No Win - No Fee: Legal Claims Case Handlers

[NotYouAgain 10]

If you have a case go direct to a Solicitor, the right Solicitor or legal firm can help you a great deal. Avoid if you can the No Win - No Fee Conmen who are out there: The reason being that Insurance Companies pay them less to settle a case than they would pay a well regulated firm of Solicitors. Meaning insurance company Assessors have different payment rates for 'who handles your claim'.

 

They know that the NO WIN - NO FEE firm are only interested in getting paid out and you [the client] can in effect 'go-to-hell/ YOUR interests are secondary to them. If you do go down this route of engaging an no win-no fee firm, then read and take into account in their contract the all important small print paragraph that says in effect: "If we advise you to sette your claim, and you do not take our advice, then you must pay us our fees and we'll drop out of the case? They know you won't want to do this - and to avoid paying them you'll settle and so they'll get paid fairly quickly. You didn't by any chance think they'd fight your case to the bitter end for you did you?

 

A case worth lets say £45000-00, will only get an offer of £15000-00 plus legal fees and costs if you engage one of these firms????

[Tony 10]

Solicitors don't make that decision, their clients do. Insurers don't pay out if they think they will win a case.

 

Settling is just that. The clue is in the phrase "settlement".

[dink 10]

If they get a percentage of the claim, im sure they will fight to the end, and some companies do this.

[garlicbread 10]

i currently have a claim ongoing and they are fighting it, the other insurers offered XXX amount and they said it was too low so are now taking it to court to get more

[Moosey 10]

If they get a percentage of the claim, im sure they will fight to the end, and some companies do this.

 

No solicitor does. We don't have contingency fees in the UK.

 

THe only relationship between damages and costs was in RTA claims, but that changed as of today, with the new reforms.

[Grandad.Malky 11]

When by mother got knocked down the police advised us not to use no win no fee ambulance chases and to contact a “real “ solicitor, read into that what you will.

[dink 10]

When by mother got knocked down the police advised us not to use no win no fee ambulance chases and to contact a “real “ solicitor, read into that what you will.

 

Police advised you to claim

[Grandad.Malky 11]

Police advised you to claim

 

Why is that shocking.

 

They didn’t suggest it directly but when I mentioned it they offered the advice I quoted.

Edited May 1, 2010 by Grandad.Malky

[NotYouAgain 10]

I suffered damaged hearing in an explosion caused by faulty equipment, Health and Safety Engineers blamed the firm and their impartial report was the basis of my claim, liability was admitted, thanks to the internet I was able to rate my correct award at £48500, this sum was based on my age and measurable hearing loss, my No Win - No Fee Solicitor accepted £14500.00, he / they got maybe £5000 fees, so the total insurance payout was in the region of £20 000. The Insurance Company must love No Win - No Fee Claim handlers. Its worth adding that in America I would have got maybe £200 000, it needs to be made public that British Insurance Awards are still a pitance. An American lady got scalded in the USA, she spilt a cup of coffee she'd purchased over herself in an Mc Donalds - she claimed it was too hot, and was awarded $12 MILLION dollars. In the UK the word Insurance Company should be read as Rogues in Pin Striped Suits.

[Grandad.Malky 11]

An American lady got scalded in the USA, she spilt a cup of coffee she'd purchased over herself in an Mc Donalds - she claimed it was too hot, and was awarded $12 MILLION dollars. In the UK the word Insurance Company should be read as Rogues in Pin Striped Suits.

 

Thankfully we haven’t got as bad as the Americans but there is time yet.

[Tony 10]

The McDonalds hot coffee case was an interesting one but sadly as usual the facts get distorted for whatever reason.

 

It was $3m, reduced to $640k and then settled out of court for less. The original claim was only $20k but since the lady received third degree burns and needed skin grafts and two years of treatment perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to judge.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants

 

It's pretty inevitable that claims are settled for less but both parties walk away with a deal rather than a win/lose. It's just the reality of life.

[Moosey 10]

I suffered damaged hearing in an explosion caused by faulty equipment, Health and Safety Engineers blamed the firm and their impartial report was the basis of my claim, liability was admitted, thanks to the internet I was able to rate my correct award at £48500, this sum was based on my age and measurable hearing loss, my No Win - No Fee Solicitor accepted £14500.00, he / they got maybe £5000 fees, so the total insurance payout was in the region of £20 000. The Insurance Company must love No Win - No Fee Claim handlers. Its worth adding that in America I would have got maybe £200 000, it needs to be made public that British Insurance Awards are still a pitance. An American lady got scalded in the USA, she spilt a cup of coffee she'd purchased over herself in an Mc Donalds - she claimed it was too hot, and was awarded $12 MILLION dollars. In the UK the word Insurance Company should be read as Rogues in Pin Striped Suits.

 

A few things for you...

 

1. There is no such thing as a "No win no fee claim handler". At all. It must be a solicitor/legal exec/paralegal employed by a solicitor, in a solicitors firm.

 

2. You're probably very wrong in valuing your own claim. I do this for a living, and see it day in day out, and people do not understand the process, hence why they rely on the opinion of a trained professional. The phrase "thanks to the internet" particularly scares me. Thanks to the internet I found out where Elvis is now working. Doesn't mean it's true though.

 

3.As Tony said, that McCoffee case was completely distorted by the press, as most things involving law are. Tabloids are generally wrong.

 

4. Just to clarify, even though I'm repeating point one, a solicitor on a CFA (the old no win no fee), is the same solicitor working on the case if it were privately paid, funded by your insurers or your union. There are different qualities of firms certainly, and that could be an issue, but you can't separate firms by the types of funding they offer.