Road Traffic Accident Gone Wrong... Help!

Legacy_user

Well, suffered a no fault road traffic accident back in 2004.
And my solicitor has let me down badly and i now dont know what to do.
All was going well until third party recently found some so called evidence in my involvement with a online community website.
I dont earn a bean from it, but the third party says that i have concealed from the court that i do and am running a business.
Im totally shocked and have told my current solicitor till im blue in the face that i simply have not, have friends and family backing also.
All goes to court next week and now my solcitor is telling me to withdraw my claim!
With 5 years of agony, stress and hospital treatment to try and get my health back on track.
And im not going to receive nothing!
Im so unhappy at the moment and now im stuck with the prospect of trying to find a lawer?
Health wise im still not brilliant and the stress is unbeleiveable as its been going on for so long.
Dont know which way to turn, a local solicitor has advised me to approach the local court wheres its going to be heard and have it deferred until i find another lawyer.
Also told that i am still entitled to compensation for injuries and i should arrange a meeting with my barrister.
But my solicitor just isnt interested no more.
Does anyone have any advice or a good comapany to contact?
Thanks all.
From a very worried member.

Quentin

Your case is clearly complex.

If you don't want to be represented by your present solicitor, then fire him and get a new one. If you want an adjournment you need to act quickly!!

SolicitorMidlands

Unfortunately it is not as simple as firing your solicitor. If you terminate the agreement with them (I assume this is a no win no fee) then their fees become your responsibility.

If you do not earn any money from this online community then I cannot see it being a problem.

How much are you claiming? What was your injury and what was the medical expert's opinion?

You need to get the Trial adjourned. However, it will not be easy to find another solicitor so I would attempt to get the firm that did act for you back on board. Write to the managing partner if you need to and if you feel they have been negligent, make a complaint through the LSC but ONLY after you have received a response from the managing partner.

sarahg1969

"If you do not earn any money from this online community then I cannot see it being a problem."

Unless there is anything on the website that implies you are undertaking any form of strenuous exercise or doing some kind of activity that you say you can't manage?

System

Many thanks for all your replies.

Quentin, yes is sure is a complex case, and my solicitor seemed to give up and loose interest some time ago now.
An adjournment seems to be the only thing i can do at the moment as i certainly dont want to waste courts time and i would think they would appreciate it, if i told the clerk.
And would have to do this first thing Monday morning.

SolicitorMidlands, Yes it was a (no win, no fee) at the time. If i terminate the agreement then i understand that there fees would become mine. But my current solicitor has now finally and basically told me that he wants to withdrawl the case and that if he doesnt hear from me asap regarding this then i will be representing myself.
I earn no money from this community, there is a donation scheme and that purely pays for the hosting fees. The donations never cover the full fee at times and some months not a single donation is not made anyway. And the full fees are payed by others. I was a founder of this community back in 2001 nearly three years before the accident happened.
To be honest i havnt got a clue how much i am claiming, its something that has never been discussed, only a rough figure of £35k was mentioned by Counsel back in 2007.
I have 2 injuries to neck and 2 to lower back and a serious case of whiplash that medical experts claim that will now be with me for life.
Still undergoing treatment in hosptials.
My medical expert claims i should of been out of work for at least 1.5 to 2 years but can not go back to heavy engineering.
Other party medical expert says i should of been out of work 3-6 months.
As far as im aware the trial only involves both medical parties but nto myself at present, my solicitor has not even said if he is attending.
Whatever questions i ask my solicitor he seems now to beat around the bush and only tells me what he wants to say.
He has been speaking to the senior parner within and they both agree on the outcome which is to withdrawl the case.

sarahg1969, Nope i do not earn a bean from this online community.
There is nothing on the website that implies i am undertaking any form what so ever.


At this point i really dont know what to say now to my solicitor.
But i must speak to the court clerk asap monday morning.
Dont know which way to turn.

jeppy

Its not really clear what you are doing and why the solicitor and his company have taken the decision not to represent you.

If they are totally wrong - there must be something similar to an ombudsman, so that you can claim costs against them for time wasting!!

I would not use them now as I wouldn't have faith that they would fight my cause!

Unless - Its a real misunderstanding and you may just need to have it out with them and find out why they feel that you are basically (reading between the lines from the above posts!) being fraudulent.

SolicitorMidlands

I would call and speak to the managing partner yourself and get the entire position confirmed in writing.

They make a complaint to the LSC. They will investigate.

Get the trial adjourned - ask for it to be re-listed to give you time to get another solicitor.

Request your entire file of papers from your solicitor - submit a formal request and then take it to a local solicitor to look over ASAP.

You are entitled to your file. If they say they are not then you must file a formal document which I will find for you (it's on my computer at work).

SolicitorMidlands

One last thing - did you submit tax returns for this online community? Have you told your solicitor about this from the start?

DaisyFlower

[Jay] wrote: »

My medical expert claims i should of been out of work for at least 1.5 to 2 years but can not go back to heavy engineering.
Other party medical expert says i should of been out of work 3-6 months.

If the accident was on 2004 and the longest that they say you should have been out of work is 2 years then surely you are back at work now albeit maybe in a different job. If so, then the "voluntary" work shouldnt make a difference.

However if 5 years later you are still claiming you cant work yet are able to run a site (regardless of paid or not) then I would think the TP solicitors are quite correct in querying this as they will say you failed to mitigate your losses re loss of earnings as are obviously capable of some type of work.

Did you tell your own solicitor you did this work? If you did, it seems strange that they are now pulling out so presumably they didnt know.

If your actual court date is next week you have left it very late to get an adjournment and the judge may not grant one.

System

Once again thanks for your replies.

jeppy, well im not sure what im doing as i have and did totally reply on the solicitor. And my solicitor has simply pulled out due to recent evidence of such website etc.
Have told solicitor till im blue in the face and argued every point he has raised, but he gave up some time ago.
Im not sure if there is a ombudsman that overlooks this type of thing, i will have to look this up.
I now have no faith in my solicitor and to be honest havnt for the last year, when i should of got a second opinion but with my recent circumstances and being a grey area moving cases i did not know what to do.
I still think there is a mis-understanding but as said my solicitor no longer in my opinion wants to know. He wouldnt even setup a meeting to talk about this and as he stated without causing further costs.

SolicitorMidlands, Not a bad idea, on Monday i will try and speak to the senior partner and get something in confirmed in writing. Sorry to sound a little dim but what is the LSC? Is this the Legal Services Commision?
Do i make a complaint or do you mean my solicitor will?
I will try and get the trial adjourned and relisted, but im not even sure still if it is a trial. My solicitor really hasnt told me any details.
I will try and request my whole file, if you do have a template letter just incase that would be great and much appreciated.
There is no tax returns for the website as its was simpply a personal event that was setup between several people and started as a or similar to a small social networking website.
At the time my solicitor did not know and i did not think to tell as it was simply a hobbie, nothing serious that started in 2001, 3 years before the accident.
So we were very shocked when this bombshell was dropped as to me it was no different than shall i say my social networking profiles.
Perhaps this is the problem, i have been very upfront and have told my solicitor everything and in all events after this accident.
Not before as i thought nothing was relevant unless asked.
I was involved in a business back in 2001 and which ended promptly in 2002 which i did tell my solicitor about, i think this is what the mis-understanding is about.

DaisyFlower, I have not returned to work yet as im still undergoing treatment and the fact im have been unable to find anything else as simply i dont have any other qualifications than mechanics. Its been difficult and no one will employ me on the basis that i can be very unwell 2/3 times a week. I am really stuck in a deep hole with my health. I have voluntary work lined up but i am not able to attend this until my psychological therapy has ended and everyone is happy.
I have always said and stressed to my solicitor that i can work but simply its difficult for me to find work. I have also mentioned that i have voluntary work lined up but depending on his advice as well. Which everytime i mentioned he would not comment.
It has already been in writing that all im claiming is compensation for injuries and 1.5 years loss of wages nothing else after 2 years after this accident!
My solicitor has only suprised me with the court date on Fri this week, and now a adjournment could be too late?
I was advised by another solicitor that i could a day before hand and that the clerk of the court would appreciate this as to the extent that court time is not wasted if someone doesnt show which im now worried my solicitor might not.
Strange thing is, i have not been requested to show which i find strange.


I will try first thing tomorrow morning and visit the court personally to try and get a adjournment.
Once again many thanks for all youre replies, as you have certainly given me some faith and advice on what to do next.
I was also told not to tell my solicitor about the adjournment until i have arranged and confirmed this, which is strange to me.

Crazy_Jamie

I must admit that I'm a little bit confused by this, and it sounds to me like you haven't been kept properly informed to be perfectly honest. You say that your solicitor is telling you to withdraw from the claim over you working via a website, but I don't see how that revelation (even if true) would jeopardise your entire claim. Even if it reduces your special damages for loss of earnings, you will still be due damages for your injuries. Even if those injuries are exaggerated through this evidence you will still be entitled to something based on what you've said so far.

Scenarios are running through my head that could lead to this course of action over this revelation. SM will probably the only one able to comment on this, but perhaps a Part 36 offer was put forward by the Defendant's Solicitors that you are now in danger of not beating, thereby making it unlikely that the Claimant's Solicitors will recover their costs? That would also make you liable for the Defendant's solicitors costs even though you would technically win, but you should have insurance in place through your solicitors that will deal with that.

Honestly I don't quite know. Without more information it's going to be very difficult to give you reliable advice. For now certainly request an adjournment from the court (this will need to happen whether it is Case Management Conference or Trial that is coming up) to give you time to get a new solicitor. Then get your file papers from your old solicitor and get them to the new ones as a matter of urgency. You definitely need advice in this situation from someone who is both legally trained and knows what's going on.

Do i make a complaint or do you mean my solicitor will?

You make the complaint.