Personal Injury Claims – When And How To Claim
When Can You Claim For Personal Injury
If you have suffered an injury in any accident, regardless of whether these are major or minor, then you could well make a compensation claim in law. This personal injury claim will in principle be valid if someone (or something) else was, at least in part, responsible for your injury.
Personal injury claims cover those injuries caused by accident or medical / dental negligence, not those caused by violent crime, the latter being dealt with by the UK Governments Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
History of PI Claims
The compensation claim is nothing new, in fact it has been going on for years, but not in the form we are used to today. No, in the past it was all a lot different.
Loan Agreements
At first loan agreements were used, these being offered by the banks, these parties funding the personal injury claim. The problem here was that if you did not win, you still may well have a loan to pay for (for the solicitors time). The parties involved made, money, substantial amounts on every case.
However, as time went by, people started thinking that they did not like this process and thus this method petered out (at least in most cases, so make sure you don’t choose a company that uses this method).!
The Administration Fee
Once the loan agreement scheme had run its course, the next step was the ‘administration fee’, this being in reality a service charge for running your cases, the claim handlers receiving money from the claimant’s compensation.
This worked for a while until people realized that the solicitors dealing with THEIR injury claim were getting paid twice, once from the costs that the court awarded and second from THEIR compensation. This state of affairs could not go on forever and sure enough someone started offering 100% compensation, i.e. no reductions at all to the compensation awarded.
100% Compensation with No Win No Fee !
This is what was wanted and now what you can get, however, don’t take it for granted, always ask the question, ‘will you give me all my compensation money’ and if not walk away. Always also make sure that there will be no fee in case the claim fails as well, as otherwise you could be liable for a lot of costs. By the way, on this point, you must always be truthful with your solicitor, as if you hide any important facts from them and this weakens the case, this could effect the status of a no win no fee agreement.
To Avoid Any Problems Ask These Questions
-Is there is a loan agreement being used?
-Are there admin fees at all?
-Will I therefore get ‘all’ of the compensation money (i.e. 100% Compensation)?
Only if you get a YES to all of these questions should you consider using that personal injury lawyer.
Graham Baylis has been working with John Burrowes of PCB solicitors for a number of months and together they are busy helping make sure that people in Shropshire and the West Midlands get the very best help when making personal injury claims. Choosing the right personal injury layer can be difficult and this article will help understand what questions to ask. www.pcbsolicitors.co.uk
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