Cea

No-win, No Fee, No Chance

Everyone will agree that there buy games no point in having laws if people cannot enforce them. It is pointless pre paid legal service have a right to compensation if you are injured through the negligence of another if it is impossible to claim the compensation to which you are entitled because you do not have the money it will take.

At one time the UK had a system of legal aid where at public expense the cost of legal proceedings in worthy cases would be paid for and then repaid from the damages payable when the case was won. Unfortunately that is no more. Weebles the UK legal aid (or public funding as it must now be called) is no longer available for personal injury claims. In its place a type of contingency fee system has been brought in which it was argued would finance the bringing of personal injury claims. This article will argue that this no-win no fee system is fundamentally flawed and indeed does not result in those who have been injured in an accident receiving a proper amount in compensation.

Think for a moment 1964 Topps baseball cards the large number of advertisements on television and in newspapers advertising providers of no-win no fee claims. From this it has to be clear that someone stands to make a lot of money from personal injury claims. Most of the advertisements are from claim processors who will themselves instruct solicitors to carry out the work. Another link in the chain which has to be paid for. The fundamental flaw however is in the definition of ' win '. Say I am queueing at traffic lights when another car runs into the back of me. There is no doubt whatsoever that I have a claim against the driver of that car who must pay for the cost of repairs and compensate me for my injuries. This will be dealt with by his insurers and as there is clear liability it is not a matter which is ever likely to have to go to court. Indeed it is only one or two per cent of personal injuries cases which lead to court action.

The only Spider-Man model therefore in the vast majority of claims is the amount of damages and compensation to be paid and there is not a question of whether there is a proper entitlement. In other words there is no dispute that something will be paid. For the lawyer therefore it is a win, win situation for which he is bound to get paid. Providing something is paid the lawyer can claim payment of a ' success ' fee at an inflated rate. There is no real incentive to make sure that I as the client receive the maximum possible amount in damages. In the example above the lawyer will receive much the same amount if I receive 100 for my injuries as if I've receive 100,000. Thus there is little incentive for him to fight for a proper and higher amount as this would be no more of a win and he would receive much the same in fees.

Another flaw in the system is the way that claims are settled by insurance companies. Any loss adjuster will put a value on a claim. Say in the example above it is 20,000. The insurance company are therefore willing to pay 20,000 to settle the claim. Who gets the money is of little concern to them. If they are told that the costs they have to pay to the lawyer will be 5,000, they will then offer 15,000 in settlement to the injured person. Obviously he will be advised to accept this by the lawyer.

So what is to be done. There is no legal aid and no-win no fee is going to mean that you do not recover as much as you could. There is only one answer and that is to deal with a personal injury claim yourself. It is certainly not hard to do so and all that you need is available online from websites such as href="legal-zone.co.uk">legal-zone.co.uk All that is needed is a proper letter of claim which can be downloaded for as little of 5. In the letter of claim you need to set out why there is liability and then to properly quantify the damages claimed. None of this is rocket science. With a little help and guidance anybody can deal with their own personal injury claim.

Andrew Dutton

href="mailto:andrew@legal-zone.co.uk">andrew@legal-zone.co.uk

posted by biibj @ 7:55 AM