Procedure
The Procedure of a Personal Injury Claim
Before beginning a claim, we will meet with you and discuss what happened. This can take place at our offices or over the telephone if more convenient.
Pre-Action Protocols
According to the Court Rules, we are obliged to follow a set procedure called the pre-action protocol for personal injury claims.
Once we have identified who your claim is against, we’ll send them an initial letter known as a Letter of Claim. This will set out what happened and your injuries as far as they can be assessed at that point.
The potential Defendant may instruct solicitors to respond for them, but they are not obliged to. More usually, if they have insurance they may pass the letter on to the insurance company who will deal with the claim on their behalf. They have 21 days to acknowledge the letter, then a further 3 months to investigate. At the end of this period they should tell us whether they accept or deny legal responsibility (liability) for the accident.
Liability Evidence Gathering
If the other side deny liability, we will have to provide evidence that demonstrates that they were at fault and that this lead to your injuries. This may involve taking witness statements from anyone who was present at the time of the accident, or who can comment on the equipment or procedures that we say led to your accident. We may need to gather evidence to prove the reason for your accident.
Medical Evidence
Once liability has been accepted, we need to prove the extent of the damage you have suffered as a result of the accident. Depending on the extent of your injuries, this might be as simple as getting hold of your GP and hospital records, or it might involve you seeing specialist doctors and medical experts who will then draw up reports.
At this stage any photographs you have of your injuries might be helpful. We also suggest keeping a note of anything that your injuries prevented you from doing, and any help you needed because of your injuries, even just help around the house from friends and family. We may be asking questions about this months after the accident, so notes you made at the time will help you to remember. Keep receipts of any expenses you incurred. For example, if your injuries prevented you from driving and you had to take a taxi to a doctor’s appointment, be sure to keep a receipt, and you should be able to reclaim the costs.
Negotiating
Not all claims have to go to court! It might be that we can agree with the other side on a suitable settlement before the claim gets to trial. We will provide advice and guidance about how reasonable we think an offer is, but whether to accept will always be up to you.
If we are unable to reach agreement with the Defendant through negotiation, we will issue proceedings at Court. The deadline to issue a claim is 3 years from the date of the accident, or if the accident happened to a child, 3 years from the date of their 18th birthday. We will send a Claim Form and Particulars of Claim to the Court, setting out the value and basis of the claim.
We will serve proceedings on the Court and the Defendant, who can then put forward a defence. The Court will then allocate your claim to either the “fast track” or the “multi track”.
Court Proceedings – Fast Track
If the claim is worth less than £25,000 and the trial is not likely to last more than one day, the case will be tried through the fast track.
Under the fast track the Court aims to have no more than 30 weeks between allocating your case and the trial. We will exchange evidence with the other side in the weeks leading up to the trial, so by the trial we will know what their witnesses or experts say.
Court Proceedings – Multi Track
If the claim is worth more than £25,000, or the trial is likely to be complicated and require more expert or witness evidence than could be dealt with in one day, it will be tried through the multi track.
Although a multi track case will likely take longer than a fast track case, the court will set a general timetable, so we should be able to give you a good idea of when the trial will be.
If you want to enquire about making a claim, please contact a member of our team on 01895 207 835 or 01895 207 295. Alternatively, you can send an email with your name and contact information and brief details as to the nature of the accident/clinical negligence and the injuries sustained to PI@ibblaw.co.uk and one of our team will be able to help you.
