Personal injury claim

philip

After car accident had personal injury claim.have had one offer from 3rd party insurers, but injuries not healed.Just had second offer and my personal injury solicitors pushing me to settle.(Wish I'd read this part of the forum before and employed by own solicitor).
My question is do I have to settle at the moment and will I be jeopardising my claim if I refuse the second offer.I am aware of the likely range of compensation due to me.
And any further advice on the best way for me to deal with this would be appreciated.I am in the fortunate position of not being dependent on any money that will eventually come to me so again that is not an issue.

Crazy_Jamie

Well the short answer is no you do not have to settle (though there are potential issues in terms of liability for fees if your solicitor is working under a Conditional Fee Agreement and you go against their advice).

In terms of whether you would be jeopardising your claim, it depends on the facts of the case and how reasonable the offer is. If you reject the offer and then fail to beat it when you go to court (i.e. you recover less than the offer), you will become liable for a portion of the other side's costs even though you've won.

I take the point that your injuries haven't healed yet, but depending on the nature of the injury it may still be possible to accurately predict the prognosis period without the injuries having settled. It varies from case to case, so whilst generally it is a good idea to wait for the injuries to settle before valuing the claim, it is not always necessary or indeed possible.

The best person to advise you as to how reasonable the offer is at this point is your solicitor. We do not know the facts, the injuries, or indeed what the offer is, so we can't help you with that.

missile

If you feel the offer is reasonable I would settle now.

If you are unsure what to do, there is nothing stopping you seeing another solicitor and asking his advice. Most solicitors will give an initial consultation for free. Even if you do have to pay, it could be money well spent.

philip

Thanks for the replies.The injuries are the norm after whiplash but are hanging on and are quite debilitating.As far as I am concerned I am hoping that the insurers will pay for some more treatment so that in a couple of months perhaps after a further medical I will have a far better idea of the medium/long term prognosis.Then I will be in a far better position to come to a reasoned decision on the settlement.The whole thing started last August.
The PIS has been ok, but I suspect they are now looking to wrap this up to get their fees so I am a bit am not sure that i will get unbiased advice.
Without being silly about things, I wanted to know if I was within my rights to proceed as above.

Crazy_Jamie

philip wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.The injuries are the norm after whiplash but are hanging on and are quite debilitating.As far as I am concerned I am hoping that the insurers will pay for some more treatment so that in a couple of months perhaps after a further medical I will have a far better idea of the medium/long term prognosis.Then I will be in a far better position to come to a reasoned decision on the settlement.The whole thing started last August.

What's the current prognosis period? The approach you've described there is sensible if the prognosis is still uncertain, but as I said it is possible to accurately predict how long an injury will take to settle in advance. If your solicitors are pushing you to settle then they presumably take the view that they know (through the medical evidence) how long this whiplash will take to settle, and have valued the claim based on that, hence them thinking that the current offer is reasonable.

The PIS has been ok, but I suspect they are now looking to wrap this up to get their fees so I am a bit am not sure that i will get unbiased advice.
Without being silly about things, I wanted to know if I was within my rights to proceed as above.

What missile said about seeking a further professional opinion on this is a possible course of action, but before considering that I would talk over your concerns with your solicitors, and ask their advice on whether it is reasonable to proceed as you stated above. If they say that it isn't, then ask them for reasons why. They are there to give you advice but also information, and should be able to give you the reasons for their advised course of action. If you are not satisfied with the reasons that they are giving, then it might be an idea to look elsewhere for a second opinion.