Have you had an accident in the last 3 years

[MondeoST24]

The firms which say this really get up my nose. Had one knocking on my door the other day. I asked him how isn't it strange how insurance has shot up over the last few years. He wasn't there long

I started thinking though about how it works, presumably if you fall down a pothole in the road you can sue the council, or these firms do it on your behalf. But what legislation do they use against the council, and how do they decide how much to sue for ?

[jonni2bad]

Have you had an accident in the last 3 years?

To which I reply "No, but you'll have one if you knock on my door again"

[caro]

I think it is to do with public liability and duty of care or negligence or something with the council.

My son was a passenger in a car accident last year and we went to a solicitor who is doing a claim against the insurance company on a no win, no fee basis. Fortunately none of the 5 in the car that rolled were badly hurt, but a couple of days in hospital and an op the weekend before the A'level exams start is not to be recommended, and there are other effects too. We would not have gone to one of these ambulance chasers as they are just out for what they can get for themselves. Not that the solicitor is doing it out of the goodness of his heart, but he does have a local reputation to consider.

[BotB]

[QUOTE]...presumably if you fall down a pothole in the road you can sue the council, or these firms do it on your behalf. But what legislation do they use against the council, and how do they decide how much to sue for ?[/quote]

Solicitors aren't allowed to cold call so it sounds as though you had one of the claims farming companies around touting for business.

There is no statutory legislation as such although the Council's duties may well be set out in e.g. various Highways Acts as regards road maintenance which will be relevant to establishing a claim. In the example you gave, unless the existance of the pot hole was known to the Council they aren't usually liable for any damage so you have to go through the process of finding out when the road surface was last checked or if anyone wrote in complaining about it etc.
It comes under the common law of tort which is fault based. So you have to be able to demonstrate by evidence that the defendant owed a duty of care to you and the incident in question was reasonably forseeable where that duty was breached.

As for the amount of the claims or "quantum", there are records and databases of claims paid out over the years for different types of injuries, whether settled by the Court or out of court etc. plus calculators to convert them to today's values. There's no point trying to run a case for £10,000 damages if the most that type of case has ever been awarded is £2000. The insurance companies use these databases also so generally its possible to have quite an accurate figure of what compensation is likely to be paid if a claimant is successful in establishing liability.

[andrew1]

Having just gone through the experience of claiming for an accident my wife had after being knocked off her bike while a driver was on his mobile, I'd almost be inclined to deal directly with the insurance company. The Solicitors we used were totally useless and I had to do all the pushing and negotiating - after which he said I ought to have been a solicitor! I thought these guys were trained! He wanted us to settle for £4k - it was 12.5k by the time I'd finished and his fees ran at some 82% of the claim which means we could have settled directly with the insurance company for about 17.5k and they still would have got it cheaper. I'd certainly never go to a no win no fee crowd again and I'd try to deal with the insurance company direct ( so long as it wasn't too complex a case as ours wasn't ).

[Teddybear]

Originally Posted by andrew1

Having just gone through the experience of claiming for an accident my wife had after being knocked off her bike while a driver was on his mobile, I'd almost be inclined to deal directly with the insurance company. The Solicitors we used were totally useless and I had to do all the pushing and negotiating - after which he said I ought to have been a solicitor! I thought these guys were trained! He wanted us to settle for £4k - it was 12.5k by the time I'd finished and his fees ran at some 82% of the claim which means we could have settled directly with the insurance company for about 17.5k and they still would have got it cheaper. I'd certainly never go to a no win no fee crowd again and I'd try to deal with the insurance company direct ( so long as it wasn't too complex a case as ours wasn't ).

*It's a free market, you should have tried another solicitor.
*Solicitors fees are payable by the defendant insurance company.
*If you deal with the insurance company direct it is in their best interests to under compensate you, hence the need for independant advice.

I hope you aren't that jaded with the legal profession, I deal with fatal and serious RTA claims and I can appreciate that a lot of 'claims handlers' or 'litigation executives' in firms are not properly trained and that big companies are more like factories than solicitors firms.

I would just like to say that if you are not happy with your solicitor complain via their complaints procedure and if you are still not content with that approach The Law Society for further information.

All the best to all who read this section.

Teddybear (my stage name obviously!)xx

[Boobaby]

Originally Posted by jonni2bad

Have you had an accident in the last 3 years?

To which I reply "No, but you'll have one if you knock on my door again"

and where exactly do you live?

[Teddybear]

Originally Posted by BotB

As for the amount of the claims or "quantum", there are records and databases of claims paid out over the years for different types of injuries, whether settled by the Court or out of court etc. plus calculators to convert them to today's values. There's no point trying to run a case for £10,000 damages if the most that type of case has ever been awarded is £2000. The insurance companies use these databases also so generally its possible to have quite an accurate figure of what compensation is likely to be paid if a claimant is successful in establishing liability.

Insurance companies use computers (because a lot of their staff are trained monkeys...just kidding...monkeys are cute) solicitors however use case law, JSB guidelines and experience. Is it just me or does anyone else despite those 'I fell over a pebble and got £7,000' adverts. Bear in mind that it isn't just the injury that you claim for if you have a vehicle you can claim accident repairs/write off value, loss of use, diminution, hire charges, policy excess and there are other things such as treatment expenses, travel expenses, loss of earnings, Smith and Manchester Awards, damaged property/clothing...the list is not exhaustive.