No Win No Fee - advice please

Martin_R

:question:I have today been visited by a solicitor recommended by National Accident Helpline for a No Win No Fee case.
I will have no problem winning the case because the evidence I have is 100% watertight and the place I had the accident, the company had replied to me on three occasions in the week before I had the accident that it was going to be fixed. However, the way I had the accident was unavoidable by me, and though all of this sounds vague, unless I spend pages on here showing all documentation etc, then please bear with me.

Anyway, I had to sign some papers with a 14 day no charge cancellation starting from today.

I have read through the papers, as there were tons left with me, and as I was told, the solicitors take 25% of the win and if it fails, they woul claim from the £250 insurance policy they take out so I would never pay anything.
One thing I questioned was that one paper said that under new government rules in No Win No Fee cases, the claimant is guarenteed to get at least 65% of the awarded money.
I asked why this would mean 35%, not 25%, and they said that if you are awarded a certain amount, the fee would go up to 35%.

I'm wondering if I'm being taken for a ride, as I only have 14 days to cancel.

I have just seen a company called Claims 500, which guarentees you get 100% of the award and they claim everything from the losing party and never charge if you lose as they claim from their insurance.
Has anyone used a 100% No Win No Fee claim company where you get the award and nothing else whatsoever is deducted win or lose?

Any quick advice please would be really appreciated.

OnanTheBarbarian

Sounds like what you may have there is a damages based agreement, which circumvents the 25% cap that exists with conditional fee agreements (no win no fee).

Be advised that on top of the 35% they will take from your damages, they will also deduct the £250 After The Event (ATE) premium for the insurance policy they have taken out.

Do you have household insurance with legal cover? If you do, then forget using this lot and speak with the legal cover providers who should appoint a solicitor who will not deduct anything. Alternatively if you are in a union that may also provide a means of funding your claim.

There are not many companies that do not deduct a "success fee" when acting under a no win no fee agreement, but they are out there.

You just need to get it in writing that you will keep 100% of your awarded damages/ compensation.

Martin_R

Thankyou Onan for the reply.
I found at there are a lot of companies that do 100% compensation with no other charges whatsoever.
The reason for my post is because I know nothing in life is free, so wanted to see if anyone had used a 109% compensation company.

With regards to my home insurance, I didnt take out the legal part, as with whatever company I have had over the past 25+ years, I always did and never used it, but this time I didn't because I felt I didn't need it as never used it. Whoops!