Advice Needed Please regarding No Win No Fee claim

Just a quick update - I've looked up solicitors, who are local to my DD, whi have the appropriate accreditations. Hopefully, one of them will be able to advise.

At the weekend she took lots of photos at the place where the accident happened. I'm horrified to discover that the cause of the accident still hasn't been made child-safe ?? Unbelievable.

As others have said; do not use NWNF companies. They are out to get you some money so they can get their cut, but not necessarily get you what you should be entitled to as that would take too long and be too time (and money) consuming for them.

DD was seriously injured in a road accident where the driver causing the incident drove on, so was unknown. She went to a local firm of solicitors with a specialist personal injury section, with experienced appropriately trained staff. They did a terrific job for her. They were very thorough in taking her through all the aspects of her future life that would be affected by her disability, including many aspects that hadn't occurred to her or us, not just practical side effects of the injury but how it affected her work, her promotion potential, the extra cost of needing to drive a car with automatic transmission. They explained to her how her compensation would be calculated and made their own estimate of what she should receive and advised her to reject the first offer made to her as insufficient, they then negotiated a considerable increase. She received substantially more money than she expected.

She did not pay any fees, these were met by the Motorist's Insurance Board who paid out on her claim. She would only have paid fees if her claim was unsuccessful

H has had two successful compo claims both paid for by his union. The second accident involved knee surgery. He had to provide photos of the scar (something to think about) and attend an assessment by a doctor appointed by the other solicitor. It was a drawn out process. Even though it was an out of court settlement it took nearly two yrs from op to settlement.
I wish your DD good luck for a successful outcome and hope your GD isn't too traumatized by it all.

With luck and a decent solicitor (yours) they may settle out of court, it would be cheaper for them.

Thanks Cgirl Think it'll be a long, drawn out process

Minimouse you have to beat them at their own game and yes, I am cynical but I think in this case with very good cause. The very best of luck- please let us know what happens.

My thoughts exactly! Cynical lot, aren't we Charleygirl!

the sooner the photos are taken the better because you do not want the company who owns the site to suddenly find money to change, improve, redevelop or whatever, thus as I said before removing evidence. That is a good idea re the newspaper and date. Take as many photos as possible- you will not know what is relevant and what is not unless it is blindingly obvious.

By 'that date' I meant the date the photo is taken, not the day of the accident!

Thank you both! My DD is going to take photos today or tomorrow - just hope the 'evidence' is still there! Having said that, from the point of view of other children being injured, I feel bad hoping that I suggested that she pose holding that days newspaper, so that the date can clearly be verified.

I agree, the little I know of the no win no fee brigade is that the interest charged can be well over 33%. It sounds as though she would have a good chance of a decent settlement without the NWNF lot.

If the accident happened at a public facility, could you take photographs before a decision is made to make changes? You do not want to lose valuable evidence.

a year anyway.

Don't go for NWNF outfits, if there is evidence that will stand up in court. Many reputable solicitors will offer an hours free advice and be upfront about costs. If you win a settlement then it is quite likely the company being sued will have to pay your legal costs a year.

The experience an acquaintance had with the NWNF brigade is that when she did win, most of her compensation went to the law firm.