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Cohen Cramer: No Win - No Fee Injury Specialists

Lawyers? Who needs them ?

  • June 4, 2016
  • mmassen
  • Comments Off on Lawyers? Who needs them ?

 

The Government are proposing to increase the small claims limit to £5000, so what does this mean to the injured person on the street?

In a nutshell it means that if your injuries are valued at less than £5000 then your solicitor doesn’t get paid for the work they do from the wrong doer, and so are unlikely to be able to assist you without taking a proportion of your damages.

This leaves the injured party with a number of options:

Do nothing and allow the negligent motorist, employer or whoever to get away with it,

Or

Pay a solicitor an agreed percentage of your compensation – but why should you? Whatever happened to solicitors giving you 100 per cent of your damages?  After all, it is you that has had the accident – why should they get any of your compensation?

Or

You can do it yourself.

The good thing is you do not need a solicitor to bring a successful personal injury claim and here is a short guide to what you need to do to make sure that you receive every penny of your compensation without paying anything to your solicitors.

  • Become an expert on the relevant area of law for your claim
  • Apply the law to your particular set of circumstances
  • Draft your claim in the required format
  • Deal with any points of dispute and if necessary draft and issue proceedings
  • Quantify your losses and submit appropriate schedules and supporting documentation
  • Negotiate settlement or conduct court proceedings

Looks easy doesn’t it – probably only take about 15-20 hours in total, plus of course the research time for liability, quantum assessment, drafting court documents etc. Of course there is no guarantee that your opponent’s insurers won’t try to blindside you with legal terminology, threaten you with adverse costs orders or undervalue your claim. Don’t forget their duty is to their shareholders not you.

Or you could write to your MP and register your outrage that if injured by the negligence or neglect of a third party the person on the street is going to be denied access to the justice they deserve and which is their right.

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