No win no fee - Is it worth engaging at outset?

trust.no.1

Hi Everyone,

I would apprecate any advice or opinions. My OH was recently injured while using public transport. No broken bones thankfully but she is on painkillers and needs a walking stick and likely will be off work for at least 6 weeks. Her job is zero contract hours but she is entitled to statutory sick pay which is only around £100 per week.

An insurance assesor for the particular company has  been in touch and advised her to raise a claim through their claims process.

My thoughts are that rather than engage a "no win no fee" company at the outset that she goes through the company's claim process and only go the legal route if no offer is made or the offer made is not acceptable. At the very least I would expect her to be compensated for the earnings that she will lose over the period that she is unable to work.

Just wondering whether anyone has gone through similar and whether this is the best approach.

Any advice appreciated - Hope this is the correct forum for this type of query,

TELLIT01

It seems to make sense to me to go through the companies claims process in the first instance as any payment will go entirely to your OH.  No win, No fee companies take a percentage of any monies recovered.  That can be 25%, possibly more, so that needs to be factored into any calculation if the offer from the company seems low.

Gavin83

What were the circumstances surrounding the injury? Just because she was injured on public transport it doesn’t make them automatically liable but they could be, hence the question.

I’d be careful about engaging a No win, no fee solicitor. There’s a thread on here at the moment about someone who’ll very likely be out of pocket even though they’ll win their case. You need to analyse your chances and any potential payout before considering this route.

user1977

Is there actually doubt about whether she'd win a claim? If not, then the "no win" aspect shouldn't come into it - and she should avoid the no-win-no-fee outfits.

TELLIT01

I think some of these No Win, No Fee companies have a cap on their fee, others seemingly don't.  The biggest potential problem is that once engaged they will charge their full fee if the claimant wants to pull out for any reason.

trust.no.1

Gavin83 said:

What were the circumstances surrounding the injury? Just because she was injured on public transport it doesn’t make them automatically liable but they could be, hence the question.

I’d be careful about engaging a No win, no fee solicitor. There’s a thread on here at the moment about someone who’ll very likely be out of pocket even though they’ll win their case. You need to analyse your chances and any potential payout before considering this route.

Your question is fair - however I'm being extremely cautious at the moment about going into any detail.  We do have the CCTV footage of the incident and it appears to show that the company in question is at fault. That having been said I am not a lawyer and I appreciate that nothing is certain as far as these things go.

As you can see from my OP I am minded that my OH goes the legal route as the last resort rather than the first. The incident is sobering to view and she could easily have been seriously injured and so I'm thankful that a worst case scenario was not realised.

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

I think some of these No Win, No Fee companies have a cap on their fee, others seemingly don't.  The biggest potential problem is that once engaged they will charge their full fee if the claimant wants to pull out for any reason.

The law puts a cap on fees of 20% for personal injury cases but disbursements aren't fees... most of these will be covered by the third party but things like the ATE Insurance wont be. 

To the OP - do you have legal expenses on your home insurance? If you do they most likely would provide cover for a lawyer. You many also have similar through a works union etc.

If her injury falls within the scope of the whiplash reforms then the injury itself is a fixed tariff based on the prognosis on full recovery, you can google the table, the 2nd column is if there are psychological damages too.  Loss of earnings will be the difference between her average take home pay and the SSP that she received. You'd also be able to claim for the stick (if you bought it) and any OTC medicines or prescription charges if you have receipts for them (or a nominal amount if you dont).