What are injury claim solicitors?

Injury claims solicitors are lawyers that deal with injuries following an accident. In order to make a claim through an injury claim solicitor you need to have been the victim of an accident that was someone else’s fault. Injury claims are more commonly known as “personal injury”.

Unfortunately accidents do happen and by definition they are no one’s fault, but because of the stress, inconvenient and damage (both physical and psychological) it can cause to a victim and their families there are laws in place to assist those in need. The idea of an injury claim is to put the victim in the position they would have been had the accident not occurred in the first place.

Accidents can happen anywhere, at home, at work, on the street, on the road, on holiday, in a hospital etc. They can be the fault of someone you know such as a friend or colleague or someone you don’t such as another driver on the road. You can also make a claim for compensation if you have been the victim of crime, which will be considered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Road traffic accidents are probably the most common cases of injury claims, particularly for whiplash. Every claim is unique and the amount of compensation you will receive will depend on the severity of the injury taking into account medical expenses and loss of income but it can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds right into the millions!

Injury claim procedure

The most important thing to do after any accident is to seek medical attention. If possible, immediately after the accident, you should take photographs and obtain details of witnesses as this will all help your claim. You should also contact your insurance company and employer where appropriate.

We all know that solicitors and legal cases can be expensive, but most injury claim solicitors work on a no win no fee basis, which means that if your claim is unsuccessful you will not have to pay for the legal advice you have received. If you are successful then you will receive 100% of your compensation, whilst your legal costs will be paid for by the guilty party’s insurance company. This is important because some people are fearful of making claims, especially against employers, friends or family because they fear that those people will be paying out personally, which is not true and this is precisely why we pay our insurance premiums! You should also not fear making a claim due to repercussions from your employer because if you are victimised or harassed following any injury claim then you could also bring an employment claim.

If you have been the victim of an accident and would like to see and injury claim solicitor you should do so within 3 years of the accident otherwise you will be time barred. Different rules apply to children, who must bring their claim before they are 21 years old.

It is worth noting that a lot of cases do not make it to court and usually the parties choose to settle out of court. Injury claim solicitors will encourage their clients to settle out of court if a decent compensation offer is made because they could get penalised at court for not trying to resolve the matter sooner.

There are plenty of choices when choosing an injury claim solicitor and you should be careful to choose one that is experienced in dealing with your type of injury. If you have any complaints about your solicitor then you should check their complaints procedure, which will be contained in your agreement with the solicitor, also known as the “client care letter” or “retainer”. All solicitors in England and Wales are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and disputes between solicitors and their clients are usually resolved by the Legal Ombudsman.

Ever since the tragic death of princess Diana and the consequent issues about the lengths to which press paparazzi will go to get photos, the issue of Royal privacy and the boundaries between general legal rules and the need to protect the Royal family and other public dignatories has been a difficult area.

This issue has now apparently crossed over to the personal injury area, due to a claim being made against the Metropolitan Police by a photographer, who was seriously injured by being run over by an unmarked police car.

The Claimant, Mr. Margiocchi sustained some serious injuries which included a broken leg  and Achilles tear. As with many personal injury claims, what may potentially make this claim a large one is the loss of earnings claim, which may transpire to be an ongoing loss of earnings claim, as the Claimant’s job requires him, ironically to be fairly fast on his feet and to be somewhat aggressive in order to get the best photos

It will be very interesting to see whether this case gets anywhere near court and if so, what the outcome would be. It seems likely that the defence would be along the lines that normal road safety requirements cannot apply to a situation where a member of the Royal family is in a car or convoy and a rapid exit is needed from a location to ensure the safety of the member of the Royal family. Whether that argument would succeed fully or partially in law is an interesting point. We suspect it wouldn’t and that this case won’t get anywhere near trial, but we will monitor with interest.