Are you or a loved one a victim of a catastrophic injury caused by a road traffic accident, employer negligence, criminal act, holiday illness, dog attack, beauty treatment gone wrong, or other public liability? Our team, led by the fearless Mr. Jai Singh and the tenacious Ms. Miley, is here to fight for you. We understand the devastating impact these events can have on your life, and we are committed to being your unwavering support system throughout the legal and medical recovery process. Let us help you get the justice and compensation you deserve.
Here we share our Top 5 Frequently Asked Questions:
- “I sustained serious injuries. How long will it take to settle my case?”
One typical misunderstanding concerning personal injury claims is that the procedure will be simple, and that payment will come right away after the accident or incident.
It can take years to recover from an accident, and filing a personal injury claim requires careful consideration of all past and future losses to avoid underpaying our clients and preventing them from receiving rehabilitation.
You can read more guidance about interim payments, benefit eligibility, and other topics in this link to a previous post written by the PI team.
- “The Third party admitted fault at the scene, does this mean my claim will resolve quickly?”
If a third party confesses fault after you were engaged in an accident or incident, the law may not necessarily give this acknowledgment considerable weight. For instance, people often accept fault after an accident or incident because they are still in shock.
PI cases fall under the category of civil matters, thus filing a claim for compensation requires going through a legal and medical process. You must demonstrate that the third party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty of care by being negligent, and that their negligence resulted in your injuries to successfully obtain compensation.
- “Why can’t I get my settlement/compensation straight after the accident/incident?”
Before your attorney can work on your behalf to negotiate a settlement, there are three hurdles to get over.
a) The accident or incident was caused by the third party’s negligence and fault.
The claim procedure begins when your solicitor gets evidence, including medical records, witness statements, and other information necessary to evaluate the merits of your no-fee claim and determine whether a judge would find in your favour if there had been a breach of duty.
A letter of claim is then written by the attorney and sent to the defendant and/or their insurers. This basically outlines your injuries, the legal grounds for holding them liable, and your previous and present out-of-pocket expenses.
After receiving the letter of claim, the defendant has 21 days to acknowledge it before having three months to investigate culpability.
As was already stated, it is not sufficient to establish negligence just because a defendant admits responsibility at the scene. The same information we do is investigated and gathered by their insurers, as mentioned above.
After that, they will investigate whether their insured was legally at fault, or negligent. The same information we do is investigated and gathered by their insurers, as mentioned above. They will then investigate whether their insured was negligently at fault legally.
b) You were injured because of the negligent behaviour of the third party.
You must next show that your negligence led to your injuries if the Third Party or its insurers admit blame.
Your Solicitor will decide for you to be evaluated by a Medical Expert after a reasonable and adequate amount of time has passed to allow for your body’s normal recuperation to demonstrate that their negligence resulted in your injuries.
To carry out and complete a comprehensive and detailed medical report, the medical expert will study your entire and complete medical records as well as any rehabilitation treatment notes.
According to court rules, the defendant is entitled to see your full and comprehensive medical records to determine whether you have any pre-existing conditions that could hinder your current or future recovery. Because of this, they are brought before the medical expert to make sure they can provide a succinct and correct prognosis of the wounds you received.
The Medical Expert will receive legal training in report writing that complies with court requirements. Following your evaluation, the expert will write a report discussing your injuries and whether they think the accident or occurrence was to blame for them.
Although it can seem simple, this is not always the case. For instance, it’s possible that the expert thinks some of your injuries weren’t caused by the accident or incident at all, but rather by pre-existing medical disorders.
You might need rehabilitation services throughout the case, such as physiotherapy, CBT, additional surgeries, scans, or medical investigations, which we must provide to let your body and your NHS surgeons release you from their care and treatment plans.
If this happens, we will work with the defendant to set up a report describing your rehabilitation treatment plan and the expense of these therapies if there are substantial delays with the NHS.
The Third Party and/or their Insurance will subsequently be asked to approve the treatment plan and pay for it.
c) Valuing your claim
Your Solicitor and Barrister evaluate the value of how the Court would award damages to you once you have established that the Third Party was negligent and caused you to sustain injury, your rehabilitation treatment plan has assisted with your full recovery, or if there is no further recovery anticipated, and all medical reports, Future care reports, and Occupational Rehabilitation reports are complete.
As previously mentioned, thorough medical documentation must be submitted for us to evaluate the value of your case. This will allow us to comprehend any past injuries you may have sustained as well as your current and prospective medical needs.
Example: If you get a serious injury and are unable to work again, you will need future loss of earnings coverage up until the point at which you retire.
Your attorney and barrister will then calculate the value, give you advice, explain it to you, and make sure that every expense you will incur in the future is covered in court documents.
Despite the foregoing, we recognise that extra financial strains from the present financial recession will also delay your recuperation during this period.
We will evaluate your out-of-pocket costs and ask for interim payments to help with maintaining your expenses if the Third Party/Their Insurers acknowledge culpability or indicate that they wish to settle without admitting liability. The interim payment amount we ask for is determined by the monthly loss of income you experience.
Our guide to interim payments will offer you additional details about what they are, how they will affect benefits, if you qualify for benefits, and whether you can establish a personal injury trust fund.
- “Will I have to go to Court?”
Most personal injury cases are generally resolved outside of court. Court is the very last resort, and the courts would anticipate that both parties would try to resolve the dispute amicably. Sometimes a resolution outside of court is not possible, and going to court may be the only option.
For instance, if the driver or your employer denies responsibility, holds you entirely at fault, or claims that you contributed to the accident, a judge would find them negligent based on the evidence. A judge may occasionally need to evaluate the evidence, but only as a last resort.
Your Solicitor and Barrister will evaluate the evidence of both Parties and advise you on the merits at Trial if going to court is the only option to forward your case.
- “What can Law Lane do to accelerate my case?”
At Law Lane Solicitors, we make sure that all the information required to secure an admission of liability, an admission of partial liability, or an absence of admission of liability decision is gathered up front.
Even if the question of liability seems clear-cut, we will nonetheless gather witness testimonies, police reports, engineer reports, CCTV, tachographs, and hire accident/incident reconstruction experts to ensure we are ready for any objections put forth by the Third Party and/or their insurers.
Please be aware that we are here for you through this trying time and will do everything in our power to make your healing process as painless as possible.
Need Help?
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our PI team if you have any questions. Call us at 0207 870 4870 if you’d like to talk with one of our personal injury experts right away. Please use my link to schedule a meeting to further explore your PI issue.
Written by:
Tahir Shahab Khan
Managing Director, Head of Personal Injury and Serious Injury Department