No win no fee ?

[domaingenius]

Does anyone know a USA based lawyer who would take
a case on no win no fee, or even a share of the domain ?.
The"defendant" has deep pockets ,but whether he would
need to open them up would be up to winning the case.

DG

 

[jberryhill]

Contingency fee arrangements work when there is a prospect of a monetary damage award. If your situation is that you are defending your registration and use of a domain name, there is no "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" on which to base a contingency fee arrangement.

 

[Theo]

John, I think he referred to a "defendant" so it can't be him. But I don't know how one would expect a "no win, no fee" situation.

 

[jberryhill]

In a declaratory judgment action, the trademark claimant is the defendant.

 

[tekz999]

How is "Contingency fee arrangements" based?

 

[domaingenius]

Just to elaborate without being specific for obvious reasons. I lost one
domain name at UDRP. It is that one for which I seek a Lawyer on
what I called "no win no fee" or as you call "contigency fee" basis.
If I recover the domain, which given the parallel with barcelona.com
I think I would ,then there would hopefully be a pot of legal costs
from the other side I guess. It maybe that we also sold the
domain name but depends on discussions .

The other one I mentioned is where a UDRP has been filed but not
decided. On that one I do have a lawyer in Germany on no win
no fee basis.

So I guess from what you say my chances of contingency fee
are 0 . The problem is I dont want to start a fight that I could
not afford to finish if the opponent dragged it out with appeals
etc , unless I could deal with it in person. Since im not in
USA I dont know if Court would allow it to be dealt with "on paper"
or with telephone conference as Court in PA did ??.

DG

 

[jberryhill]

I think I would ,then there would hopefully be a pot of legal costs
from the other side I guess.

Awards of attorney's fees in US courts are extremely rare.

or even a share of the domain

Yah... I took a UDRP case like that a few years ago. Guy decided not to sell the domain name. Got about a week's work out of me for free.

These sorts of arrangements are typical in personal injury cases. PI lawyers pretty much know the insurance company settlement tables, and have a good idea what they can get when you come limping through the door. So, they agree to take 45% of the "recovery", after deducting "expenses" for their buddy the doctor, their cousin the x-ray technician, and their sister-in-law the physical therapist, who are all going to be hired to "build your case".

 

[domaingenius]

Yah... I took a UDRP case like that a few years ago. Guy decided not to sell the domain name. Got about a week's work out of me for free.
.

John

So how about another one , lol. ?. But seriously with some kind of inbuilt
protection.

DG

 

[jberryhill]

So how about another one , lol. ?. But seriously with some kind of inbuilt
protection.

I had someone contact me a few months ago about a UDRP. I provided an estimate and he said he'd pay me half upfront and the other half if I won the case. I suggested he pay the entire amount upfront and I'd refund him half if he lost. He wasn't comfortable with that. The funny thing was that the domain name was registered to a psuedonym, and he wouldn't even tell me who he really was. Yah.

A large firm might be able to support a lawyer who is off chasing rainbows. It gets expensive for a small firm or solo to do that.

 

[cyberlaw]

As John mentioned, it's pretty rare to see contingency cases in domain cases or similar matters. There are other similar arrangements that could potentially be made. For example, I occasionally have potential litigation clients that want some "guarantee" of results, and they propose one set fee winning the case, and a different (lower) flat fee is the case is lost.

I haven't really had an opportunity where it made sense to actually do it, but I could see how that would be attractive to folks who want to feel that their counsel is fully invested in the outcome, without necessarily using a contingency arrangement.

 

[domaingenius]

Well Eric how about giving it a go ?. I would be happy to
give you a percentage of the domain name sale and
it pretty much follows the well known Barcelona.com
case. I really dont think can lose because I think as soon
as the claim is issued they will roll over and talk.

DG

As John mentioned, it's pretty rare to see contingency cases in domain cases or similar matters. There are other similar arrangements that could potentially be made. For example, I occasionally have potential litigation clients that want some "guarantee" of results, and they propose one set fee winning the case, and a different (lower) flat fee is the case is lost.

I haven't really had an opportunity where it made sense to actually do it, but I could see how that would be attractive to folks who want to feel that their counsel is fully invested in the outcome, without necessarily using a contingency arrangement.

PM me of you wish.
DG