Why are solicitors claiming 25% of my compo?

markola78

I had a car accident last week. hit from behind by a lorry. My car is totally written off and Im off work with my back so wanted to claim for my loss of earnings. I've phoned a few solicitors and they all say that if I don't win then there is nothing to pay but if they win they want 25% of my compensation as a fee on top of there legal costs. Feels like they get paid twice and a bit unfair!! is there any other way that I can do it and not have to pay out twice?

InsideInsurance

Because they are legally allowed to if you are using no win no fee solicitors. Your settlement is increased by 10% to partially compensate for this.

In the old days they'd get a success fee from the TP in a no-win no-fee claim but these were stopped in April last year.

If you have Legal Expenses cover on you motor policy then they will appoint a solicitor for you and these wont keep any of your compensation

OnanTheBarbarian

Some legal expenses policies are starting to charge clients or have an excess that applies to the same %, so using a legal protection policy is not always guaranteed to avoid this happening.

vaio

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Because they are legally allowed to if you are using no win no fee solicitors. Your settlement is increased by 10% to partially compensate for this........

Does the 10% uplift also apply to special damages?

more generally, it's worth pointing out that not all no win no fee solicitors take the 25% and some don't take any at all.

Nice clear cut liability like the OP looks to have will help

OnanTheBarbarian

10% applies only to general damages.

The 25% deduction should not come off any claims for pure financial loss, such as lost earnings, vehicle value etc, just injury related compensation.

Some firms will haggle on the % they deduct in order to win your business.

Aquamania

markola78 wrote: »

I had a car accident last week. hit from behind by a lorry. My car is totally written off and Im off work with my back so wanted to claim for my loss of earnings. I've phoned a few solicitors and they all say that if I don't win then there is nothing to pay but if they win they want 25% of my compensation as a fee on top of there legal costs. Feels like they get paid twice and a bit unfair!! is there any other way that I can do it and not have to pay out twice?

If you think it's unfair, don't opt for a no win, no fee payment basis.

Agree to pay them for the work they carry out, and then they will only get paid once ... whether they win or lose.

(If they win, they will usuallly ask the judge to order that the losing party pays their costs anyway, so net result is likely you pay nothing )


Edit: Why is your insurance company not claiming against the errant driver for your losses?

Quentin

Aquamania wrote: »

....Edit: Why is your insurance company not claiming against the errant driver for your losses?

Your insurance doesn't cover the losses mentioned here (earnings), or compensation claims for injury.

You would need to take out extra "legal cover" to be able to rely on your insurer.

loopdaloop

markola78 wrote: »

I had a car accident last week. hit from behind by a lorry. My car is totally written off and Im off work with my back so wanted to claim for my loss of earnings. I've phoned a few solicitors and they all say that if I don't win then there is nothing to pay but if they win they want 25% of my compensation as a fee on top of there legal costs. Feels like they get paid twice and a bit unfair!! is there any other way that I can do it and not have to pay out twice?

Go direct to the other parties insurer.
They will be interested in settling avoiding additional costs such as solicitors. In my experience they deal with you a lot fairer than all these ambulance chasers. Just make sure that you don't accept the first offer they give you and you should be able to negotiate it 30% higher. If in doubt, state that you have spoken to a solicitor who stated that you should be entitled to higher... to see what happens. If you are happy... accept. If not and you think you can get higher from a solicitor (minus the 25%) then go for them.

OnanTheBarbarian

If you wanted to pay the solicitor for the work done on an hourly chargeable basis, you would most likely end up worse off than letting them take a % of your compensation.

The standard costs paid to a solicitor in an injury claim worth less than £25k are only £500. This is why they charge a success fee.

Quentin

That reminds me.

Whatever happened to that racoon bert?

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

.......Whatever happened to that racoon bert?

Hibernating for the winter?