In this era of internet searches for quick answers its worth potential clients remembering the internet is at times a modern take on “the guy in the pub” or “my cousin” who seemingly know everything. And, just like the guy in the pub or the clever cousin, an internet search can misinform and complicate seemingly straightforward legal problems.
Virtually every lawyer will have a story about a client who commenced legal action following research conducted on the net. Such clients usually seek professional advice at the point when their matter is already prejudiced and consequently face costs that may well have been avoided. This is the case even in practice areas such as Personal Injury where the No Win No Fee model is touted as the mechanism for maintaining access to justice for injured parties seeking redress.
Perhaps the commonest misconception Personal Injury clients have is that the claims process is straightforward and requires little more than informing an insurance company that you are injured. Such is the confusion that clients injured in road traffic accidents accept offers made by insurers without seeking legal advice to only discover later that they have not been adequately compensated if at all.
A client who wishes to maximise their damages would do well to seek the advice of a Personal Injury Solicitor. It is the solicitor who will obtain medical evidence to support the extent of the injury and will be better placed to assess the damages recoverable. It is the Solicitor who will be better placed to advise the client on what other heads of claim, such as loss of earnings or treatment costs, are recoverable and what evidence is required to support the claim. At times the Solicitor will do nothing more than inform a potential client that they do not have any losses recoverable in law. Such was a recent case where a client was at loggerheads with defendant insurers because he believed his vehicle was a total loss and if he couldn’t succeed in his claim he wanted to recover the diminution value of the vehicle. He was advised that total loss was recoverable if an engineer declared his vehicle a total loss and to recover the diminution value his vehicle has to be less than 3 years old. This was a grateful client who avoided potentially expensive litigation.
Contact Connaughts personal injury and medical negligence department if you have suffered an injury at work, in a road traffic accident, were the victim of a criminal assault or treatment by a medical professional which you consider negligent. We offer free initial advice and work on a No Win/ No Fee basis.