Serious Incident - Legal Strategy - Stood next to car and hit by an elderly driver at speed

Utorcin

I won't go into a lot of detail but my wife was run over by a confused and elderly man (90+). She was stood next to our car which was written off and she now has serious leg injuries that she may never completely fully recover from. We had motorlegal cover via our insurance. I wanted to ask the forum, is it generally best to go through motor legal if you have it or find a really specialist no-win-no-fee? I assume this would cost 25% but would they be incentivised to win more than our motor legal. I am keen to do the right thing as my wifes injuries are serious and will need a lot of time to heal/plastic surgery. We are also missing work and all the usual stuff. Many thanks.

angrycrow

You can do a combination of the two approaches. You are not required to use the solicitor recommended by the legal expenses insurer. Choose the solicitor you want to use then ask the legal expenses insurer to confirm cover. You get your choice of solicitor with no 25% deduction.

You want a solicitor who will push for early and comprehensive rehabilitation. 

Grumpy_chap

Sorry to hear about such a serious incident, and I hope your wife is OK now and continues to recover. 
I assume the Police were involved at the time - are they pressing any charges?
I have never had this type of situation, but you need to go through your car insurance and the third party's insurance.  If it were me, I would use the motor legal cover and assume they are specialised to deal with motor claims including the associated personal injury (even though run over while standing next to the car is probably an unusual circumstance).
That is just my view as I have now experience of anything similar (thankfully).

williamgriffin

When was the incident? Unless it was two years ago there's no rush to claim.

Focus on rehabilitation unless there are any chances of financial hardship. 

DiddyDavies

williamgriffin said:

When was the incident? Unless it was two years ago there's no rush to claim.

Would the case be harder or take longer to resolve should the 90+ year old driver pass away before the claim gets resolved?

williamgriffin

DiddyDavies said:

williamgriffin said:

When was the incident? Unless it was two years ago there's no rush to claim.

Would the case be harder or take longer to resolve should the 90+ year old driver pass away before the claim gets resolved?

Not really, what if they had died as a result? The insurance company would still pay out, there's no point in rushing any claim for a serious injury.

Petriix

You don't need to use a 'no win no fee' solicitor. You will win. Appoint an expert right away so that you maximise the compensation without signing away a huge part of the settlement.

Utorcin

Petriix said:

You don't need to use a 'no win no fee' solicitor. You will win. Appoint an expert right away so that you maximise the compensation without signing away a huge part of the settlement.

thanks for this - does it not matter that if I go for a normal solicitor - as provided by car insurance that they wont be incentivised to maximise payout? i.e. they wont be getting 25%? Is it still best to stick with standard motor legal deal usually?

theoretica

I have read of people getting no-win no-fee solicitors and finding the entirety of the 'winnings' went to the solicitor as fees.

Mutton_Geoff

Utorcin said:

Petriix said:

You don't need to use a 'no win no fee' solicitor. You will win. Appoint an expert right away so that you maximise the compensation without signing away a huge part of the settlement.

thanks for this - does it not matter that if I go for a normal solicitor - as provided by car insurance that they wont be incentivised to maximise payout? i.e. they wont be getting 25%? Is it still best to stick with standard motor legal deal usually?

Any independant solicitor you appoint will be incentivised for maximum payout. I would have no problem selecting the best person I could appoint for the task, not someone recommended to me if they had their own interests at heart.

Somebody sharp with even sharper teeth from a top city centre law firm would be my choice. It's the insurance company that you'll be dealing with, not the driver.

KimJongUn88

theoretica said:

I have read of people getting no-win no-fee solicitors and finding the entirety of the 'winnings' went to the solicitor as fees.

Absolute rubbish. Where did you read that? Contingency fees are capped at 25% here.