You may not be aware that from early next year, new protocols will be introduced in respect of how low value personal injury claims are handled and dealt with.
For claims worth between £1,000 and £10,000, solicitors and insurers will be on fixed recoverable costs of around £1400 split into 3 stages.
Stage 1 - £400 for the solicitor to prepare a letter of claim and send it to the defendant insurers who admit/deny liability
Stage 2 - £800 for where liability is admitted, the claimant obtains a medical report and the process continues with offers and negotiation of a settlement to a strict timetable and
Stage 3 - £250 for a paper hearing or £500 for an oral hearing and parties cannot agree a settlement and the case goes to trial (court)
Some of you may think that law firms and litigators already earn enough money out of handling claims, but when you take into account the disbursments that have to be paid, the number of hours spent on the file and the number of hoops that have to be jumped through to bring a case to a satisfactory conclusion, and the fact that it can take several years before they get paid, the amount on offer to take on low value claims really is an insult.
For many law firms, they will simply drop doing (if they have not already done so) low value work, and the chances are that even for those who specialise in the high volume low value work it will probably get passed to a legal assistance rather than get dealt with by a solicitor.
Many riders will have to depend on their insurers to fight their corner for them and I can see many cases being under valued and settled super quick just to get them off their books. The chances are that many claims will be paid out rather than investigated properly which is going to affect many claims where the rider believes they were not at fault, but that option to fight it is taken away from them.
This in turn is also going to reduce the choice of law firms available to those injured!
Or prevent lower paid people claiming for the time they have lost from work . . . if you get knocked off and loose a few weeks pay with a leg in plaster and the other party contests the claim you could end up having to take a significantly reduced level of “compensation” which is actually the wages you would have earned had you not been knocked off . . . so you loose out.
That’s not anything to do with the claims culture, that’s simply being put back, financially, into the position you would have been in had you not been knocked off.
It should not happen in reality. The more minor injuries are dealt with on what is called the fast track scheme, and these are claims usually with a total value of under £25,000. Claims which come in over £25,000 go onto a multi track scheme, and if there has been a substantial loss of earnings, then they should quite easily fit into thhis category.
In light of the publication of the Jackson report last week, one of the biggest and possibly most significant changes (subject to it all being approved) is that the right to charge a success fee is being removed on more difficult or prolonged cases, and so claimant firms and accident management firms will have the right to take up to 10% of the compensation award, and defendants will not get hit as hard as they currently do when they drag things out as a result of making flippant defence cases.
We have already decided that we will not be taking the 10% from clients, but there are many who will.
Many third parties company are working behind these cases, they collect data (insurance and claims papers) and study them, they are trying to increase the compensation amount as much as possible which is really a best attempt in the view of the customers (insurer). They provide this service for Personal Injury Claims, Car/Road Accident Claims, Accident at work etc, they can avail personal injury lawyers as well for the customer who needs.
People who are aware of the things they are entitled with, who track on with the affairs and most importantly who are leaded by the guidance of professional advice are always seen remarkably being compensated with all what they deserve and desire.
To the different facets of challenge that are faced during the sessions of arbitrary and justice need not always be in favor of the victim or in some cases not transparent enough to gauge where the case does leads him or her and will the right compensation be asked and paid by the accused or not.
I recommend Personal Injury Lawyers for all the individuals who are struggling with their life.
