How Do I Collect Money Against Someone Who Does Not Have Insurance?

I was beat-up by a guy and incurred $10,000 in medical bills and missed two weeks from work.  I want to sue him but I cannot find a lawyer to help me.  They all want to know if the guy that beat me up has any money and when I tell them I don’t think so the lawyers lose interest.  How can I get money out of this guy?

You are probably trying to hire a lawyer on a contingent fee.   If a contingent-fee lawyer thinks a case is weak or that any damages won are not going to be collected he or she will not take the case because, like everyone else, lawyers like to get paid for their work.

You have two options.  You can hire a lawyer by the hour to sue the guy that hurt you.  Or, you can find a new lawyer (one recently out of school) who would be more likely to take a case where he or she is not likely to get paid.  You may have to front the filing fee and other out-of-pocket expenses.

How do you collect what you win?  You can get a court order taking a percentage of the person’s paycheck.  You can serve papers on the guy’s bank and take whatever money is in his checking account and savings account.  You can put a lien against his house.  There are other things you can do, but each of these things require more time and work by your lawyer.

In summary, it can be hard to collect money from someone who hurts you and either does not have liability insurance or does something that is not covered by insurance.  Most lawyers will give you a free consulatation to see if they can help you but to the extent that you need to hire someone on a contingent fee basis there needs to be some reasonable expectation that they will be paid.