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Often at the outset of a claim people will want to know how much compensation they are likely to receive. Solicitors can sometimes give very basic and straightforward estimates but at the outset you should be aware that it is impossible to value a claim with any accuracy.

Any value given is simply an estimate which cannot be relied upon. If you understand how claims are valued then you will realise why Solicitors cannot give accurate valuations at the outset.

So how are personal injury claims valued?
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For many reasons I imagine – but all generally revolving around one thing – legal expenses insurance (hereafter referred to as LEI)! For actual law firms like us, there is nothing more disheartening than when clients are taken in by this system and ultimately potentially deceived. LEI is a straight forward system but benefits usually only two groups of people – the insurers and solicitors!

Legal expenses insurance involves your insurers (like your car insurers) SELLING your details across to a solicitor who will then use a percentage of their costs to pay for your details in the first place. For example: a solicitor may pay your insurers £1,000.00 for your details which is then taken away from the amount of funds they have to run your case. The next question of course though is how does this make your claim go slower?

Less funds =  less phone calls, letters and less work being done on the case. Importantly – less fighting for the highest payout and therefore LESS compensation for you!
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Starting any claim can be a daunting prospect for many people; but, there always seems to be more reluctance and fear surrounding accidents at work as many worry it will affect either their current employment or their employment in the future. Hopefully this blog will put some minds at ease. If you have been injured through no fault of your own in the workplace, your injuries may be extremely debilitating and lead to losses that you just can’t afford.

Making a claim may well be the only option to take…

Pursing an accident at work claim should NOT affect your employment status as the law does protect you for making a claim. In most cases, if the company is quite large, employers may encourage people to do get a lawyer and make a claim. This is because all employers are required to take out insurance to cover just this type of thing, and many big companies will have been sued several times over. The majority of the time it is not that person you work with everyday that will be pursued, as most places just pass the letter of claim across to their insurers and it is them that deals with the entire process.
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Overtaking a vehicle can be pretty daunting even when you follow the Highway Code; however the number of accidents involving overtaking vehicles is significant.

The most common type of accident occurs when a vehicle is overtaking another and the vehicle being overtook attempts to perform a u-turn or make a right turn. Unfortunately, liability for these types of accidents are not always straight forward and each case is assessed on its individual circumstances. Most of the time it will need to be determined as to whether each party has made their intentions known to other road users and positioned their vehicles correctly.

It is very useful to obtain the details of any witnesses in any accident but in these types of circumstances, it can be an essential piece of evidence with regards to supporting allegations as to what signals were used or not used. Otherwise, it is often your word against the other party’s.
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Special Damages is something that can be recovered as part of a claim for personal injury compensation.

A claim normally comes in to two parts – General and Special Damages. General Damages covers the injury itself – the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused by them. Special Damages is for losses and out of pocket expenses caused as a direct result of the accident or your injuries.

Lost Earnings
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When clients approach us about making a whiplash claim, the most common question asked is usually “How much am I likely to get?” However, if you are still suffering with your injury it is very difficult to calculate how much you would be entitled to receive without obtaining accurate medical evidence.

Therefore, here at The Injury Lawyers, we obtain medical evidence on all cases so that we can accurately determine the amount of compensation you are entitled to.

You will attend an examination with a medical expert and they will provide us with a report which details your injuries and the time you are likely to be suffering for. This is called the prognosis and is what your injury claim will be valued on.
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This is something that we will all be familiar with due to this sort of topic being highlighted on TV. Reckless driving incidents are unfortunately becoming a daily occurrence with the most common victims being children and the outcome is often devastating.

I am sure you all remember the horrid accident in Leeds involving 10 year old Sabah Saleem who was crossing a road with her 3 year old brother Rayhan Saleem when they were run over in the middle of the road by a speeding vehicle, which, unbelievably, did not stop at the scene and sped away leaving both children for dead in the middle of the road.

Brave Sabah actually took the brunt of the impact in order to protect her little brother and therefore was in a more serious condition that her brother – however luckily they both recovered well.
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A common question I have been asked concerns how we can possibly take on cases on a ‘No Win No Fee’ basis – surely there are some fees along the way? So to address this question I decided to do this blog just too clarify how this does work and how ours may be slightly different from the rest.

The Main Points

No Win No fee, or its ‘posh’ name, Conditional Fee Agreement, allows us to pursue your personal injury claim without you having the worry of having to pay expensive legal fees. Having to cope with an injury that was not your fault is stressful and worrying enough, and we understand this and therefore do not agree that paying to seek compensation is right.
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“Reasonable” is one of those words that gets thrown around A LOT in personal injury claims and it can be quite confusing.

This blog focuses primarily on what is considered “reasonable” in regards to any losses you have incurred as a result of an accident, as this is the primary area where reasonable will be applied when it comes to considering things for a claim.

These types of losses are often referred to as “special damages” and can include things such as:
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Well preferably us! But here is a quick guide about what you should look for when you want to make a claim for personal injury compensation:

No Win, No Fee

If your claim is strong enough, a good lawyer will offer you a No Win, No Fee agreement. In principle this should do exactly what it says on the tin; if the case doesn’t win, you don’t pay your lawyers’ fees. However, make sure you read through any paperwork you receive thoroughly as there are some unscrupulous lawyers out there who may want to sting you with hidden fees. Usually it’s due to being referred through claims companies or insurers. But a good law firm like us can tell you that it really is true what we say – if your case doesn’t win, you don’t pay the fees!
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