No win no fee - changed from insurance covered

thinisaz

Good evening all.

We started proceedings a while ago with Irwin Mitchell after my wife was injured at work quite badly. 

Anyway, to go back.

We decided to claim around October 2019, about a year after the injury and spoke to our home insurance giving them all the details to see if injury was covered... It was so they instructed irwin Mitchell to contact us (this was through our home insurance).

They got all the details, accident, time off, surgeries lost earnings, the whole nine yards. We've had a lot of correspondence since the beginning as well as meetings with experts, various forms, emails etc. 

I will admit that in a bit annoyed with how many different people from IM have been our case worker and how many times we've had to send the same information or sign the same sort of paperwork. 

Anyway, moving on.

We were informed that due to her lost earnings and the injury to her hand that her case was going to Multi-track as its value is more than £25k.

Here's the issue.

Today we received a letter from IM informing us of yet another person taking over the case.... However a different blow has come to light that our home insurance company have said they because the accident happened before we took the policy out that they will not be covering us anymore. (I understand this reasoning but they were the ones that said we were covered and set us up with IM).

Anyway I've tried finding older paperwork from my previous home insurer to see if that offered accident cover but can't locate this... But either way they'd probably not due to the time frame .

IM have said they will continue our case on a no win no fee bases but that concerns me. 

On their website it states a no win no fee they will send a running total of costs.

So to ask some questions?

What effect will NWNF have on the total amount she gets?
How will Multi-track effect costs?
On the letter they've sent they sat they're going to send paperwork for the NWNF funding agreement , and explain this further. 
How do the running costs effect the final settlement?

I'm a bit concerned as after nearly two years this isn't something we expected. 

bris

If you win the other side pay their costs, thats why they are in this, the fee they get from your settlement is dwarfed by the legal fees they receive if they win.

Read the small print carefully their fees will be explained if they win. There are big fees if you don't allow them to see it through to the end which limits your options if they are dragging their heels.

Manxman_in_exile

thinisaz said:

... We decided to claim around October 2019, about a year after the injury and spoke to our home insurance giving them all the details to see if injury was covered... It was so they instructed irwin Mitchell to contact us (this was through our home insurance)...

Have you got anything in writing (an email would be OK) from the insurers in question confirming that your wife's injury would be covered?  If you have, and they are now reneging from this, I'd be making a formal complaint I think.

Have you explained to them that you decided on this course of action based on their confirmation that the injury was covered?  Have you actually signed anything with IM yet?

bris said:

... Read the small print carefully their fees will be explained if they win. There are big fees if you don't allow them to see it through to the end which limits your options if they are dragging their heels.

This is really good advice.  NWNF does not necessarily mean that you end up spending nothing.  If you decide to discontinue the claim against your wife's employer you will almost certainly end up paying for any expenses already incurred by IM and they will also charge you to recover fees for any work they have already done.  (This is because if you discontinue the claim they cannot claim their expenses and fees from the other side, so they get them back from you).

Don't sign anything with IM unless you have read everything in the NWNF agreement and had it explained fully to you.  Ask what happens if you win, or lose, or don't get awarded as much as you claimed, or if you decide to withdraw.

Unfortunately you might be in a bit of a difficult position because of bad advice given by your insurer...

See what others think about your predicament

(PS - I would definitely try contacting your previous insurer.  If their policy covered the accident in question at the time it happened, I would have thought that they should honour it - even if the accident was in 2018)

thinisaz

Unfortunately I was with zurich and the link to log in doesn't work. 
I always download documents but can't find them on my device so struggling but. 

pinkshoes

Was it made clear to your insurance company that the accident that you are claiming for happened BEFORE the policy was in place? 

(As it would be up to you to contact the correct policy holder at the time of the accident...)

Sandtree

thinisaz said:

Unfortunately I was with zurich and the link to log in doesn't work. 
I always download documents but can't find them on my device so struggling but. 

A quick phone call will answer if you bought LE cover and if it cover a PI claim (most do). The issue will be that solicitors have acted before being given the authority by the insurer (though may LE policies are written by DAS and a few other specialists and so you may find your old policy is actually the same provider) but Irwin's are going to be on most insurers panel so you may get away with it.

The fact its multi-track means the TP will be responsible for more of the solicitors fees and disbursements but you'll still have to pay the success fee plus VAT... what percentage this is etc varies notably between solicitors.