End Of No Win No Fee Working Class Screwed Again

MegaGun · 31 March 2011 at 2:59PM

The Justice Secretary will today promise an end to the "no win, no fee" deals that encourage unscrupulous lawyers to take spurious cases to court.

Kenneth Clarke will set out plans to force them to accept a 25 per cent proportion of the damages they win for their clients, rather than huge success fees.

Critics of "no win, no fee" arrangements said they deter defendants – often faced with cases for minor accidents – from fighting back against frivolous accusations.

Mr Clarke will also raise the maximum damages which can be awarded in small-claims courts from £5,000 to £15,000. He hopes the move will encourage more people to settle their claims through mediation – and without the involvement of expensive lawyers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/clarkes-no-win-no-fee-crackdown-2255922.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370985/Kenneth-Clarke-cracks-win-fee-lawyers.html

Views Against Reforms
http://www.casefunds.co.uk/news/?paged=2
http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/justice-and-civil-liberties/new-report%3A-scrap-legal-aid-and-reform-cfas-/
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/insurer-claims-public-will-pay-more-if-jackson-implemented

Normal people will be screwed again, if you don't have a very good legal expense insurance you won't be able to claim unless you pay upfront on a lot of claims.
The ATE Insurance policy that makes a claim risk fee is being scrapped.

25% ++++ VAT will be taken from clients damages..

Example
Client wins £4000
Solicitor will take £1200
So you only get £2800

I agree that success fees must be capped on claims a lot of solicitors have been making a pot of gold for quite a few years but car accidents are already fixed fees and that accounts for 75% of accidents.

Its typical of this government lets screw the working class.

The VAT man wins all way for every million taken from a claim 200k goes to vat man.

Conservatives promised when they got into power in May 2010 not to change the Legal system for personal injury what's happened they lied again and now they are about to screw us all yet again.

All I can say all the large solicitor firms are going to Human rights courts as it screws about 8 to 10 million people from claiming.

I nearly fell over laughing with the quote In future, lawyers will take a share of the damages awarded to the winner – the same as in the U.S.

The compensation payouts in USA are 3 to 4 times higher than UK and its stupid over there the litigation..

The Newspaper don't help with the !!!!!!!! about people making claims for sports days at schools & so on these claims are rubbish and go in the bin.

CrazyClum · 31 March 2011 at 3:39PM

You forget that if you have a road traffic accident that is your fault, some of these no win, no fee companies could be after you & your insurance company to get payout for sometimes non-existant health issues (like whiplash).

Jo_F · 31 March 2011 at 3:47PM

Good, it may just start calling a halt to the compensation culture that we seem to live in.

Taking some of the instances they use in the adverts....

Car accident... isn't this what you pay your car insurance for?
Accident at work due to wrong equipment..... have a bit of self responsibility, if the equipment is wrong, question it.
Slipped on a wet floor.... try looking where you are going.

R34GTT · 31 March 2011 at 3:55PM

Good, as all this litigation ultimately passes on to us through such things as ever increasing car insurance premiums.

Googlewhacker · 31 March 2011 at 6:37PM

its a good thing, stops frivolous claims being made.

FOURCANDLES_2 · 31 March 2011 at 6:39PM

Well as far as I am concerned this compo culture is obscene and costs us all in the end , having seen some of these guys in action most no fee no win are dodgy claims anyway.

littlerat · 31 March 2011 at 7:16PM

Hmmm...

I can see this from both sides. And things like slipping on a wet floor, well to me that's mostly your own fault.

However things like car accidents.. it won't just be the fraudsters who lose out. I actually have claimed for whiplash... in my case it was moderately severe, caused a reasonable amount of damage and it's been 15 1/2 months and the pain isn't yet 100% gone.

Jo_F wrote: »

Good, it may just start calling a halt to the compensation culture that we seem to live in.

Taking some of the instances they use in the adverts....

Car accident... isn't this what you pay your car insurance for?
Accident at work due to wrong equipment..... have a bit of self responsibility, if the equipment is wrong, question it.
Slipped on a wet floor.... try looking where you are going.

Your first example - yes, but I, like many people, can only afford 3rd party, not fully comp, so can get no help off my own for injuries - that's what the OTHER person's insurance is for, to cover you when they're an idiot who doesn't look where they're going. And generally you have to go through some form of solicitors for this to happen. Usually ones working on a no win no fee basis.

NeedsAdvice · 4 April 2011 at 10:15PM

CrazyClum wrote: »

You forget that if you have a road traffic accident that is your fault, some of these no win, no fee companies could be after you & your insurance company to get payout for sometimes non-existant health issues (like whiplash).

Just like the cash hungry lowlife who's car my wife slid into in the ice at about 2 miles per hour. the cars touched, not even bumped. my 6 month old neice was asleep in our car and didn't even stir. Not a single mark of damage on either car, the dirt wasn't even disturbed, yet somehow this persons 11 year old focus required £1000 of repairs and she has whiplash. Insurance company contacted us once over the phone to ask if the incident happened, and were told yes but no damage and we have photos. yet they settled without any further contact.

It would probably cost them more to fight it, so instead they give the green light to all these scumbags who are increasing all our premiums.

ukjoel · 4 April 2011 at 10:36PM

Most drivers have legal cover built into policies so this rule will have very little impact on whiplash claims.

MisterBrico · 5 April 2011 at 12:37AM

Anything to make these stupid claims harder the better. Sick of all the adverts when I'm watching my Jeremy Kyle in a day off

especially the woman with the fringe! We all know who I mean lol

On a more serious note I have an ex work colleague who is suing her own sisters insurance company for whiplash along with the 3 other passengers after her sister pulled out in front of someone and she admits they are all suing then splitting the money and going on holiday.

Don't know about others but I'm all for less fraud and lower premiums

Mrs_Ryan · 5 April 2011 at 2:45AM

I've got a whiplash claim going through at the minute for a very serious car accident that I was in that closed two lanes of the A1 for most of the day last year and I assure you, CrazyClum that my whiplash was far from non-existant, I couldnt move for a week and Im still in pain with it 6 months on...