Many people are naturally concerned that they will make a claim and the opponent, normally through their solicitors or insurers, will attempt to defend the case.
Winning a claim normally means the insurers pay for your injuries and losses as well as contributing toward our legal fees. This can leave them with a bill of thousands of pounds – so naturally they’re going to want to defend a claim where they feel they can.
It’s important to remember that insurers are private profit making organisations with a duty to their shareholders. To maintain their profits and keep their shareholders happy, they need to keep payouts down. So if they feel they have a chance at defending a case, they will likely take it.
If they deny liability, is it game over?
Not necessarily. We need to find out what their reasons are for the denial, and whether they have any evidence that supports their dispute of liability. We can then assess the prospects of the case and see whether we think we have a good enough chance at fighting the defence.
So it certainly isn’t game over, and it is common nowadays for the other side to try and deny liability for the reasons mentioned above about them keeping payouts down. If they deny liability, try not to panic too much in the first instance.
How does a denial affect my claim?
It normally means the process will be longer because we will need to fight them for the case. This means evidence gathering and working toward building a case with the view to issue court proceedings.
At any time, the other side still may try and settle the claim though. As I say, a denial of liability is common and it does not mean that the claim cannot go any further. It means we may need to fight them for it!
How likely is it that they will deny liability?
There is always a risk unless the case is so straightforward – like a rear end car crash accident. But one important thing to note is that the other site must make a commercial decision when it comes to disputing responsibility or not.
Most cases are submitted using an electronic portal system. If the other side denies liability, the claim falls out of this system. Now, if it stays in the portal system, we are only paid a low amount of fixed fees. If it falls out, we are entitled to much more fees as we have to fight them for it.
So if it is a fairly minor and simple case, the insurers may be better off just accepting liability for the case for commercial reasons to keep costs down. This new way of dealing with cases has been around for road accidents since 2010 but it was recently introduced for employer’s liability and public liability cases as well. So it now affects most claims.
