no win no fee lawyers

We have approached a win no fee lawyer to try and reclaim our deposit back from an off plan development that never happened. The lawyers want a large percentage of the costs we are trying to claim which we have no problem with. We thought that we had lost it so something is better than nothing. However they seem to be a bit cagey in what we would have to pay should they lose the case and costs be awarded against us. We couldn't afford to take the developer to court at the time and most certainly can't afford to pay a large amount of costs should they be awarded against us. Has anyone on eos dealt with these kind of lawyers. Also does anyone know the costs should we go down the route of paying up front for a lawyer to make the claim for us

I only know one person who went down this route over a very bad car accident in the UK involving the whole family and the car, and before someone jumps in and tells me this is Spain not the UK, yeah I worked that one out, anyway maybe these people work in the same way.

The costs that were laid out to proceed were agreed before any action was taken, the chap won the day and was awarded money due, but a couple of weeks later he got another invoice for quite a few hundred pounds more for an insurance policy that if the 'No win no fee' company lost the case, it seems they buy a policy to cover their losses, this person won the case but still the company wanted this extra fee because they paid for it in the event of losing,  no mention of this was made on the very first agreement date.

No doubt your case is worth quite a few more €'s or £'s then the car accident, and perhaps this 'Extra' policy rises the more the claim is, I don't know, and didn't even know they did this, but it does seem to make sense due to what lawyer will ever lose money?

Could be something worth looking into.

Shaz, it's a horrible situation to be in. You know you're getting ripped off but you can do nothing about it. Even the well known on here backtracked on what they had quoted me. Went from approx €2k to €4.5k for each stage of the process (appeals, supreme court etc). Plus they wanted 30% of the total award. When i asked to clarify, they became shifty and evasive. I'm surprised they get a good rep on here. All trust was lost and i think that is the key.

A typical percentage i have found is around 20-30%. The particular one that i'm using are going to take 20% of the total award. BUT they asked for a reasonable amount up front (low 4 figures). They keep me up to date with the process and will answer the phone when i ring and they answer emails within 24 hours every time.

My advice, for what it's worth to you, look into it.   

Use someone on a pay as you go basis and costaluz are well established with these cases, among others of course.  

Find the money, get a table of fees, ask their opinion of your case.    

On the negative side, it will take a long time so get started soon.    The result isn't a foregone conclusion so ask the advice of your case at the outset.  

Hope that helps.