Brief guide to making a Personal Injury Claim

• Step by step guide to making a claim
• The settlement outcomes you can expect

What steps should I take?

Contact one of our Team

You will be immediately put in touch with one of our Solicitors who will arrange a mutually convenient appointment and visit you at a your location of choice. We Guarantee a home visit by a Solicitor within 3 hours of your call.

Free Service

Should we be able to assist you we will ask you to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) confirming that the service is free, your opponents insurance company will pay your damages and costs should you win your claim. The (CFA) is our Contract with you. You must sign this to confirm that you have read and understood the details of our Agreement with you.

On receipt of the signed CFA and medical mandate forms we will apply for your GP and Hospital notes in readiness for instructing the Medical Expert to prepare a Report on your injuries

Letter of Claim

This is a letter that we send to your opponent summarising the facts of the claim and indicating the nature of the injuries sustained by you. This letter must contain enough information regarding the claim as it will be passed to the defendant’s Insurer who must be able to investigate the claim and put a value on it. The defendant or their insurers have 21 days to reply. Should they acknowledge the letter of claim they then have 3 months to investigate matters.

Medical Evidence

After obtaining your G.P notes and any hospital notes we will instruct the medical expert. The expert will contact you direct with an appointment for an examination. Following examination the expert will provide us with a report on your injuries. We will place a valuation on your claim based on the report and your injuries. After obtaining your instructions on the same we will disclose a copy of the report and detail settlement proposals to the defendant’s insurer.

Liability/Settlement

On or before the 3 month deadline the defendant’s insurer should confirm if liability is admitted or denied.

If liability is admitted then we will negotiate monetary settlement on your behalf, subject to your instructions. Should settlement be reached then your damages will be paid to you by cheque. We will then seek to agree costs with the defendant’s insurer. Should the insurer not offer reasonable settlement terms then, should you wish, we will issue Court Proceedings on your behalf, with a view to the value of your claim and the associated costs being determined at trial, by a judge.

If liability is denied the defendant’s insurer must give reasons for their denial, supported with documentary evidence as appropriate. We will then seek your comment and instructions on the same with a view to building the claim against the defendants. We will then attempt to negotiate with the defendant. Should they maintain their denial and fail to offer reasonable settlement proposals then we will issue Court Proceedings on your behalf, should there still be reasonable prospects of your claim succeeding if it was to progress to trial. As above, should your claim progress to trial the outcome will be determined by a judge after hearing evidence from both parties. Should your claim fail an insurance policy will pay your and your opponents costs. The premium is not payable by you.

 Relevant Resources

1. The Serious Injury Team at ASD.
2. CMC’s leave 1 in 4 claimants in debt: Will increased ombudsman powers help?
3. The high price of using a claims management company

+Richard Meggitt