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You have three years to pursue a claim for personal injury. If you are bringing a claim because of an accident that occurred at work, on the street, in someone’s premises or in a vehicle, the three years start to run from the date of your accident.

When you are bringing a claim for an industrial disease such as Noise Induced Hearing Loss, Vibration White Finger and Asbestos related conditions, then you have three years from the date of knowledge of your condition. When considering the issue of knowledge, factors taken into account will be when you first appreciated that the injury was significant and was linked to your employment and when you were first diagnosed by a health professional. This list is not limited to these matters and other factors will be taken into account in considering when knowledge has taken place. If you do not bring your claim within the specified time, then you will be precluded from bringing your claim by legislation, namely the Limitation Act 1980. It is only in very exceptional circumstances that a late claim will be allowed.

Personal injury claims can be funded in a variety of different ways. Legal Aid is not available to those bringing a claim because of an accident or an industrial disease however, it can be available in claims for medical negligence although eligibility to qualify for legal aid is means tested.
In a personal injury claim, you can enter into a Conditional Fee Agreement (also known as ‘no win, no fee’). At this firm, this means that if we are able to recover compensation for you, then you keep 100% of the amount awarded to you. Our legal costs will be paid in addition. In a personal injury claim, you can enter into a Conditional Fee Agreement (also known as ‘no win, no fee’). At this firm, this means that if we are able to recover compensation for you, you are liable for what is known as a “success fee” which we cap at a maximum 25% of your damages to ensure that you always retain the majority share of your damages, however, this is a maximum cap and not a minimum. This means that you will retain 75% or more of your compensation. Our legal costs will be paid by the Defendant in most circumstances. In the event that your claim is unsuccessful, you will not be charged for our legal costs. Personal injury cases can also be funded by what is known as before the event insurance. This is where you have an existing policy of insurance such as a motor policy, buildings or contents insurance and the policy provides for Legal Expenses Insurance. Not all insurance policies provide for this and at the outset of the claim, we will check any policies you have to establish whether Legal Expenses Insurance is available. On occasions when it is, we will take steps to ascertain from the insurers whether the policy covers the claim you are bringing as some policies that provide Legal Expenses Insurance do not cover all types of personal injury claim. If you are a member of a Union, your Union may fund the claim for you.

If you have a condition which is compensatable in the courts, then we will not have to ask you to pay anything. Your legal costs would be paid by the other side if you win your claim. If you lose your claim, you pay nothing.

Sometimes, if it not clear whether or not your condition is a compensatable one, we may ask you to pay the costs of a preliminary medical, so that we can find out more about your condition. However, in most cases, you are not asked to pay anything. In any event, we would not incur any costs without your express prior agreement.

If you lose your claim, then you will not have to pay any of our legal costs however, there can be occasions when you are liable to pay your opponents costs and this generally arises when a case is lost in a Court hearing.
To protect you from any such liability, at the outset of your claim, we will obtain a policy of insurance for you, known as after the event insurance. The policy is at no cost to you and is a self insuring policy. It will only become effective if the case is subsequently lost in a Court hearing. Should that happen, then the policy will cover your opponents legal costs and also any disbursements (fees for professional charges) that we have paid on your behalf. There is nothing to pay in respect of our legal costs.