means, for instance, that certain Physiotherapists may agree to provide treatment on credit, secured by the funds that you will eventually receive in your settlement or Judgment. This may involve paying interest on the treatment. Ultimately, our goal is to try and get you the care that is being recommended even if ICBC refuses funding.
Be sure to obtain receipts for your out-of-pocket expenses and give those to your personal injury lawyer so that they can ensure those amounts are recovered at the end of the case.