Many clients that approach The Injury Lawyers know that they may be entitled to compensation. This may be due to a heightened exposure for personal injury claiming through advertisements and marketing ploys. This being said, many clients do not know the time scales and processes involved in a >personal injury claim, and many are reluctant to begin a claim without this understanding. This blog, therefore, aims to set out a brief overview of the system.
Many of the clients that have claims at The Injury Lawyers do so under the Pre-action Protocol for Personal Injury. This protocol dictates how many types of personal injury claims should be dealt with. In order to comply with this protocol, a Letter of Claim should be produced by your lawyer – this sets out all the circumstance of your accident, and the negligence involved on the part of the Defendant.
Once this letter has been sent to the other side, they have 21 days to acknowledge receipt of the Letter of Claim. The other side then have a further 3 months in which to investigate the claim. In many cases, these investigations are carried out by the Defendant’s insurers or solicitors. Once their investigations are complete within the 3-month time period, they should respond regarding a decision on liability. Liability means ‘fault’ – so they either admit or deny fault.
If fault is admitted then your lawyers should proceed with gaining medical evidence for your injuries, which may involve you being medically examined – this can usually be organised at a location close to your home and at a time and date convenient for you. Your lawyers may also start to gather losses information from you – for example, if you have you suffered loss of earnings, or paid out for treatment costs as a result of your accident. This information allows your lawyers to put a value on your claim for potential offers to be made once they are disclosed to the other side.
If liability or ‘fault’ is denied, the other side must support this denial with evidence. This evidence may then be assessed by your lawyer, and depending on this, a decision will be made whether your claim can proceed.
This may seem like a long process – especially is you are suffering financially. However it must be of note that once liability is admitted, applications for interim payments may be put forward on your case. Interim payments are payments which can be made to the Claimant before the conclusion of the case, these payments are then deducted from a final settlement later on down the line.
The above is a brief overview – so if you have any queries, legally trained advisors at The Injury Lawyers will be happy to take your call – contact us on our claims line at 0800 634 7575 – the call is free from a mobile or landline and our advice is given on a no-obligation basis.
