A contingent fee is when an attorney charges dependent upon a successful outcome in the case. It is often agreed to be a percentage of the total recovery to the client. Such fee arrangements are often used in negligence cases and other civil actions but not for criminal defense or divorce actions.
Gastonia is a city in North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Gaston County. The population was 66,277 according to the 2000 census (35% of the population of Gaston County). It is part of the Charlotte metropolitan area, officially designated the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As the second-largest city (in population) in the MSA after Charlotte, Gastonia has experienced steady growth, with a population change during the 1990s of more than +10%.