Getting a good settlement for personal injury

If you are not happy with your current Personal Injury solicitor its not too late to change.

If you have been injured or even involved in a motor vehicle accident you will know that it can be a very traumatic experience. Not only does it have implications on your well being through physical injury but it can also affect your mental state, leaving people too scared to drive or even get in a car. In circumstance like this, where a person’s life has been severely affected it’s understandable they would seek compensation.

The first thing people tend to do in these situations is get in touch with their insurance company. Most of the time you’re passed onto an affiliate solicitor that has struck an agreement with the insurer – these are known as ‘insurance panel solicitors’. In most cases, these arrangements turn out fine, the claims are turned around quickly and clients receive a satisfactory settlement.

Recently however, we have worked on behalf of a few clients who did not feel they were getting fair settlements. Take these two cases for example; Miss H was involved in a road traffic accident and sustained significant injuries to her back, neck and foot. Her insurer recommended that she instruct a panel solicitor, and she was told by this solicitor to accept the £2,350 she was offered. Next was Mr G – he was also involved in a road traffic accident and his solicitor advised him to accept £1,500 and settle his case. Prime examples of people who were not getting a good settlement for personal injury.

Both of these clients were left feeling aggrieved. The injuries they sustained had caused a significant impact upon their lives. They felt their claims were worth much more than they were being offered, but their solicitors were perfectly happy to settle for smaller amounts and close the cases quickly.
We now have to ask the question – why weren’t the solicitors pursuing the cases and fulfilling their duty to the highest standard?

The answer is simple: Panel solicitors are usually big firms in big cities. They have large overheads, a large volume of work and have to settle cases quickly to make a profit. In order to maximise their own profits they minimise the amount of work they carry out on your behalf – a cynical move, and one which had left many people out-of-pocket after personal injury claims. Panel solicitors rarely meet their clients face to face, and it’s usually paralegals carrying out the bulk of the work – hardly ideal for clients with serious injuries and complex cases that need to be handled by experts.

Most people believe that once they’ve been matched up with a solicitor courtesy of their insurance provider, they must stick with that solicitor or that it would be very difficult to change, but most people would be wrong. Luckily, both Miss H and Mr G changed to Hopkins, after being let down by the quality of their panel solicitors’ work. Miss H’s case was recently valued at £12,000, and Mr G settled for £10,000 – a world away from the initial figures they were encouraged to accept . Two very happy Hopkins clients.

If you don’t feel confident that your solicitor is putting in the work to get you the compensation you feel you’re owed, you need to research your options.

While it’s true that a current solicitor has the right to hold onto your papers until their costs are paid this can be easily resolved. Your new solicitor will be able to provide what’s known as a ‘solicitor’s undertaking’, which is a binding agreement that protects their right to recover costs from the other party if your claim is successful – so you don’t need to pay them a penny until your case has been settled, even if you transfer your case elsewhere. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to know more about changing your solicitor midway through a personal injury claim, or if you are looking for a solicitor that is interested in getting a good settlement for personal injury, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at Hopkins today – our expert team are on hand to help with all of your queries.