The attorney's fee: compensation for the work
The contingency fee is the attorney's own compensation for handling the case — calculated as a percentage of the settlement or award. It's earnings, not a reimbursement, and it's what the attorney keeps for taking on the risk and the work of the case.
Case costs: real expenses the case required
Case costs are something entirely different: actual out-of-pocket expenses the case genuinely needed. This typically includes expert witness fees, court filing fees, the cost of obtaining medical records, deposition transcripts, and similar litigation expenses. These are reimbursed, not earned.
A third claim unique to Texas: the hospital lien
Texas Property Code Chapter 55 gives a hospital a direct lien on an injury settlement when the patient was admitted within 72 hours of the accident. This is a separate claim on the recovery entirely — distinct from both the attorney's own fee and the ordinary case costs the law firm advances, and it has to be resolved out of the settlement before the client sees their final net.
Health insurer reimbursement rights, too
Beyond a hospital lien, health insurers often carry their own reimbursement rights against a Texas settlement. Like the hospital lien, this sits separately from both the attorney's fee and ordinary case costs, and typically gets negotiated and resolved as part of finalizing the recovery.
Who fronts the money while the case is pending
Commonly, the attorney's office advances case costs as the litigation proceeds, with reimbursement coming out of the eventual settlement or award. Liens and reimbursement claims are handled separately, often negotiated down as part of the overall settlement process, so it's worth confirming directly with a specific attorney how all of these pieces fit together in a given case.