2023 COLLECTION FEE SCHEDULE
$500.00 per hour
Our collection fees are typically a combination of contingency fees and flat fees. In many cases, we resolve your collection matter without litigation and our fee is simply a percentage of what we recover for you. If court proceedings become necessary, we charge a flat fee (see below) to prepare and file a court action. Once legal proceedings are commenced, we will attempt to resolve the collection without further litigation. In some cases however, further flat fees and/or hourly fees may apply and we will advise you and make recommendations accordingly. COLLECTION CONTINGENCY FEES Contingency fee agreements allow people to enforce their legal rights, including collecting bad debts, without having to put up a significant amount of money to retain a lawyer at the outset of the process. Also, whether we get paid, and how much, depends (or is “contingent“) on the results achieved. Our contingency fees are based on amounts we actually recover for you: • 25% of claims over $100,000; and • 30% of claims under $100,000 * For more information on whether your case is appropriate for a contingency fee arrangement please contact us at 604.688.7374 or email us at info@ellislawyers.com
Our advance lawsuit fees are inclusive of disbursements and apply only if court proceedings are required in Provincial or Supreme Court. Once a file goes to suit, we will require the following flat lawsuit fees.
FOR SMALL CLAIMS up to $35,000 our suit fee is a flat $3,500 and includes all litigation steps and hearings leading to judgment (except for a full trial):
Preparing, Filing and Serving the Lawsuit, including the disbursements
(Disbursements are the actual hard costs involved in filing and serving the lawsuit, which are usually between $500 and $600):
Obtaining Default Judgment (if no appearance or reply is filed);
Responding to application to a contestation and making application for payment out of court;
Obtaining Pre-Judgment Garnishing Order
In certain cases, we can obtain a pre-judgment garnishing order that will require the defendant’s bank to pay the amount of the plaintiff’s claim into Court pending the outcome of the litigation.
Attending at the Settlement Conference and/or Mandatory Mediation(s)
(If the lawsuit is defended);
(the remaining half of the retainer, $1,250) will be billed after either:
- a garnishing order and/or default judgment is obtained;
- the mediation or settlement conference is completed; and,
Note: If the matter proceeds to trial (which is happens in less than 1% of cases) a further flat fee of $2,500 will be required for preparing and attending trial.
The Client agrees to pay Ellis a Flat Fee equal to $7500 (the “Flat Fee”) which will be applied to preparing, filing and serving a Notice of Civil Claim in British Columbia Supreme Court, and a contingency fee equal to equal to twenty-five percent (25%) of any amounts recovered by the Client (the “Recovered Amounts”) from the defendant plus applicable G.S.T. and P.S.T.
If you have any questions about our fee structure, please call our office at (604) 688-7374 for further details.
Our advance lawsuit fees are inclusive of disbursements and apply only if court proceedings are required in Provincial or Supreme Court. Once a file goes to suit, we require the following advance suit fees.
Advance Suit Fee Requirements for Supreme Court actions over $100,000:
We require a $7500 recoupable advance lawsuit fee retainer (the Advance Fee retainer) made payable to our trust account against which certain flat fees will be charged for steps in the litigation. Typically, the Advance Fee retainer is applied as follows:
Preparing, Filing and Serving the Lawsuit on the Defendant(s),
Including disbursements, such as court filing fees and agent charges.
($1,250 will be billed after service of the filed lawsuit);
Obtaining Default Judgment,
If no appearance or reply is filed preparing, filing and serving the lawsuit, including the disbursements ($500 will be billed after filing the garnishing order); and,
Obtaining and Producing Document Discovery
($500 will be billed after filing the garnishing order);
Preparing and Conducting Examinations for Discovery (Depositions) of the Defendant; And attending at discovery of the plaintiff if required ($1,500 will after the conclusion of the discoveries) – and,
- the balance of the Advance Fee retainer will remain in trust and used as required, for other steps in the litigation;
- any unused portion of the Advance Fee Retainer will be refunded to the client, if the file is closed.
We will be happy to answer further questions about our fee structures. Please call our office at (604) 688-7374 for further details.
