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| No Win No Fee Compensation Claims |
At some point in their life, many people in Great Britain will be involved in some form of a lawsuit. Over the past few decades, there has been a continuing growth in the number of lawsuits that are brought to the courts each year. Many of these cases will either be sent to mediation or will be settled between the parties before they ever reach the court system. Ideally, legal action is viewed as a last resort for both the claimer and the defendant. However, for many people, there may be a question of whether or not to pursue legal action because the claimant is not certain that they can afford to take the steps necessary to do so.
In 1998, there was a significant change in the personal injury laws in the United Kingdom. The government felt that the financial burden of the Legal Aid system was too great in light of the high amount of claiming against the system that solicitors were doing for personal injury cases. So except for someone who has claimed damages for injuries due to negligent medical practices, most people must find another way to pay for not only the costs involved with recovering from their accident, but also those associated with getting the retribution that they are due.
No win no fees agreements, also called conditional fee agreements, are the most common way that those who have a large injury case can afford to bring it to the legal system. In these agreements, the plaintiff may find that they have to pay absolutely no fees, not even the claims fee that is asked when you actually file the necessary forms with the courts. This is possible because solicitors are willing to gamble that they will win claims more than they will lose them. Then the solicitor for the winner will be able to charge the losing party's insurance company for their fee. In this way, the plaintiff is able to take their entire award.
Of course, this means that the solicitors who accept this type of agreement will only take on cases that they believe that they actually have a more than fair chance to win. So it's possible that even if someone has a valid personal injury claim, they may not be able to get this type of agreement unless it is an absolutely clear case with plenty of evidence in their favour.
However, there are not necessarily absolute no win no fee agreements where no winning compensation goes to the solicitor. If they are not entirely certain of the chance of winning, they may want to pass more of the risk to the client by either asking for some portion of their fees to be paid along the way, or by being promised a fixed percentage of any award that might be given.
But the question you might be wondering is, what happens if the solicitor you are considering has a track record with few or no wins within a given recent period? At that point, you might want to consider other alternatives to make sure that you will get the best possible judgement for your case. - Written 24/09/04*
Other Archived Articles:
> Accident Compensation Claims in the UK
> No Win No Fee Accident Compensation Solicitors
> Personal Injury Compensation Claims
> Personal Injury Lawyers
> Personal Accident Compensation
> Personal Injury Claims Assistance
> Personal Injury Specialists
*Disclaimer: This article has been marked as "archived" because, although most of the information may still be relevant, the article was written more than two years ago which may mean that some information may be outdated. Although this site is updated as often as possible the information provided may not accurately reflect the current laws, procedures and/or facilities available to you. To ensure that you get the most up to date information make sure you consult an actual solicitor before pursuing any action. The articles on this site are for informational purposes only and are not intended to advise any particular action or inaction. Please read our terms of use for more information.
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