What are case costs and who pays them?
Costs are out-of-pocket expenses incurred pursuing the case.
What they include. Filing fees. Service of process. Court reporters and deposition transcripts, which add up quickly. Medical and other records. Expert witness fees, often the largest item. Accident reconstruction. Investigators. Trial exhibits and technology.
Who advances them. Typically the firm, recovered from any settlement or judgment.
The clause that matters. Whether costs are deducted before the fee percentage is calculated or after. On the same settlement, that ordering changes your net by a meaningful amount, and it's frequently not explained.
Ask for an estimate of anticipated costs for a case like yours. It won't be precise, but the order of magnitude is knowable.
Ask for periodic accounting rather than seeing the total for the first time on a disbursement statement.
On the disbursement statement, every cost should be itemized. You're entitled to see what each charge was for.
Ask whether costs come off before or after the fee. That one detail changes your check. ---
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