blonde poker forum

I was wondering if anyone on Blonde has experience of personal injury claims as I am currently involved in one for the very first time.

I have a solicitor acting for me on what seems to be the standard 25% no win no fee basis for this kind of case.

It's pretty much an open and shut case as I have a witness, cctv footage etc. but the solicitors want me to take out insurance against "disbursments" which are costs which will need paying in the (very unlikely imo) event of my claim being unsuccessful.

The quote for this insurance which will be deducted from my 75% of the settlement is c£560.

The solicitors say that this is standard procedure but it seems like a complete waste of money to me.

Any experts in the blonde house?

No win no fee should mean exactly that!

Do you need to use the ambulance chasers?

Your home insurance may have cover included, or you could potentially do it yourself.
Lots of advice and guidance here
https://www.gov.uk/compensation-after-accident-or-injury

It happened in the lobby of my local Sainsburys and I am seeking damages from them so I do need legal assistance.

There was no sign in place warning about the very slippery floor and it should be a matter of how much the ambulance-chaser can get for me/us.

This expensive insurance feels a bit out of order to me as I see very little chance of it even getting to court let alone losing.

That insurance will cover their costs - if you lose, they're guaranteed to at least break even.

If they break even in every case they lose and make a profit for every case they win then they're not going to do too badly.

FWIW I have seen some articles that suggest that you are more likely to get a higher payout through the ambulance chasers so it 'should' make it worthwhile

I know what it's for.

I just think there is close to zero chance of my losing this case and that the insurance is a needless expense for me.

I'm not sure that your brief should be insisting on insurance, if that's the case I'll represent you myself, what have I got to lose?

Find someone who will look at the evidence and decide it's so strong that they will be happy to to take the tiny risk of losing in return for the virtual certainty of gaining 25%.

IMO of course.

What kind of damages can one get for something like this - does it depend on bone breakages, impact on life post the fall, blood spilt, etc.

If you think there is zero chance of losing just engage with the solicitor and pay their fees, you should come out ahead.

They (the paralegal who is my only contact thus far) seem to think that this is standard procedure but I've not contacted her since she sent me the quote yesterday.

If it was £100 I would say okay but £560ish does not look like the correct price for what I think is a 100/1 shot.

The way I see it it's just a matter of how much the brief can get Sainsburys to pay as these claims almost never get to court and you only pay costs if you go to court and lose - although I may be wrong.

I think the ballpark figure is £10k but whether that is any wrist or a right-handed golfer's right wrist I'm not sure.

My 22 stone mate came home from the pub as drunk as a fart and fell over a few yards from his front door. He broke his leg badly, a sliver of bone sticking out the side and everything.

No doubt anaesthetised by the alcohol he went into the garden shed, got a pick and levered one corner of a paving slab up, sprinkled a bit of blood over it, then lay down beside it and waited for the ambulance that his wife had called.

He sued the council for negligence and they folded like a cheap suitcase. To help decide upon the amount of compensation he received a form on which to list the activities that he used to take part in but could no longer enjoy. These turned out to be surfing, hang-gliding, ballroom dancing and trampolining. Who knew? I thought he was a big fat lazy fecker.

He got £5700. This was in 1985.

I'm sure you'd rather have avoided the pain and inconvenience of what happened but I guess it's not an inconsequential amount at least

The aim was to point out that the reason for the insurance is primarily for their benefit - not yours

And as described, they would probably fold like you suggest - but it's not a 'no lose' case

The general principle of why they would lose is that they have a duty of care to their customers - the wet floor signs should be the normal mitigation for that

But personal injury claims have successfully been defended in the past where the defence has successfully argued that the plaintiff also has a duty of care to themselves - there has to be another factor for them to latch on to for this kind of thing to work though, like you were running, or carrying masses of parcels

But, to reiterate, this does seem clear cut and by the far the highest likelihood is that they'll just settle

I thought the biggest problem with this sort of insurance were no win no fee lawyers refusing to take the case if you didn't pay for the insurance - but I haven't completely kept up and it's entirely possible that they're not allowed to make it a criteria for doing the case anymore

I think you've nailed it there Jon - sorry if I souded a little abrupt before but I was a grumpy old sod before this happened.

I  have been presented with this quote having had my case taken on and given them permission to see my medical history - I have been given 14 days to accept it, which sounds very much like a take it or leave it situation although I will obviously query that with the paralegal in due course.

The quote sounds like a one size fits all job rather than one which reflects the strength of my case.

Obvious maybe but can you take the case somewhere else and see if there offer is more favourable

Having set the wheels in motion with this firm taking on my case I am reluctant to take it elsewhere but it depends.

There doesn't seem to be too many decent options - it depends how sticky they are about this insurance and what they say when I tell them that I'm thinking about insuring myself elsewhere.

I wouldn't claim to be an expert. Purely because I am a Retired, former, Solicitor. And specialised in areas other than Personal Injury.  But, even so, I've acted in a fair few PI cases in the past.

My take on this is the following:-

1. The best bit of advice on here is to check whether you have what is known as "BTE" (Before the Event) Legal Expenses Insurance. Literally millions of people have this without realising, often as an add-on to house insurance or membership of a Union/Staff Association. And, partly because loads of people forget it, it is really cheap in comparison to ATE Insurance.

2. In order to receive a possible uplift in his fees, the Solicitors are not charging you in relation to their fees. But there are a lot of other fees from other people-from Court Costs to Expert Witnesses to the other sides' fees

3. Solicitors are struggling to make any money from Personal Injury work. The majority of Firms no longer deal with PI. Lots of Rules have changed, and Court cases cost way more, and take far longer, than they used to. Not least because this Government has closed half the Courts and now charges "commercial" levels of fees

4. You do not have a 99% chance of winning. No-one does. Show me a Solicitor who says he has never lost a case he felt certain to win, and I will show you a liar (or someone who has little experience). It is a lot like AA v 32-it happens. Cases sometimes get worse over time. Defendants go bust. A Judge decides to ignore the evidence.

5. Not only that, there is the fun of "Part 36" offers. Suppose your case is thought to be worth say roughly 10k. Now if you receive a Part 36 offer of 7.5k, what are you going to do? Because if you refuse it, and do not end up with more, you have to pay the other sides' costs from the date of the offer. Sure you are not going to get better sooner than predicted? That there will be no Contributory Negligence? Willing to gamble (say) £20,000 for that extra £2,500?

5. Suppose your Solicitors normally charge £200 per hour. Also suppose that they will work for 100 hours on your case. They are risking £20,000 of their money, and probably waiting an average of 2 years to get their money back. Now suppose that Paralegal has 100 cases, with yours as an average. That is £2 million in fees that person's firm are paying up-front. For which their Bank will be charging them rather more than £560 a pop. They are sufficiently confident of winning that they will forego their fees under various circumstances. Just not other people's.

The ATE (After the Event) premium of £560? No idea if that is a typical figure. But it is primarily for your benefit. Not the Solicitors.

Hope that helps. Best of luck

That is exactly what I was hoping for when I posted yesterday as I felt sure I was probably missing a few things.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to explain everything in such detail.