A contingency fee is an arrangement under which a lawyer is paid a percentage of the amount recovered rather than by the hour, and is paid only if the case succeeds. Contingency fees are central to access to justice in medical malpractice litigation, because these cases are expensive and risky, and most injured patients could not fund the substantial expert and disbursement costs out of pocket.
In Ontario, contingency fee agreements are permitted and regulated under the Solicitors Act and its regulations, which govern the form of the agreement, what may be charged, and the treatment of disbursements and taxes. The arrangement shifts much of the financial risk of the litigation from the client to the lawyer, which is significant in a field where a case can take years and require multiple experts before any recovery is known.
Posts tagged Contingency Fees analyze how contingency fee arrangements work in Ontario and their role in funding medical malpractice litigation.
Yes, you can sue for medical malpractice in Ontario. The harder question is whether you should. After two decades of these cases, the candid advice for many prospective clients is to think very carefully before going forward, and in some cases, not to go forward at all.
Three 2023 decisions from Alberta, Ontario, and Newfoundland show why self-represented plaintiffs almost never succeed in medical malpractice litigation.
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