Accident - No Win/No Fee Solicitors - I won case - they want 25%!!

[greendollar]

Hi all ,

 

I was hoping someone could advise me about how these work .

I was recommended by my union a solicitor to deal with an injury claim and have been successful , the insurers have admitted liability and I have accepted their offer of compensation.

The solicitors dealing with my claim have stated from the start and throughout my claim that I would be receiving 100% of the compensation but I have received a letter from them stating that they will

 

' try to agree the costs payable by the defendant with the view to recovering as much of the costs as we can . If an agreement cannot be reached,costs will have to be assessed by the court . Wether the costs agreed or assessed by the court , the defendant will have to pay most , but probably not all, of the costs .

As agreed from the outset,we can confirm that you will not receive less than 75% of the compensation paid by the defendant '

 

I feel that I'm being stitched up here . In all the documents leading up to the offer they state numerous times that I will receive 100% of the compensation and that I will have to pay them nothing .... " provided that I enter into a CFA backed by insurance with this firm your legal costs will be met by the defendants should you win "

Nowhere in the documents does it refer to me only receiving 75% .

I do have a Conditional Fee Agreement & Adverse Costs Insurance policy that the solicitors arranged on my behalf ....if the solicitor takes a 25% chunk out of my compensation do I have to make a claim on that ?

 

anyone able to shed some light on problem ? regards Greendollar

Edited March 30, 2011 by greendollar

[pt2537]

A solicitor is really no different from any other trades man, he will require payment for his work.

 

Now a CFA or no win no fee agreement is an agreement which protects you from your solicitors costs if the Claims lost. If you win then your solicitor will be entitled to be paid and will be entitled to the successfee too.

 

Seeing as how you have won then your solicitor is entitled to his fees.

 

So, you rely upon the indemnity principle, which means that the opponent ought to pay your reasonable costs, and thus you didnt ought to pay the solicitor as you ought to be indemnified from the bill

 

Id seek a break down of the costs they are seeking firstly

 

Secondly, check the agreement isnt a Contingency fee agreement as that may provide the solicitor an entitlement to 25% of your damages

[greendollar]

Hi , thanks for the reply ,

 

I have a Conditional Fee Agreement .

The issue I have is that the agreement with my solicitor clearly states that I will not be asked to pay any of their costs whatsoever , here are just some of the quotes on the agreement ( not the CFA )

 

"if you win the case , then you will receive 100% of the compensation of the damages awarded to you"

"you are responsible for your legal costs but if you win these will be payable by the Defendeants"

"if you agree to to our purchase of the insurance policy,if we are successful,we will claim our legal charges from the third party and if we lose, the insurance will pay for any charges i.e. our service will effectively be at no cost to yourself win or lose"

"Under the CFA we will only charge you for our fees if we are successful in recovering damages for you and if we are successful, we will recover those fees from the Defendants insures ,you therefore will not be required to pay us any money"

 

now thats , to me , makes it clear that the solicitors will not be taking anything from my award but now damages have been agreed they are stating that they could , if costs cannot be agreed with the defendant , take up to 25% of my award .

I understand they will want paying for the work they have done but they did not , as they now claim , inform me "As agreed at the outset , I confirm that you will not receive less than 75% of the compensation paid by the Defenfedant " ......this is not true (see above)

Its quite clear to me from their agreement that I would not be liable for any costs whatsoever , their is no mention about 75 % of any award being paid , it quite clearly states i will receive 100% .

I feel I'm being taken for a ride here . Is this the norm with NWNF solicitors ?

[pt2537]

Id say then, they are stuffed, the retainer isnt the best ive seen, its certainly not the law society's own one we use,

 

Lodge a written complaint with the principal solicitor

 

if he doesnt deal with it, then go to the Legal complaints service and complain, you will get compensation if the complaint is upheld

[greendollar]

Thank you pt2537 , I'll see how things unfold , perhaps they will claim all their costs from the Defendants insurers but I'm naturally suspicious because they've changed their tune since damages were agreed . If they do take anything from my award I will certainly be making a complaint .

Edited March 31, 2011 by greendollar

[pt2537]

I think much of the problem with no win no fee, is that people perceive the the solicitors to work for free and without any liability. This is wrong, the Client is always ultimately liable for the bill of costs, hell, in fact id point out that if the solicitor didnt produce a bill for his work, then the opponents would not have to indemnify the Client from the bill and thus the opponents would say hes worked for free so we dont have to pay.

 

No win no fee means exactly that, if we dont win you dont pay, if we do win then technically you do pay

[Endymion]

I would suggest that it is just a standard letter that goes out to all clients to re-inforce the indemnity principle and in all likelyhood they will not look to recover any costs from you, even if there is a shortfall (which there probably wont be as they will have a success fee on top of their costs).

[greendollar]

I totally agree that they should be paid for their time but what I do expect is if they intend to take money out of any compensation that they make that crystal clear from the outset , not give me some bull about receiving 100% of any award just to get my custom and say that the Defendant will pay their costs . It's made me quite angry , especially when he then offers to sort a will out for me or a trust fund , anyone would think I'm talking a huge sum of money , its not, I'm talking about a few thousand pound , hardly enough to break the bank ......I just want what was originally agreed , get the cheque and spend the dosh before some other vulture starts circling and move on .

[Ganymede]

I would suggest that it is just a standard letter that goes out to all clients to re-inforce the indemnity principle and in all likelyhood they will not look to recover any costs from you, even if there is a shortfall (which there probably wont be as they will have a success fee on top of their costs).

 

 

I agree with this.

[greendollar]

Well I wrote back asking if the 75% statement was a mistake or an explanation as to why it had changed and I received a phone call today saying that it was a mistake and that I would be receiving !00% of the compensation , suspicious old me eh

[izzitme101]

Im finding this area rather strange myself to be honest.

I had a claim a few years ago against a local council, and i went to a local well know solicitors.

With the evidence i had, they took it on, on a no win no fee basis.

Now i know for sure the claim i had would be extremely difficult to prove, as there is a severe lack of evidence in one area,

however, it is not unwinnable.

3 years down the line i get a win, and a cheque for over 6k.

I didnt have to pay the solicitor anything at all out of this as they claimed their costs from the losing side,

which is how it should be, i'm wondering if some of these are double dipping myself,

I.E claiming their costs from the other side, then charging some to their clients?

Oh and i didnt even have to pay the insurance against loss costs.

[Ganymede]

Im finding this area rather strange myself to be honest.

I had a claim a few years ago against a local council, and i went to a local well know solicitors.

With the evidence i had, they took it on, on a no win no fee basis.

Now i know for sure the claim i had would be extremely difficult to prove, as there is a severe lack of evidence in one area,

however, it is not unwinnable.

3 years down the line i get a win, and a cheque for over 6k.

I didnt have to pay the solicitor anything at all out of this as they claimed their costs from the losing side,

which is how it should be, i'm wondering if some of these are double dipping myself,

I.E claiming their costs from the other side, then charging some to their clients?

Oh and i didnt even have to pay the insurance against loss costs.

 

 

I very much doubt that. The OP has already explained that it was a mistke.

[Guest]

generally. if they are unable to recover their full costs and/or their 'success fee' from the other side, then they may attempt to recover any costs 'shortfall', and/or the success fee, from the compensation award, up to 25%. depends on the agreement, and cpr. but, they indemnify themselves, which should cover costs at least.

imo