Barcan Woodward
Personal Injury
Advice if you have been injured and want to claim compensation.
- Can I claim compensation?
- How do I claim compensation?
- What will the solicitor do?
- Why use a specialist solicitor?
- How much compensation will I get?
- How much will it cost?
- How can I pay?
- How long will the claim take?
- How we can help you?
- Free legal advice
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Can I claim compensation?
You may have a good claim if you have had an accident that was the fault of another person or organisation and it has caused you an injury. If the accident was more than 3 years ago you may be too late to claim, but this can be a complex legal issue and a specialist solicitor will be able to advise you if you still have a claim even though it is outside the 3-year period.
How do I claim compensation?
It depends on who caused your injury. If you have had a road traffic accident which was someone else‘s fault you can claim compensation from their insurance company. If you have an accident at your work because your employer or another worker was at fault you can claim from your employer‘s insurance company. If you trip up on a badly damaged pavement you can claim from the local authority‘s insurance company. In all of these cases you would first write about your claim to the other driver, your employer or the local authority. They will pass your letter to their insurance company.
Not all cases are so straightforward. What if the other driver is not insured and does not have the means to pay you any compensation? What if you were working for your employer but on someone else‘s premises - who do you claim against then? A solicitor can advise you.
An experienced personal injury solicitor will know how to get you the amount of compensation to which you are entitled.
That is why in all but the very smallest claims (those where injuries are worth less than £1,000) it is best to consult a solicitor. You can be certain that insurance companies are experienced at dealing with claims. Your specialist solicitor will ensure that you are not under compensated or denied compensation when you ought to receive it.
What will the Solicitor do?
If you think you have a claim the first thing to do is to see a solicitor who will explain what is involved. They will take details of your claim and discuss funding. The solicitor will write a letter explaining your claim. If the insurance company agrees that you should receive compensation, the solicitor will arrange for you to be seen by a suitably qualified medical expert. The expert will prepare a report which describes your injuries, the treatment you have had and any long lasting effects you may suffer. It is necessary to obtain a medical report in all personal injury cases.
Once the medical report is received your solicitor will tell you how much your claim is worth. In more complicated cases a barrister may be involved. The medical report and other claim documents are then sent to the insurance company along with details of the amount of compensation claimed. After negotiations agreement is usually reached about how much the compensation should be.
Once an agreement is reached you will receive your compensation and the insurance company normally pays at least 80% of your legal costs and expenses.
If the insurance company disputes your claim and you wish to pursue it, it will be necessary to start court proceedings. If the insurance company does not change its mind, you can take your claim to a trial in court where a judge will decide the case. Your solicitor will guide you in your decision whether to take your case to court.
Why use a specialist solicitor?
There are companies who are not solicitors who say they can help you recover compensation. They are often not legally qualified. This may mean you will not receive all the compensation you are entitled to. They cannot take your case to court if that becomes necessary. What you pay them comes out of your compensation. Typically, these companies will take 33% of your money.
Therefore, it is best to go to a specialist solicitor who:
- Can recover maximum compensation
- Will not take all their fees out of your compensation
- Can represent you all through the case
- Is fully legally qualified
The solicitors in Barcan Woodward have spent years training and then working to recover compensation on behalf of people injured through no fault of their own.
How much compensation will I get?
The amount of compensation depends very much on the sort of injury you have had, how much medical treatment you have needed, how the injury has affected you, how much time off work you have had, how much care you have needed from other people and, crucially, what the future holds.
No two claims are exactly the same, which is why it is essential to have a specialist solicitor to advise and guide you.
In the more serious cases it may not be possible to work out the proper compensation until the injuries have settled down and the medical expert can make an accurate prediction about the future. When this happens your solicitor will advise you about claiming an interim payment so you can get on with life and are not left waiting for things you need to buy. A specialist solicitor will always try and deal with the claim to maximise your early rehabilitation.
How much will it cost?
If you decide to pursue a claim on your own then you will not have any solicitor‘s costs to pay but there will be other expenses such as medical report and court fees. If you lose you may have to pay the other side‘s costs. We do not recommend that you should try and get compensation on your own unless your claim for injuries is clearly worth less than £1,000.
Only the very simplest of cases are likely to cost much less than £1,000.
Serious accidents, where there is a dispute about who is to blame and the amount of compensation and which go to trial, are unlikely to cost less than £25,000 and could cost a lot more.
That said, if your claim is accepted by your opponent or you win at Trial, the opponent will usually have to pay most of your legal costs and expenses as well as your compensation.
Your solicitor will be able to give you detailed advice about how to pay to make a claim.
How can I pay?
Your solicitor will advise you at the start about the different ways of covering legal costs and the other expenses of bringing a claim.
Barcan Woodward will offer a No Win, No Fee arrangement in suitable cases.
There are many other ways of covering legal costs including: Legal Aid/Public Funding; Legal Expenses Insurance; Trade Union/Staff Association funding; After the event insurance, or just paying privately as you go.
We will always advise on the options and the best way for you to fund your claim.
How long will the claim take?
Some of the simplest claims can be completed in 6 - 9 months from first seeing a solicitor. Normally it takes at least a year. These are claims where there is an early decision that there will be no dispute about who is to blame for the accident and the injuries are straightforward and it is possible to obtain a medical report quickly.
Claims involving more serious injuries, where there is a dispute about who is to blame for the injuries will take much longer particularly where care and medical treatment will be required for the rest of the injured person‘s life.
The claim should not be settled without a medical report prepared by a suitably qualified expert who has examined you. There is normally a waiting list for examinations and this can take several months. This is often one reason why claims cannot be settled as quickly as everyone would like.
It is usually important to know the extent of the injuries and better to wait, only settling the claim once the injuries have settled down. It is most unwise to settle a claim too quickly when there is still some uncertainly about whether the injured person will recover fully or not. This is because it is not possible to come back later and say, “the injuries are worse than we thought, can we have some more compensation?” Normally, once a claim has been settled that will be end of it.
If there is no dispute about blame and there is likely to be any delay, it is usually possible to obtain an advance payment of compensation before the final amount is agreed. This is known as an interim payment.
Therefore, it is usually better to press on with a court case if your opponent disputes that you have a valid claim. If the judge rules in your favour, you can then get an interim payment, or series of interim payments, until the medical position is clear and the claim can be settled finally.
How we can help you?
We are experts at recovering compensation for our clients. The partners in the Personal Injury Department, Richard Barcan and Marina van Vessem, are members of the Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme , which means they have proved that they are experts at dealing with personal injury claims.
The other members of the Personal and Medical Injuries Team are:
- Richard Harries (Associate)
- Myfanwy Buckeridge (Solicitor) member of the Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme
- Amie Prowle (Solicitor)
- Kerstin Scheel (Solicitor)
If you wonder if you have a claim or have any other enquiries please telephone Richard, Marina or one of the team
Over the years the department has dealt with many hundreds of personal injury claims recovering millions of pounds on behalf of claimants.
Free legal advice
Please telephone us with any questions you may have. This will not cost you anything and if we think we can help you further we can arrange a free initial interview.
You can e-mail us your questions using our e-mail enquiry form by clicking here.
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Our Personal and Medical Injuries Department
The department is headed by Richard Barcan and Marina Van Vessem who are members of the Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme. They have many years experience of dealing with a wide variety of personal injury claims. They also handle clinical negligence claims. In addition, a number of solicitors and legal executives handle claims.
Our Personal and Medical Injuries Department‘s offices are in the centre of Bristol. They are fully wheelchair accessible. We can also see you at our other offices in North and South Bristol. We offer home or hospital visits if you cannot get to us.
Some of our cases
Click here to read about some of our cases.