National Society

Whiplash injuries are among the most common to occur from a car accident.  A whiplash injury is any injury to the neck caused by sudden movement of the head.  If your car is hit by another, your forward momentum may be suddenly stopped or changed.  While your torso is buckled in and remains steady, your head may keep moving forward, then suddenly “snap back” to the right position, resulting in a whiplash injury. 

Whiplash compensation is often sought by or on behalf of the victim.  If the claim being pursued is worth over £1,000, it is possible to retain a solicitor for a no win no fee accident claim.  Whiplash compensation can reach £1,000 very quickly, once medical fees and time loss from work are considered. 

You’ll want to keep meticulous records of the accident as well as any subsequent actions.  Should you decide to pursue a claim, these will be required whether or not the claim actually goes all the way to court.  Also keep records of your health status.  Whiplash injuries can result in symptoms like headaches, dizziness, a “pins and needles” feeling in arms, shoulders or hands, or even lower back problems. 

Document any symptoms you feel should be part of your record-keeping. Should you decide to pursue a claim, interview several solicitors.  If payment to the solicitor may be an issue, consider finding a no win no fee solicitor.  Not every solicitor accepts this payment scheme, but many do, and this arrangement can significantly lessen your financial stress.  Do be aware that your personal portion of the payout, should you win, will be less under this scheme, but receiving compensation after a whiplash injury is sometimes the most important thing.

Basically, a no win no fee lawyer is a type of lawyer that usually works on compensation claims cases. In most cases, these claims are either personal injury claims or employment claims. No win no fee lawyers are so named based on the payment method they will accept for handling the claim.

No win no fee agreements have been introduced in the UK as a result of the reduction in legal aid available to most people who are seeking personal injury claims. If these types of agreements were not available many people would not be able to afford seeking the compensation that could be due to them. By working on a no win no fee basis, lawyers can provide legal assistance and advice and fee payment is conditional on the case being won.

Lawyers do not have to provide no win no fee compensation agreements to all clients. Also, no two agreements are ever the same as they are based on the victim’s individual situation and circumstances. Prior to no win no fee accident claims being made by any lawyers, they will first assess the case being presented.

During this assessment, two key areas are investigated. First, the lawyer will determine the likelihood of winning the case based on all the evidence presented by the victim, as well as the outcome of past cases. Second, an estimate of potential compensation can be determined. The combination of these two factors will determine whether a no win no fee accident compensation agreement will be provided by that lawyer.

Any time that you have been hurt in some kind of accident or at the hands of another, you are entitled to make a personal injury claim. Personal injury claims cover a broad area, from car accidents to slipping or tripping, being injured in the workplace or while playing sports and negligent medical or dental treatment. Because personal injury claims can vary so greatly, many people find it difficult to know what they can and can’t claim for.

If you are considering a personal injury suit, it is imperative that you visit with a solicitor or lawyer. They will review your case to determine if there is a claim that can be made. As part of the review, they will determine what potential compensation you could receive should you win your claim. The amount of compensation you could receive will usually be broken down into general and special damages.

General Damages – General damages are the more difficult of the two to determine. This type of compensation is established by placing a value on the pain and suffering you have undergone, as well as how your future could be affected. This means that there are no hard and fast figures that can be used. Instead, no win no fee solicitors and judges look at past cases that have similar circumstances to your own. Also, guidelines are issued to judges by the Judicial Studies Board that lists monetary values for different injuries.

Special Damages – Special damages are a lot easier to estimate, as these are the expenses and losses you have incurred since your injury. Special damages can include loss of earnings, medical expenses, insurance payments, cost of replacing damaged items and even a car hire if you are making a car accident claim. What is important for special damages is that you keep all receipts and a record of all payments and losses during the time of your injury.

Even to solicitors and barristers, the legal process is complicated.  Laws are slightly different between England, Scotland and Wales, to say nothing of Northern Ireland.  And of course, the laws regarding various subjects vary widely.  Employment law is different from personal injury law, and both of those vary from family law.  The one constant is that legal advice is expensive, and in some instances this can bar people from obtaining the legal assistance they need.

Since the reduction of legal aid in 2000, a new option has become available: the no win no fee compensation scheme.  Under this scheme, the solicitor is paid his or her fee only upon success.  If you lose your case, the fee is not paid, though many solicitors request that you purchase insurance against that eventuality. 

No win no fee legal has advantages and drawbacks, as many things do.  Some fees will be due, such as fees for the After The Event insurance, recordation fees, or fees to request copies of case documents from third parties.  However, the larger fee for the solicitor is not due unless you win. This can be a huge advantage if your case involves loss of work and therefore income.

Examination of the conditional fee agreement, which you and the attorney will both sign, is critical to understanding the duties and responsibilities of each party in the case, and should be read thoroughly before signing.  Your local Citizens Advice Bureau may be a good source for help and information regarding the no win no fee agreement, and whether or not you should sign it.

Accidents happen every day, and sometimes people get injured due to these accidents. They can happen anywhere, in the home, on the road, at work and in a public place, but if the accident is due to another person’s action or inaction, the injured party may have a right to compensation. While filing personal injury claims can be a complex and time consuming process, there are definite benefits to doing just this.

When someone is injured in an accident, the damage can vary from mild and quite inconsequential injuries to severe, life-altering ones, and even sometimes death. They can take the form of both physical and psychological afflictions that can take different lengths of time to recover from. Many people need to take time off from work in order to obtain treatment and get better, but due to the strain of loss of wages, go back too early. As a result, they do not manage to heal fully. Personal injury compensation can provide the money to allow someone who is injured to take the time needed to fully recover without having to worry about paying the bills.

Also, by making a claim, the injured party may be able to prevent the same thing from happening to others. Road accidents and accidents in the workplace are two key areas where claims can highlight areas that may need to be investigated. By bringing the dangerous situations to light, employers or public agencies can make changes so that the accident won’t happen again in the future.

Overall, personal injury claims can benefit the person making the claim, as well as society as a whole.

If asked, most people would probably consider a personal injury to be something physical. However, psychological disorders are also classed as personal injuries, one such being Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.

Originally, PTSD was named ‘shell shock’ which resulted from the psychological effects of the shells exploding around soldiers during World War One.

Nowadays, PTSD which can be a very debilitating disorder is believed to be much more complex and can result from any situation causing psychological trauma.  PTSD is believed to occur where there is an overbearing stressful environment, whether fighting in a war situation or within a stressful work environment.  The symptoms can include: flashbacks, nightmares, difficulty sleeping, muscle tension and total avoidance of the source of the trauma. Sufferers may also have feelings of grief, guilt or anger. Depression and extreme anxiety can also occur.  Allied to this, the disorder often has a profound effect on an individual’s home, family and social life.

Not just that, the symptoms of PTSD may not manifest themselves for months after any incident that caused it. This could prove a problem when it comes to making a claim for personal injury.  However, making a claim for such an injury is becoming easier as a greater awareness and understanding of the problem is now usual amongst medical professionals and the legal profession.

If you are suffering from PSTD or you believe that you could be, then it is advisable to contact a no win no fee legal expert, specialising in this condition. You will probably already be receiving medical help and your legal representative will ask your doctor for a report on your condition before commencing any claim.

Possibly the commonest type of claim made for personal injury is the car accident claim.

Generally speaking, claiming is straightforward as car insurance is one of the few policies that is compulsory for all car owners. At least third party cover is required by law but most people opt for fully comprehensive, which covers far more risks.  Third party insurance cover means that the insurance company will only pay out to any third party involved; third parties include passengers.

If claiming against someone who is not insured this can complicate matters. Your insurance company will refer the matter to the Motor Insurance Bureau, an organisation that has facilities in place to deal with such uninsured incidents.

Assuming a straightforward third party car accident claim, it is advisable to carry out the following ten steps.

1.    Give your personal and car registration details to any third party involved.
2.    The police should be called if the accident involves injury.
3.    Make a note of the make, registration number and colour of any vehicles involved.
4.    Record any damage to the vehicles involved; include a drawing of the scene of the accident.
5.    Record the personal details of other drivers involved.
6.    Get details of any witnesses.
7.    Make no admission of liability.
8.    Write a personal statement as soon after the accident as possible.
9.    Notify the insurance company.
10.    Get checked out by a doctor.

When you inform your insurer they will send you a standard claim form for the above information to be recorded.

Although thankfully relatively rare, serious injuries caused by dog bites do occur. In some cases such attacks have resulted in a death – usually of a child.  Recent NHS statistics reveal that such injuries have risen by around 40%, to 3,800 per year over the last four years. So the problem is obviously getting worse.

To try and give the general public some protection the government enacted the Dangerous Dogs Act in 1991. Among its provisions certain breeds of dogs must be muzzled and kept on a lead when in public; mainly pit bull terrier types. Other provisions include tattooing, chipping, insuring and the compulsory registration on the index of exempted breeds for that type of dog.

Certain breeds of dog were identified as being the most dangerous. These were: Pit Bull Terriers, Japanese Mastiff, Argentinean Mastiff and Brazilian Mastiff. 

If you have been attacked and injured by a dog proving it is not necessarily difficult to do. As such, putting in a personal injury claim is something that you should think seriously about.  Dog owners can be held legally responsible for the behaviour of their pets, so it is advisable to consult with a no win no fee solicitor or some other no win no fee legal representative.  But before doing so, it will be helpful to ask yourself the following questions. Is the dog known locally if not with a person (can the owner be identified)? Was the dog on a lead if accompanied by a handler?  What type of dog caused the injury?  Is the dog one of those breeds considered to be particularly dangerous?

Finally, you should always report the incident to the police. Dog bites can be very serious. Possible criminal charges may also be made against the owner in certain circumstances.

A no win no fee lawyer specifically works with people seeking to make a personal injury claim under the CFA (Conditional Fee Agreement) act. Your appointed no win no fee lawyer will work with you as you go through the entire process to make sure that your no win no fee agreement keeps you from being charged any sort of costs related to making an injury claim. This is done to ensure that you as an individual can keep 100% of your compensation, win or lose.

The first thing your no win no fee solicitor will do is send out a letter to the defendant regarding the personal injury claims being made. This will inform the defendant of your intention to claim compensation for any type of personal injury caused to you through that person’s negligence. After this, you will be required to undergo a medical assessment to see how badly the injury affected you. Once this has been done, your no win no fee solicitor will assess any loss of earnings on your part, as well as any sort of out-of-pocket expenses, and will work with the court system to recover these costs.

Your no win no fee claim does not always have to end in court, and in most cases your no win no fee solicitor will work things out before it gets to that point. Regardless of whether they are successful or not, the CFA insures that the insurers and the government will pay the associated fees.

Many companies use toxic chemicals as a matter of course during the manufacture of their products. However these can cause wide-ranging injuries, both external and internal, when things go badly wrong.

For example, some people might unknowingly be allergic to the chemical being used or the chemical itself may create new allergies or other physical problems. In the most serious cases chemical burns and internal bleeding are possible, sometimes resulting in death.

Employers have a duty of care to their employees. Which means that they must ensure that all steps are taken to minimise any possible risk to the health and well being of the individual. If they haven’t done so then a successful personal injury claim is likely following an injury.

An example of this duty of care is correct warning signs and labelling; details of any possible side effects of using the chemical must also be mentioned.  The employer may also need to restrict access to particular products perhaps for a period of time or to only those workers wearing proper protective clothing.

Employees should for their part notify their employer of their possible susceptibility to ill effects caused by particular chemicals. The company should log this and ensure that the individual is protected at all times, including making special workplace provisions if necessary.

Some chemicals can be slow to act on the body and may not result in any discernible injury for some time – perhaps even years after exposure. In law, that is irrelevant. Even if the symptoms do not show for a long time, you can still lodge a personal injury claim.

As usual, it is worth asking advice about no win no fee compensation if you are faced with this problem.