Monday, 1 October 2012

How Can I Claim for Free?

When you have been injured in an accident, anything that will reduce the costs of your medical bills will be a welcome blessing. For those whose injuries were caused by the negligence or hostility of other people, this blessing comes in the form of a scheme called conditional fee agreement, or better known by its informal name, “no win, no fee.”

“No win, no fee” is something you might be interested to know about if you are asking yourself how you can claim for free. It works in the following way.

If other people are responsible for the injuries you are suffering, then they are liable for the pain and distress you are feeling and must compensate you. You can hire a personal injury lawyer to represent you and send them a formal summons and complaint. Furthermore, your personal injury lawyer might agree to accept your case on a “no win, no fee” basis. This means that if your claim is unsuccessful, you will not need to pay his or her hourly fees. If your claim, however, is successful then you still will not need to pay him or her because the losing side will take care of what he or she is charging, no matter how much. Thus, whether your claim is successful or not, you will be claiming your compensation for free because you will not have to pay your own lawyer’s hourly fees either way.

You might be asking what kind of right-thinking lawyer would agree to such a scheme. Would they not be placing themselves in an unnecessarily risky—not to mention, onerous—position of either receiving their hourly fees late, if at all? What’s the catch?

There is no catch. However, there are some considerations you do need to keep in mind.

To begin with, as the “no win, no fee” scheme will enable claimants to secure their services for free, personal injury lawyers understandably choose to accept on this basis only those claims which they think possess strong merits. This is because a strong case will most likely be a successful case, and only a successful case can guarantee them their hourly fees payment.

Aside from the fastidiousness of personal injury lawyers in choosing which cases to admit, another thing to keep in mind is that although you can claim for free using the “no win no fee” scheme, you will need to pay the winning side in case your claim gets dismissed. What you will be paying them, however, will be covered by your “After-the-Event” insurance. This kind of insurance is prepared beforehand both by you and your personal injury lawyer.

The “no win, no fee” scheme is a good way to claim for free if you think your case is well-supported. By maximizing the cost-cutting potential of the “no win, no fee” scheme, you can save your resources and at the same time settle your claim expediently.

No comments:

Post a Comment