If you have been involved in an accident, how do you fund involving a solicitor to guide you through the process of making a personal injury claim and ensure justice is done? How do you afford the extremely expensive process of investigating and litigating a court action?
Legal Expenses Insurance
At Jackson Boyd many of our clients have the benefit of legal expenses insurance. This insurance policy is often provided as a benefit as part of another insurance product, such as motor insurance or home insurance.
Legal expenses insurance provides significant benefit when pursuing a personal injury claim. Provided we believe your claim holds “reasonable prospects of success”, the insurance policy will pay our fee, outlays for expert reports and any of your opponents expenses and legal costs if you were unsuccessful.
Moreover, when you have the benefit of a legal expenses insurance policy you retain 100% of your compensation.
Many people are unaware that they even have a legal expenses insurance policy as part of another insurance product. Our advice prior to instructing any solicitor in a personal injury claim would be to check whether or not you have the benefit of this cover first.
No Insurance?
If you do not have the benefit of legal expenses insurance, you may attempt to engage the services of a solicitor on a “no win, no fee” basis to avoid up front costs.
The term “no win, no fee” is now virtually synonymous with making a personal injury claim.
In many cases, “no win no fee” means that if you win your case you will require to pay a percentage of your compensation to the firm instructed. If you lose your case, you should not have to pay a fee to your solicitor.
Many personal injury solicitors will agree to take on personal injury claims on a no win, no fee basis.
Check the Small Print
However, as with many things in life, the situation is rarely as simple as it seems.
Firstly, in pursuing a personal injury claim there will be costs that most solicitors will require to incur, for example, obtaining medical records, obtaining a medical report, obtaining expert reports on liability, obtaining reports and statements from the police and a myriad of other additional costs. These costs are known as outlays. Outlays may not form part of any no win no fee arrangement. Therefore, even, if your claim is unsuccessful, you may still be liable to meet these costs which can quickly amount to thousands of pounds.
In addition, many cases will require litigated if extra-judicial settlement cannot be reached. Some solicitors may then change the terms of the “no win no fee” agreement at the point of litigation to charge a higher percentage of your compensation. Moreover, at court, it is common that the losing party must meet the legal expenses of the victor. These costs are known as adverse expenses and can amount to many thousands of pounds. Whilst you may not require to pay your solicitor’s fee, you may remain liable for adverse expenses.
Normally adverse expenses are dealt with by way of an insurance policy, known as “after the event legal expenses insurance”. However, the insurance policy premium will normally require paid upon success, often in addition to any percentage of your compensation to be taken by the particular solicitor.
Peace of Mind
If you do not have the benefit of a legal expenses policy, Jackson Boyd want to make the process of pursuing a personal injury claim simple and stress free, with no hidden costs and terms and conditions that don’t change.
With Jackson Boyd you can fund your claim with our funding company, Collaborate. Collaborate allows your claim to be fully investigated and robustly pursued.
In exchange for a modest percentage of your compensation, that is fixed at the outset of your claim, and does not change, Collaborate will cover the cost of all outlays necessary to pursue your claim to a successful conclusion and will cover all expenses for you and your opponent. Simply, if you are not successful you will pay nothing.
Collaborate provides simplicity and certainty. It allows you to focus on your claim without worrying about increased costs or funding. In addition, it also allows us to pursue your claim with freedom and to the best of our ability, in the knowledge that all costs required to fully investigating your claim, and those adverse costs were the claim unsuccessful are already covered.
If you are looking to make a personal injury claim, or if your simply require more information about how your case would be funded, please contact us online by clicking here or speak to a member of our specialist team on 0333 222 1855.
