Making a claim for compensation for an injury which you have suffered through no fault of your own, but through the negligence of a third party, is relatively straightforward. Some of you reading this may have been led to believe that a claim can take years on end and may think that it is not worth pursuing. Well, the reality is that although some cases can take a couple of years, others can be settled within a matter of months. In fact, if you instruct a quality injury lawyer who offers a quality and speedy service, your claim should be progressed at every available opportunity, and your claim can be done and dusted in no time at all.
Personal injury claims are governed by the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal injury claims. Your specialist injury lawyer will firstly collate all your accident details from you, and then produce a Letter of Claim containing all these details which is forwarded to the negligent third party. Under the protocol they are allowed a period of 21 days in which to respond to this Letter of Claim. Once they do this, they are allowed a period of 3 months to investigate your claim.
Now, before you think ‘3 months!?’ – It is important to note that this is the maximum period of time they are allowed to investigate your claim. If their investigations only take 3 weeks, they can admit liability after 3 weeks, and your claim can be settled much sooner. So really it depends on how proactive and efficient the other side are at dealing with your claim, and how much fight your lawyers have in them to chase up the other side.
Once liability has been admitted for your claim, the next stages involve collating all details of your losses directly relating to your accident, and then compiling a Schedule of Loss, and arranging a medical appointment so that a medical report can be compiled, and your injuries properly valued. Once these are ready they will be disclosed, with your permission, to the other side, and your quality injury lawyer will advise on the best settlement action for you.
All in all, your claim could actually be over in just a few weeks – but on average we say that a claim will last between 6 and 9 months. Still, that is nowhere near the 2 or 3 years some people believe personal injury claims can take.
If you want to instruct a quality injury lawyer who updates you every 14 days, always looks to progress your case at every opportunity, does not charge for their work, and can organise some free medical treatment – why not give The Injury Lawyers a call today to see if you a potential claim for compensation?
