Section 507-C:8 Contingent Fees.
I. In any action for medical injury, no attorney representing any party to such action shall contract for, charge or collect on a contingent fee basis any fee for his services to such party in excess of the following limits:
(a) Fifty percent of the first $1,000 recovered;
(b) Forty percent of the next $2,000 recovered;
(c) Thirty-three and one-third percent of the next $97,000 recovered;
(d) Twenty percent of all in excess of $100,000 recovered;
(e) Where the amount recovered is for the benefit of an infant or incompetent and the action is settled without trial, the foregoing limits shall apply, except that the fee in any amount recovered up to $50,000 shall not exceed 25 percent.
II. No attorney shall enter into such a contingent fee arrangement with his client without first advising the client of his right and affording the client an opportunity to retain the attorney under an arrangement whereby the attorney would be compensated on the basis of the reasonable value of his services.
III. Such contingent legal fee shall be computed on the net sum recovered by the client after deducting disbursements made in connection with the institution and prosecution of the client's claim and litigation.
IV. The contingent legal fee within the permissible maximum limits shall include legal services rendered in any appeal or review or in any retrial, but this shall not be deemed to require an attorney to take an appeal.
V. If, at the conclusion of any action for medical injury, an attorney considers that the fee limitations prescribed in paragraph I of this section are insufficient, he may apply to the court, with written notice to the client, for an increase in the fee, which the court, after hearing, may grant in such amount, if any, as is deemed reasonable under the circumstances of the case.
Source. 1977, 417:22, eff. Sept. 3, 1977.