June 30th, 2009
Initial Contact
When you contact us either by telephone or via the website all our advice is totally free. You will speak to an experienced member of our legal team who will ask you for brief details about your accident and the injuries you sustained.
We will then be in a position to make an assessment of your case and the liklehood of you making a successful claim.
Keep an Injury Diary
It is likely that we will advise you to keep a daily log of your injuries and how they effect your daily life, this can be important detailed evidence over the recovery period.
Assign Case
If you decide to proceed and make a personal injury claim your case will be assigned to one of our personal injury Solicitors who will handle the case personally from start to finish, you will be provided with their direct telephone number and e-mail address so you have access to them whenever you need it.
Write to other party
We will write to the other party (or their insurance company) advising or your intention to bring a claim and explaining why we are holding them responsible. This is called a Letter of Claim.
Gather Evidence
We will now also start to obtain all the evidence required to support the claim, this may include witness statements, police reports, photographs of injuries and receipts for any costs you have incurred.
Visit Medical Expert
Your appointed Solicitor will also arrange for you to see a locally based medical expert, we always make sure appointments are made at a time convenient to you. Once the medical expert has examined your injuries they will provide us with a report with details of your recovery and information about ongoing problems caused by the accident.
Once the medical report has been received we will be in a position to put together a list of everything you are claiming for, this is referred to as a ‘Schedule of Losses’, the schedule may include compensation for pain and suffering, reimbursement for loss of earnings through time off work, car hire charges, taxi/rail fares and compensation for any personal items or clothing damaged during the accident.
The ‘Schedule of Losses’ is sent to the other party along with a request for the claim to be settled for the amount specified.
Compensation Award
By this time we will normally have heard from the third party with their comments on liability (whether they agree that they are at fault or not). It is very unlikely that the claim will go to Court as most personal injury claims in the UK are resolved between the parties concerned. At this stage we hope to be able to provide you with either a full or interim (part) payment of compensation.
If agreement cannot be reached it could be necessary to pursue the claim to Court. Also, in serious personal injury cases that are likely to attract very large compensation awards, it is more likely that the case will be dealt with in Court, to ensure the highest possible compensation payout.
If you would like to speak to one of our personal injury solicitors for further details about the claims process call now on Freephone: 0800 316 4434 or click here to make an online enquiry.
