If you have suffered an injury due to an accident that was not your fault, you may be entitled to claim personal injury compensation. You will need to prove that your injury was caused by another party’s negligence, and it is necessary to be well-prepared if your claim goes before the civil court. Your best course of action would be to seek the expert advice of a personal injury solicitor, in order to discuss the practicability of your particular claim.

However, suing for compensation can be costly, and legal aid is no longer available for personal injury claims. Consequently, no-win, no-fee agreements have become prevalent for those claimants who cannot pay their legal costs up-front. A no-win, no-fee agreement means that you will not have to pay your solicitor’s fees, should you lose your personal injury claim. Nevertheless there are other costs to be considered when taking legal action.

For example:

  • The fee for a risk-assessment - this initial assessment will be undertaken by your solicitor to assess the viability of your claim; and in some cases this fee will be paid up-front
  • After-the-event insurance - this type of insurance is necessary because costs generally follow the event, which means that the ‘loser pays’; therefore if you lose your claim, you could be expected to pay all or part of your winning opponent’s costs. However, the premium for this type of insurance may also be indemnified
  • Disbursements - if you lose your claim, you will still have to pay the day-to-day costs incurred, if you were not insured to cover such an eventuality. Disbursements include such items as travel expenses and accident report fees

If you win your personal injury claim, then you will have to pay the solicitor’s fees plus a success fee, which could be considerable. The success fee is compensation for a solicitor who takes on a case, where the client would not be able to cover the legal costs from their own resources. In addition, you will have the usual bill for disbursements.  

However, the losing side may be ordered to pay many of the costs of the winning side, including payment of your solicitor’s success fee. Thus, before you proceed with the claim, it is essential that you discuss the details of who pays the legal costs with your personal injury solicitor.

Last Updated on 04/10/2011





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