On the 9th September the media confirmed that the government had finally announced that it will ban the referral fees that are paid to insurance companies in return for them passing on the details of the victims of accidents.
This move is welcomed by us at The Injury Lawyers. We have always criticised these payments in the past because they are, in our opinion, bad for the client and the personal injury profession.
Referral fees are paid by some firms of solicitors, mainly to claims management companies and insurance firms, but it can be to anyone who passes on details of an injured person, such as a garage or even the police. Many insurance firms, large and small, have passed on the details of their policyholders after they have contacted them to report an accident that was not their fault. In return for these details, many personal injury solicitors pay a referral fee to the insurance company.
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One of the most common questions people ask when they make a claim is ‘how much will I receive from my claim?’ If you have been injured as the result of an accident that was not your fault, you are entitled to claim compensation. In the majority of cases, financial compensation is the only remedy available and it is only natural for claimants to want to know how much they will receive.
There are two types of compensation, or ‘damages’ as they are formally called – ‘special damages’ and ‘general damages’.
Special damages are those paid to compensate the claimant for the actual financial losses caused as the result of an accident. The aim of a personal injury claim is, as far as is reasonably possible, to put the injured person back in the position that they would have been in had the accident not have occurred.
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Accidents at work are one of the most common types of personal injury claims. It is not just people in dangerous jobs or those involving high risk activities who suffer accidents at work. The most common accidents involve ordinary people doing everyday tasks.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is an independent watchdog that monitors job-related health and safety as well as illnesses that are caused by work. The latest figures from the HSE show that in 2000/10, 28.5 million working days were lost because of work-related ill health. 5.1 million of these were caused by accidents at work.
If you have an accident at work, you should make sure that you report the accident using the reporting procedure available in your workplace. Your employer is required to keep a record of any workplace accidents by law. Your employer must also report any serious accident to the HSE.
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The cost of making a claim can run into thousands of pounds; but this should not put you off making a claim. Although your solicitor can give you an idea of whether your claim will be successful, it is rarely possible to be 100% certain unless you have been hit in the rear by another vehicle whilst stationary, or you were a passenger in a road collision.
Legal aid for most personal injury claims was abolished in 2000 and a different way of funding these claims was introduced – the no win, no fee agreement.
This is an agreement that means that, if your claim is not successful, you will not have to pay a penny to your solicitor for their fees. Under this agreement, if the claim is unsuccessful your solicitor will do the work for your claim without any payment from you for their fees;. The way that claims are now funded means that solicitors can charge an additional fee to the defendant – a ‘success fee’ – when they win. This extra amount is used to pay for those claims that aren’t successful. This means that there is no reason for a solicitor to charge you for their costs whether you win or lose and you should always avoid using a solicitor that will take any money out of your compensation.
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If your holiday abroad is ruined because of an accident or illness that is caused by the negligence of someone else, it is possible that you could still make a successful claim here in the UK.
In general, if you have an accident abroad, you would usually only be able to claim compensation by making a claim in that country under their laws. This can be very difficult and expensive – especially if the legal representatives in that country do not work on a no win, no fee basis. There are often language barriers, the law may be completely different, and you may have difficulty dealing with a legal representative who could be thousands of miles away.
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Firstly, make sure that you and your passengers are safe and that it is safe to leave the vehicle. However annoyed you might be, don’t lose your temper with the other driver; the reason we have insurance is because accidents happen.
Exchange details with the other driver. Make sure that you obtain the registration, make and model, including a brief description of the type and colour of the car and any obvious damage caused by the accident. Do not rely on the other person to provide the details – check that the registration number is correct. Ask for the name of the driver and who the owner of the car is. Exchange names, addresses, phone numbers and details of insurance companies. It is a legal requirement for a driver to provide this information after an accident.
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It’s estimated that there are between 1.5 million and 2 million uninsured drivers on the roads in the UK. What happens if one of these drivers causes or contributes to an accident?
The ‘Motor Insurance Bureau‘ (MIB) exists to prevent the injustice of an injured party being unable to claim compensation if they’re the victim of an uninsured drivers negligence. The MIB steps in where the driver responsible for the accident has no valid insurance policy to cover the cost of the accident. The role of the MIB is almost to act as the insurance company for the uninsured driver.
The cost of running the MIB is paid out of a central fund from contributions from all the insurance companies that provide motor vehicle insurance in the UK.
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We spend a large proportion of our lives at work – so it comes as no surprise that a high number of personal injury claims result from accidents that happen when people are at work.
Your employer has a legal duty to look after you. An old case decided in 1937 between a mineworker called Mr English and his employers, Wilsons & Clyde Coal Company, set out the extent of this duty.
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All personal injury claims have two things in common. Firstly, someone has suffered either a physical or mental injury; and secondly, the injury was someone else’s fault.
Under the broad heading of personal injuries, there are many different particular types of personal injury claims.
The most common claims are for injuries caused by road traffic accidents. The victims of road accidents may suffer injuries ranging from mild whiplash through to severe life threatening injuries, and all too commonly, fatalities. People injured by another road user will claim compensation against the other person’s insurance company, or the Motor Insurance Bureau that can step in to provide compensation to the victims of uninsured or untraced drivers.
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Whiplash is the term used to describe a range of injuries to the neck that are usually caused by a very sudden movement of the head, forwards, backwards or sideways.
A whiplash injury is very common after car accidents involving a sudden impact; even those where the speed involved was quite slow. However, whiplash can also occur in other types of accidents such as sporting activities or trips and falls.
The symptoms of whiplash can be varied and may include tenderness and swelling in the neck, headaches, shooting pains from the neck and down your arms, difficulty moving your neck around, or even just pins and needles.
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