RTA Personal Injury

janinibean

Hi everyone,

I was just hoping for some info/advice/experiences.

Yesterday I was involved in an RTA (not my fault), where I was hit from behind. My car is drivable but unroadworthy.

I have fibromyalgia as a pre existing condition, but started getting additional pain and symptoms within 30mins of the accident.

I've contacted my insurer and they referred me to a personal injury department (WNS Legal). I've since been contacted by the third party's insurer who obviously want to deal directly with me.

My thoughts/questions are:

A) if I deal with the legal team, who take up to 25% of the compensation, will I be able to claim those costs back from their insurance?
does anyone have any experience with likely settlement going direct or using a legal firm?
C) if I go with the legal team, they have an option to insure against the cost of legal fees if I lose. Will either be £60 or £240 (I'm assuming depending on whether it goes to court); anyone have any experience with this?
D) will loss of earnings as a result of the accident be considered?
E) are they going to try and wiggle out of it due to my pre existing condition?

Added complicaction is I'm employed in civil service (but used most of my sick pay after mental health issues last year), but also self employed taxi driver.

Tbh my brain is just swimming with all these phone calls/info etc I have to consider.

Thanks in advance

Aretnap

A No, the deduction from your compensation is not reclaimable. IIRC when conditional fee agreements of this type were introduced compensation levels across the board were increased allegedly to make up for this, though the increase did not cover the full 25%.

If you are a member of a trade union or similar organisation you may be able to get legal representation free through them. Or if you had legal expenses cover on your car insurance they should be providing a solicitor free of charge, but I guess you don't from what you say.

D Yes, keep records of all you're lost earnings. For taxi work you may have to estimate (with evidence) your average weekly income and use that as the basis for a claim as obviously you can't know what you would have earned on a specific night.

E No, if the accident worsens an existing condition you can claim for the worsening, just not for the condition itself. Obviously the question of how much of your symptoms are down to the accident does as a bit of complexity.

As it sounds like quite a complicated case I wouldn't suggest trying to deal with the third party insurer directly -ultimately they have their own interest at heart, not yours. A bit of money spent on legal representation will probably be well spent.

lisyloo

E) are they going to try and wiggle out of it due to my pre existing condition?

Look up the egg shell skull rule


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggshell_skull


which says they are responsible for the worsening regardless of your fragility
Will they dispute what constitues worsening and what is down to your consition - almost certainly, there are people employed specifically to reduce your claim.
If I were in your shoes I'd invest in good legal advice.

uk1

Hopefully you are a member of PCS? If so they offer legal support for personal injuries from RTAs

https://www.pcs.org.uk/about-pcs/member-benefits/helplines/personal-injury-compensation-claim-scheme

https://www.pcs.org.uk/resources/personal-case-and-legal-support/personal-injury/road-traffic-accidents

Good luck.

societys_child

I have fibromyalgia as a pre existing condition, but started getting additional pain and symptoms within 30mins of the accident.

This could take a long time, as it may be dragged out, to see how much worse, or indeed if you make a recovery over the next few years.

swingaloo

I have fibromyalgia and as you will probably know, no 2 days are the same. I have days when I can get out to the shops or take a walk whilst there are days I can hardly get out of bed for pain.

Ive kept a diary record for over 3 years and have a graph showing the way things change daily and also show spikes when I have a bad day but these don't seem to correspond to any kind of activity. (Sounds a bit much but I was advised by the clinic to do this).

If your fibromyalgia is anything like mine then I think you may struggle to show how you have been worse since the accident.

Have you been to the doctors/hospital since the accident?