Next Steps after deciding to Claim for a Personal Injury?

If you decide to make a personal injury claim there are 5 or 6 steps depending on whether your opponent admits legal responsibility for your accident.

1. Your Solicitor will determine the facts of your accident

After you instruct us the first thing we do is to investigate what happened in your accident in more detail. If you were injured in a road traffic accident, we may get a copy of the police accident report.  If you were injured in an accident at work, we may get a copy of the Health and Safety Executive Report.  We may obtain your medical records too.  We may take a statement from you and any witnesses.  All these documents help us build a picture of what happened in your accident.

2. Your Solicitor will notify your opponents of your claim.

Once we have gathered enough information we will advise your opponents why we think they are responsible for your accident.  If you claim is valued at less than £25,000 then we will register your claim on the Personal Injury Portal by completing a Claim Notification Form (CNF) which provides enough detail to allow your opponents to investigate your claim.  We will indicate in this document why we consider that your opponents are legally responsible for your accident.  If your claim is valued at over £25,000 we will send a letter of claim to your opponents.

3. What will happen next if there is an admission of legal responsibility for my claim?

If there is an admission, Your Solicitor will gather all the evidence to maximise the value of your claim.

If your opponents admit that they are legally responsible then we will  gather all the evidence needed to determine the extent of your injury and any financial losses you have experience as a result.  You will probably  visit a medical expert who will prepare a report on your injuries for the claim.  We may speak to relatives or friends who have helped you through when you were unable to do things for yourself.  These may be looking after you by helping you shower or dress yourself or making  cups of tea or meals for you because your injuries meant you could not do so or even looking after your children or pets because you couldn’t.  We will also gather evidence from your employer about any loss of earnings.  This is called special damages.

4. How much compensation am I likely to get?

After we have gathered all the evidence, we’ll then work out how much compensation you should receive depending on how serious your injuries are.  The law values the personal injury claim in money terms based on when you are likely to recover or whether your symptoms are permanent.  The Court uses the Judicial Studies College Guidelines as a starting point and then looks at previous cases like yours where people have had similar injuries to you.  You can get an idea of what you are likely to receive by looking at our compensation calculator but there is no substitute for talking to one of our experienced personal injury solicitors.  Call us FREE for a no-obligation chat on 0800 074 7644

5. Offer to settle

We will put the figure we have arrived at to you and if  you are happy with it we will advise your opponents of this figure and if they accept then your claim is done and dusted and you will receive your compensation.

Your opponents may also make an offer once we have sent them all the information they need to assess the value of your claim. We will advise you on whether there offer is enough or whether your should make a higher offer to settle to them if their offer is too low.

6. What happens if my opponents will not admit legal responsibility for my accident?

If your opponents do not accept fault we will start the court process so that a Judge can determine if your opponents is at fault and how much money you should receive in compensation.  We will support you every step of the way and just because we start the court process does not mean that you will end up in court.  Your opponents may settle your claim at any point up to arriving at the doors of the court.

If we act for you under a No win, no fee agreement you will have nothing to pay should you be unsuccessful.  This is because we will advise you to take out some After the Event Insurance (ATE) if you do not already have insurance which will pay for anything if you are not successful.

If you need more information about the personal  injury claims process, please contact us today free for a no obligation chat on 0800 074 7644.