Video Transcript:

Petrillo: Is it expensive to go to trial?

Goldberg: Well, it depends on the case. I mean we’ve had cases that have been a few thousand dollars to go to trial. We’ve had cases that have cost over $100,000 to take to trial.

Petrillo: And who pays that?

Goldberg: That is paid initially by the attorney. We will front the costs for all of our cases for our clients. It comes out of the ultimate settlement or the jury award at the end of the case, but that’s money that is part of the cost of doing business essentially.

Petrillo: What is the reason for those costs? If someone wants to know if they should go to trial or not, what would they expect?

Goldberg: You have to prove your case when you come to court, and for any kind of case. If someone is injured, a person can’t come into court and say, “I’m injured. This is what I have.” They will need to have a doctor who diagnosed those injuries, approved the basis of the diagnosis, the objective facts upon which they made their diagnosis, all of that costs money. These doctors, some doctors cost thousands and thousands of dollars to bring into court or to videotape them, just like we’re being videotaped right now.

Petrillo: Do you charge a client money to bring a case? How do you make that determination?

Goldberg: That’s actually governed by the state. Every attorney who does this, the fee is a contingent fee.

Petrillo: What does that mean?

Goldberg: It means we don’t charge clients any money up front, there’s no retainers, there’s no hourly rates. If the case is unsuccessful, if they get nothing or if they just abandon the case, they don’t owe us anything, there is no money back to us. When the case ends, if we are successful by settlement or by a jury verdict, then the case has a successful conclusion and our fee is one third. And it’s any costs that we laid out come off the top, we pay them together with the client, and then the rest is divided two thirds to them, one third to the law firm.