How is my compensation calculated?
Will I have to pay legal costs?
Can I get legal aid?
Is there a time limit?
Can a child claim?
There are no witnesses - can I still claim?
The other driver was not insured
The other driver cannot be identified
I think I was partly to blame - can I claim?
I think I was fully to blame - can I claim?
How is my compensation calculated?
Your compensation is in two parts:
a. A lump sum for the injuries you suffered and the ways in which your life has been affected by those injuries
b. Your losses and expenses caused by the accident
E.g.
Car repairs / writes off value
Recovery and storage
Loss of earnings
Care provided because of your injuries
Prescriptions and painkillers
Travelling expenses
It is important that you keep a note of all expenses as they arise, and retain all invoices and receipts safely.
Will I have to pay legal costs?
If you wish we are happy to offer you a No Win No Fee Agreement which protects you against paying our costs if you lose.
We will also happily offer you a free initial discussion about your accident claim, without any obligation. This means that you can obtain free expert legal advice about whether you are likely to win your claim.
If you prefer, we can act for you without a No win No Fee Agreement – you pay us for the work we do on your claim. If the claim wins you normally recover most, if not all, of your legal costs from the Defendant on top of your compensation.
We are happy to offer a free initial chat, without obligation.
Can I get legal aid?
No, except in very rare cases. Legal aid was withdrawn for most personal injury cases and replaced by No Win No Fee Agreements.
You can still get legal aid for clinical negligence cases. Our Clinical Negligence Department would be happy to advise and act for you under a Legal Aid Certificate if you qualify for legal aid help.
Is there a time limit?
Yes. Normally it is 3 years from the date of your accident. By the end of 3 years you must have settled your claim or started a court action, otherwise your claim may be time-barred.
In Industrial Disease cases (deafness, asbestos, VWF, stress etc) complex rules apply to when the 3 year period starts. We can advise you about this in more detail during our initial free discussion.
For children’s claims, the 3 years does not start to run until their 18th birthday. The time limit is therefore their 21st birthday.
For some sea and aircraft accidents the limit is only 2 years.
Time limits for accidents outside the UK may be governed by local laws where the accident occurred. Some foreign time limits are extremely short – sometimes only a few months!
We are happy to offer a free initial chat, without obligation.
Can a child claim?
Yes. The only differences are:
a. An adult (normally a parent) must act for the child. That adult is called the child’s Litigation Friend.
b. Any compensation settlement must be approved by a court. The approval process is streamlined, quick and easy. This ensures that the court is happy that the settlement reached is a good one for the child.
c. The compensation is normally invested on behalf of the child until his/her 18th birthday.
We are happy to offer a free initial chat, without obligation.
There are no witnesses - can I still claim?
Quite possibly. It depends on the circumstances. Why not take advantage of our free initial interview (by telephone or in person) to discuss the case in more detail. We can give you our expert opinion on whether you have a claim.
The other driver was not insured
Don’t worry. You can still claim but your claim will be against the Motor Insurers Bureau. This is a body set up by the insurance industry to handle claims against uninsured drivers. There are some technical differences on how the claim is handled, but you still recover compensation if you were not to blame.
We are happy to offer a free initial chat, without obligation.
The other driver cannot be identified
This normally happens in so-called hit and run accidents. You can still claim against the Motor Insurers Bureau (see “The Other Driver is Uninsured”), but, in this situation, you cannot recover your legal costs. This means that we cannot act for you under a No Win No Fee Agreement. However we can give you free initial advice, or simply handle the initial stages of preparing the case papers for you.
Alternatively we can offer you a Contingency Fee Agreement - under this, we handle the claim for you. If the claim loses you pay nothing. If it wins, we take a percentage of your compensation as payment of our costs
Please note that this percentage deduction does not apply to the normal No Win No Fee Agreements – it is only in hit and run cases, and claims for criminal injury (such as assault) from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. In these two particular types of case, we cannot recover legal costs, which is why a No Win No fee Agreement is inappropriate.
We are happy to offer a free initial chat, without obligation.
I think I was partly to blame - can I claim?
Yes. If you are indeed held partly to blame, your compensation may be reduced. For example if you were deemed to be one-third to blame, your compensation would be reduced by 33%.
Sometimes, clients think they are to blame when they are not. This often applies in accidents at work. The client may think they are to blame, but the real cause is that the employer has broken some legal duty.
We are happy to offer a free initial chat, without obligation.
I think I was fully to blame - can I claim?
Often people think they are to blame, but in practice they are not, or someone else is also partly to blame. This applies particularly in accidents at work. Often the employer has broken some legal duty (e.g. under the Health and Safety Legislation), and as a result there is a valid claim for compensation.
Why not take advantage of our free initial interview (by telephone or face to face). It will not cost you anything, and you may find that you do indeed have a valid claim after all.
Visit our dedicated website www.mooreblatchresolve.com