Stark & Stark has been offering contingent fees on construction litigation matters for over 20 years as a way of helping condominium and homeowner associations finance their construction defect cases. Stark & Stark’s construction litigation team works with clients to identify their construction litigation needs and identify the damages to be claimed under available insurance. We have relationships with experienced architects, engineers and contractors throughout the region who investigate and document the exact extent of damages to the community. Our initial site visit, meeting with our experts and preliminary evaluation of the association’s damage claims will be done at no charge to the association.
Our team has extensive experience in the evaluation and interpretation of insurance policies. We will review and interpret the association’s insurance policies and the policies insuring the developers, general contractors, subcontractors, design professionals and material suppliers and advise on the extent of insurance coverage available to repair the association’s damages. The preliminary evaluation of our initial impressions of the association’s coverage position will be done at no cost to our clients.
From our experience litigating construction and design deficiency cases for condominium and homeowner associations, we have learned that community associations generally do not have the financial capability to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) in attorneys’ fees based on billing at hourly rates. The problem is compounded when sponsors under-fund associations. The problem is further exacerbated when the association has to pay additional expert fees and costs. That is why, in addition to the option of hourly billing, Stark & Stark has been offering various contingent fee formulations as an alternative arrangement for over 20 years.
We are very proud of the flexible fee structures that we offer. The first structure involves cases billed as a full contingent fee with no hourly component or upfront cash payment. The second is a partial contingent fee formulation in which the client pays the firm a cash deposit and buys down the contingent fee. The third billing structure involves monthly payments of a fixed amount for the life of the case, plus a contingency. Our financing options can be tailored to meet the needs of each of our clients, and through our contingency fees we are able to provide quality services to efficiently and effectively present the strongest cases in their construction litigation needs.
