A no win no fee agreement is a conditional fee agreement (CFA) which is a contract between a solicitor and their client who is pursuing a personal injury claim.
The client will have no upfront legal fees to pay, and if the client is not successful in their claim, they will have no legal fees to pay.
All claimants have the right to terminate their no win no fee agreement with a Solicitor that has been instructed. Any claim cancelled within the first 14 days is within a cooling off period and no fees would be payable to the Solicitor.
As we will be dealing with your claim on a no win no fee basis you will have no upfront fees to pay.
At the conclusion of your claim if you are successful we will take a percentage of your damages, capped at 25%.
In most cases, if your claim is unsuccessful you will have no fees to pay. If on the other hand the court finds that you have been fundamentally dishonest then you could be liable for our costs and the other side’s legal fees and disbursements. Be truthful from the start and this should not happen.
The usual rule in most cases is that the losing party will pay the other side’s costs of bringing the claim to court.
If the court finds that you have been fundamentally dishonest when making your claim, you could be liable for the other side’s legal costs.
When you have suffered an injury due to someone else’s negligence you can claim for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and future loss of earnings.
If a family member or friend has taken time off work to assist you, then a claim can be made for this loss of earnings, together with any costs they have incurred by assisting you.
You can claim for damaged items such as vehicle repairs, damaged glasses, damaged clothing etc.
A claim for care and assistance, even if this was provided by family and friends and was unpaid. If you have needed help from a carer or nurse you can claim their costs.
If you have incurred treatment costs such as physiotherapy or any other treatment, these can be included in your claim.
Your travel costs to and from appointments and medical treatment should all be recorded and the receipts kept as these can also be included in your claim.
Equipment you have had to buy due to your injuries, and any adaptions/modification to your home following your injury can be claimed for.
The list above is not exhaustive.
If you have been injured within the last 3 years, due to someone else’s negligence (even if you are partly to blame) you can make a personal injury claim.
Most personal injury claims never make it to Court. If liability is admitted then the parties will enter into settlement negotiations in an attempt to keep the matter out of Court.
If liability is denied then your representatives will consider all of the evidence disclosed to them by the other side, together with any you have provided, and will make a judgement call.
If they believe that your claim has good prospects of success then it is likely that they will issue Court proceedings. This doesn’t necessarily mean the matter will reach Court.
There will be times when the matter does have to go to Court so you must be prepared for this eventuality.
If the injured person is a minor and liability is admitted there will be an Infant Approval Hearing at Court. This is to satisfy the court that the damages agreed are satisfactory.
You have three years after the injury to make a claim for damages, but the sooner the claim is made the better.
For minors, the limitation does not expire until three years after the age of 18.
If the injured person falls into the category of ‘Protected Persons’ – defined as people who are incapable of managing their property and affairs due to mental disorder, Court proceedings must be issued within three years from the date when the person ceased to be under a disability.
If your accident occurred abroad, the Foreign Limitation Periods Act 1984 provides that the relevant limitation period, is the period that prevails in the country where the accident occurred. The English Courts may have jurisdiction to hear the matter, however, it is the foreign limitation period that applies.
You are entitled to claim for any injury that has been caused as a direct result of the accident, even if the injuries suffered as a result of an accident are more severe due to a pre-existing condition.
The law recognises that a person’s pre-existing condition may make them more susceptible to an injury in an accident, however this doesn’t mean they are less entitled to make a claim for damages.
The likelihood is that your pre-existing condition would have been made worse by the accident.
If by an act or omission by you, and you are held to be partially to blame for the accident, then the right to recover 100% of your damages no longer exists.
If you are partly to blame for the accident you can still claim for the injuries sustained but it will be on a ‘split-liability’ basis.
Your damages will be reduced to reflect the amount of fault you are liable for. This could be a deduction of 10%, 20%, 25% etc.
If you are found to be over 50% responsible you will not be entitled to compensation.
There are many factors that affect the lifespan of a claim therefore it is difficult to predict how long each individual claim will take to settle.
The defendants have three months to carry out their initial investigations from the date they have acknowledged your claim.
If they admit liability then your claim will, most of the time, settle within around 8-9 months depending on whether you are fully recovered, or you have any ongoing treatment.
If liability is denied it will obviously take a lot longer, dependent on how soon you receive all the relevant evidence. There is also the potential that you will not succeed at all with your claim.
Wolf Law are the top accident and injury claims specialists in Liverpool and Merseyside. We specialise in no win no fee cases, and offer completely free impartial advice. Our experienced lawyers will assess your case and see if you can make a claim for any type of accident or injury.
