Injury Claims
The important thing for you to know is that the work that we carry out for you is FREE OF CHARGE TO YOU. If we succeed in getting you compensation, our fees will be paid by the Defendant's insurers. If we don't succeed, we won't receive anything.
1. The First Step is for you to send us an enquiry by filling out our web form. Alternatively you can contact us freephone on 0800 1 30 30 40.
2. Next, one of our friendly staff will contact you to take some initial details about your possible claim. That information will then be passed on to one of our experienced Leading Injury Lawyers, who will contact you at a convenient time to you to speak with you in more detail in order to assess your possible claim.
3. Based on the information that you give to our lawyer, if we believe that you have a injury claims worth pursuing, you will then either be sent our user friendly forms to fill out and return to us, or you will receive a home visit (in more complicated cases).
4. Once we have your completed forms, we will then handle your claim on your behalf. This is what will be done in the injury claims process:-
a) A Letter of Claim will be sent to the Defendant to inform them that we hold them responsible for your accident and injuries.
b) The Defendant or their insurers will then have 21 days by law to send a letter to acknowledge our Letter of Claim.
c) Once they send their letter of acknowledgement, they have a further 3 months to investigate your injury claims.
d) During these 3 months the Defendant's insurers / lawyers will communicate with us about your injury claims. We will keep you updated at all relevant times and, may require your input from time to time.
e) Either before or at the end of the 3 months investigation period, the Defendant's representative will either admit or deny liability for your accident and injuries. Sometimes, they will ask for more time and, we may agree to give them a short extension.
f) If they admit liability, we will then obtain your medical records and, arrange for you to be seen by an independent medical expert, who will then prepare his / her medical report on your injuries. That report will then be passed on to the Defendant's representatives in order to allow them to make their offer of compensation. Once they make their offer, if we believe that it is reasonable, we will advise you to accept it. If not, we will try our best to negotiate a higher settlement amount and, once we believe we have achieved that, we will advise you to accept their revised offer. The compensation amount that you finally accept (subject to deduction of any state benefits received by you as a result of your accident) will be paid by way of a cheque in full. That will conclude your claim.
g) If they deny liability, we will advise you whether or not court proceedings should be issued against the Defendant. If we believe that proceedings should not be issued, because of all the information available, we will advise you and, close your file. If however, we believe that proceedings should be issued, we will make all the necessary preparations and, then issue the proceedings.
e) Once court proceedings have been issued, your claim will go through the court procedure and, depending on the value of your claim, may take anything between 1 to 3 years to reach trial. During the court procedure, the Defendant may make an offer to settle your claim before it reaches trial. We will advise you on whether or not the Defendant's offer is sensible and reasonable. If so, we will advise you to accept their offer and, that will then conclude your claim. If not, your claim will continue and, finally be decided by the court at trial. At trial, if you win your claim, in most cases the court will award damages there and then. In more complicated cases such as medical negligence cases, it will fix a date for a further court hearing to decide the level of compensation due to you. In either case, once you receive your compensation, that will be the end of your claim.
Injury Claims Process
The possibility of pursuing your injury claims is assessed by us as follows:-
1. The First Step of our injury claims process is for you to send us an enquiry by filling out our web form. Alternatively you can contact us freephone on 0800 1 30 30 40.
2. Next, one of our friendly staff will contact you to take some initial details about your possible injury claims. That information will then be passed on to one of our experienced injury lawyers, who will contact you at a convenient time to you to speak with you in more detail in order to assess your possible injury claims.
3. Your claim may be worth pursuing as long as these points are
fulfilled:-a. You were injured in an accident which was not your fault.
b. The accident occurred within the last 3 years, or if it occurred more than 3 years ago, no more than 3 years have passed since you found out about your injury.
c. The person or company or organisation (the Defendant - eg the other vehicle driver, your employer, the store, the local authority, the hospital) responsible for your accident, must owe you a Duty of Care.
- All road users owe a duty of Care to other road users.
- Employers owe a Duty to their employees.
- Stores / public establishments owe a Duty to all who enter their establishment.
- The local authority owes a Duty to all highway users.
- Medical practioners owe a Duty to their patients.
d. The Defendant has done something or failed to do something which has breached their Duty of Care.
e. It is reasonably foreseeable that you would suffer injury or loss due to the breach of Duty.
f. Your injury and loss were caused by the breach of Duty and, have a not too remote connection to one another. In other words, if it were not for the Defendant's action / failure to act, you would not have suffered your injury.
