LegalHD no win no fee??

Manxman_in_exile

darrannah - you need to answer the question above from Sandtree.  [EDIT:  Cross posted with you - I see he was under18]

If this is a personal injury case - and I can't see why your son would need a NWNF firm if it isn't - then a court claim has to be filed within three years of the accident causing the injury, unless your son was under 18 at the time of the accident in which case the three years starts from his 18th birthday.

I would be concerned that if they are only asking for access to his medical records now*, how could they already have filed a claim?  If your son does not already know exactly how far this claim has proceeded (and he's really got no excuse not to know) then he needs to find out from them PDQ.

If the NWNF solicitors have screwed this up by missing the 3 year limit, he needs to make a formal complaint to them, and consider escalating to the SRA or even suing them if not satisfied with their response.

*Are you certain it is only now?  Are you relying just on what your son is telling you, or do you know all of this first-hand?  You talk about the NWNF firm continually harrassing him at work, but how often are they really trying to contact him?  They need to know what they need to know to progress his claim, and under the NWNF agreement he will be obliged to cooperate with them.  Are they really "harrassing" him or is your son just beginning to find it boring or a bit of a hassle?  Or are they chasing him because he's not provided the information they've already asked for? If he's young, is this his first experience of real life in the adult world?

Before withdrawing his claim and paying their expenses to date, he needs to sit down with them and (1) find out where they are, (2) what still needs to be done, (3) do they need more information from him and, if so, what, and (4) a timescale for getting this sorted.  He also needs an assurance that no time limits have been breached.  If he's young and finds this a bit daunting, you accompany him.

After three and a half years he'd be daft just to drop it and pay their expenses and fees to date for nothing.  (They could amount to £,000s).

williamgriffin

darrannah said:

Thanks for all the detailed replies, some food for though. I shall try and answer some of the queries.... no, he was only 17 at the time of the accident but didn’t make the claim until after he was 18, but it was within a year of the accident. He was a passenger in a work van at the time and the colleague was at fault. He didn’t sustain any life threatening injuries just the usual seatbelt/shoulder pain and a little whiplash but it did not affect him enough for hospital treatment (he had had worse at football practice!) He only pursued the case after being hounded by the calls from a 3rd party company who passed it onto LegalHD. 

I have no clue if it has been issued or statute barred but he says he had not received anything to confirm or deny as such. 

I have advised him to carry on with the claim as worst case scenario he will end up with nothing and best case scenario...he could end up with nothing 🤣
Thank you all very much for your time

So is there any medical evidence he was injured?

Manxman_in_exile

darrannah said:

... He didn’t sustain any life threatening injuries just the usual seatbelt/shoulder pain and a little whiplash but it did not affect him enough for hospital treatment (he had had worse at football practice!) He only pursued the case after being hounded by the calls from a 3rd party company who passed it onto LegalHD. ...

Aaaargh!

In light of what you say there - he may want to re-consider his position...

Unlike many posters on these boards I don't necessarily think that all "usual... whiplash" injuries are fake, but many are.  Does he have any medical evidence at all that he suffered injury from the accident?

I was involved in an accident some years ago and our insurers (for some inexplicable reason!) passed it onto their tame claims management company.  Solely on the basis of a few telephone questions (have you any neck pain?... have you any back pain?... etc) I was advised that I had grounds to make a personal injury claim.  I declined because they never asked me if these injuries and pains had only manifested themselves after the accident - they had not; they pre-dated the accident.  The claims mangement company were simply encouraging me to make a spurious (or fraudulent) personal injury claim.  Of course, if this came out in court thay would simply say "Well our client told us that... "

Now I'm not suggesting your son might be party to making a fraudulant claim - it may well be that he suffered injuries that he deserves compensation for - but he might want to review what independent medical evidence he has that supports a claim.

[Sorry - just rereading this it sounds a bit doom and gloom.  Don't want to unduly scare you or your son, but if it's not a valid claim it could just possibly come back to bite him...]

EDIT:  If he can't support the claim I would not necessarily take the view that he's got nothing to lose by continuing it...