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Personal injury
Over 3 million people in the UK are injured in accidents on an annual basis; in many cases someone else is to blame. If you have been injured and someone else is at fault our personal injury claims solicitors will be able to secure compensation for your injuries.
Personal injury law is complicated. It is important to instruct a qualified personal injury solicitor to ensure you receive the full personal injury payout you are entitled to.
When many people think of personal injury claims they immediately think of whiplash compensation. Over 70% of personal injury claims are related to neck injuries, usually caused in road traffic accidents.
Our expertise
Personal injury claims payouts
Personal injury claims can be very complex; there are many things to be considered for the value of your claim. Our personal injury compensation calculator will give you an indication of how much your claim is worth. However, please call our personal injury solicitors for a detailed assessment and potential valuation of your claim.
Compensation for injuries is awarded for two distinct things, special damages and general damages. General damages are specifically for your injuries and the pain caused, special damages are designed to cover your financial losses, this is for things like time off work, rehabilitation and costs relating to your care and recovery.
Guideline amounts for your injuries
Jeanette Whyman is a well-established figure in the clinical negligence field.
Funding
No win no fee personal injury claims
Many people worry about funding their claim. The personal injury claims we handle are on a no win no fee basis, or to use the official term a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
You may have seen television adverts where personal injury lawyers are talking about no win no fee in relation personal injury claims and wondered what this actually means.
No win no fee is a term for Conditional Fee Agreements or CFAs.
In simple terms a CFA is an agreement between us (a solicitor) and you where the risk of pursuing litigation, a claim or a dispute is shared. Each case is reviewed on its own merit and the solicitor will agree whether all or part of their proposed fees will be payable by you if the case is successful.
Personal injury trusts
A personal injury trust is a way of allowing you to ring fence your compensation lawfully and legitimately. If you are looking to make a personal injury claim or you have received compensation in the last 12 months then it will be relevant to you. Please see our guide to personal injury trusts for further details.
Compare no win no fee solicitors
It’s important you feel comfortable and have confidence in the solicitor handling your personal injury claim. We therefore encourage you to research and compare no win no fee solicitors, we’d advise you to look at their accreditations to assess whether they are recognised as experts in personal injury law. We’d suggest you start by looking at the Law Society and Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. The Law Society has produced an independent guide to help you choose the best personal injury solicitors.
Claims management companies
Many insurers encourage their customers to use claims management companies to deal with smaller claims, usually those for whiplash injuries. It is important to note that many of these companies do not use a solicitor; in these instances the claim will not be able to go to court should it need to, this growing trend has led to a significant increase in claims being undervalued, meaning you do not receive the compensation you are entitled to.
Case studies
Our client, a care home operator, came to us when they were told that they had no insurance for a number of personal injury claims that had been made by their customers and residents.
Read case studyPersonal injury claims process
Preliminary action
In order to start the personal injury claims process there are several things we will need from you to help us understand your case, these include:
Preliminary action
There are a number of things that our lawyers will need from you:
- Details of the accident: date, place and how it happened.
- Details of any witnesses and / or photographs that may have been taken at the scene of the accident
- Details of all injuries sustained including diagnosis and treatment.
Other items which are useful include:
- Proof of loss of earnings and any expenses as a result of your injury
- Any insurance documents – many people take out legal expenses cover as part of household or motor insurance
Working with our personal injury solicitors
Our solicitors will assess the evidence and then advise you if you have a claim for personal injury. The next stage is to understand how your claim will be processed. Our personal injury lawyers will let you know who will be handling your case, how long the case is likely to take and agree how often your case should be reviewed. Finally, and most importantly, our lawyers will discuss funding with you.
Funding your claim
There have been a number of recent changes to the way in which claims can be funded but do note that public funding (legal aid) is no longer available for personal injury claims. We will explain how much your case is likely to cost, how those costs are arrived at and, finally, what happens if you go to court but lose your case. We will discuss all the options listed below in detail with you:
- No win no fee: we can take on your case on a no win no fee basis (Conditional Fee Arrangements)
- Legal expenses insurance: you may be covered under your home, car or other insurance that will pay for all or some of your costs.
- Private funding: you can fund the cost of the claim yourself.
- Damages Based Agreements (DBA) means legal costs are based on the damages you receive. We can discuss the pros and cons of this type of funding with you.
Next steps
You will need to consult a medical specialist in order to ascertain the extent of your injuries. This can be arranged by our personal injury solicitor who will also use the resulting report to decide on the level of compensation you should seek. Our lawyers will then send a claim letter to the person, or organisation, responsible for your accident (the defendant). This will set out the nature and circumstances of your injury. The defendant should reply within three months (this gives them time to carry out the necessary investigations) either accepting or denying liability for your injuries. If they accept liability then our solicitor will aim to settle your case without going to court.
Settling your claim
Our solicitors will give you an indication of the value of your claim but you will need to discuss how much compensation you are willing to settle for. Once agreed, our solicitor will make a ‘Part 36 offer’ which is an offer to settle for the amount of compensation you agreed. The defendant can respond in one of three ways:
- Accepting your Part 36 offer;
- Respond with their own Part 36 offer; or
- Not accepting your Part 36 offer.
If the defendant does not accept your offer, or offers you a lower sum than you are prepared to accept, then our lawyers will advise you on the next steps which may involve going to court.
Going to court
If your case goes to court, the timetable will be in the hands of the judge. The court will let you know the date of your hearing and our solicitors will let you know what you need to do. The judge will then look at the detail of your case and make an award. Under normal circumstances you can expect to receive your settlement after about a month.
Personal injury claims time limits
As with all compensation cases there is a time limit for making a personal injury claim. It is three years from the date you were injured or the date you became aware of the injury, this is usually particularly relevant for industrial disease cases where the injury does not become apparent for several years. It is therefore advisable to seek the advice of solicitor as soon as you are aware of an issue.
We advise people all across the UK on personal injury claims but have a particular strength in advising people in Warwickshire and the West Midlands, including Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Leamington Spa and Warwick.
For a free assessment of your claim please contact our personal injury solicitors.