RULES AND PROCEDURES

It is our  policy to commence proceedings as soon as possible within the 3-year limitation period. In a claim for personal injury you are obliged to file a medical report at Court, before it will issue the proceedings.

If you start the proceedings, you are called the "Claimant", and your opponent the "Defendant".

If your claim is valued at less than £50,000 it will usually be commenced in the County Court by issuing a Claim Form. Claims worth in excess of £50,000 tend to be brought in the High Court. It is necessary to set out the basic facts about your claim in a formal document called the Particulars of Claim. This is usually served at the same time as the Claim Form.

It is important that you are satisfied that these documents contain a full and accurate statement of your case, since any subsequent changes are likely to affect your credibility as a witness. Accordingly you need to check these documents very carefully before they are filed at Court or served on your opponent. Any intentional inaccuracy is likely to leave you exposed to a Court fine or even a term of imprisonment.

You will be advised when the proceedings have been served on the Defendant (your opponent) and when you expect to receive the Defence (usually within 14 days of service). Sometimes the Defendant will ask for more time, and can obtain an additional 14 days as of right by filing an Acknowledgement of Service Form. The Defence is the Defendants formal response to your claim. Once this is received it will be forwarded to you.

If the Defendant admits blame for the accident or fails to file a Defence in time you can apply for an interlocutory or a default judgment, this settles the issue of liability. The amount of your entitlement to compensation is left to be decided either by the Court or by negotiation with the Defendant.

If the Defendant denies liability and sets out an arguable case in the Defence, then the Court will send out an Allocation Questionnaire to all the parties. This form is intended to assist the Court to decide how to deal with the case. You are required to complete and return your questionnaire together with a Court fee to the Court within 14 days. Any delay is likely to result in a Court penalty. It is also open to you to ask for further information or clarification of the Defence, if necessary.

On returning the Allocation Questionnaire form, either party can ask for any specific directions they need, including a stay of the proceedings for up to one month, to try to settle the claim. The Court can, of its own initiative, grant time for the parties to mediate or undergo alternative dispute resolution procedures if there is a chance that the parties can settle their differences amicably. The Court will then decide how to allocate the claim within one of the three different procedural tracks: Small Claims, Fast-Track Claims or Multi-Track Claims.

This procedure enables the Court to apply the overriding objectives of the CPR, which includes managing claims in a way that is proportionate to its value and complexity and applying the other principles set out at the beginning of this leaflet.

Minor injury claims will be dealt with informally and expeditiously within the Small Claims Track. Usually, this involves the Court issuing simple directions for disclosure of documents and evidence and later, setting an early hearing date. The Court can give notice of its intention to deal with the claim without anyone attending a hearing, with the parties' consent. Only minimal Solicitor's costs are awarded under this system.

Most personal injury claims under £15,000 in value will be allocated to the Fast Track. If this procedure is selected, the Court will then issue directions for the future management of your claim after considering what the parties have stated in their Allocation Questionnaires, with a timetable for each step clearly set out. In a typical case, these steps are likely to include:

 

Disclosure of documents	within 4 weeks
Service of written witness statements	within 10 weeks
Exchange of evidence from experts	within 14 weeks
Listing questionnaires sent out by the Court	within 20 weeks
Filing of the listing questionnaires by the parties	within 22 weeks
Notification of the hearing date by the Court	within 24 weeks
The hearing date itself	within 30 weeks

 

The Court timetable must be strictly adhered to; failure to do so is likely to incur financial and other penalties. Only in exceptional cases will the Court allow expert witnesses to give evidence in Court. Instead the Court will encourage the use of jointly instructed single experts, who will report to the Court and whose reports will be read out at the hearing.

A Fast Track hearing is given a maximum of one day for the hearing, often much less time. The Court will encourage the parties to focus on the issues in dispute and to limit the evidence before the Court where possible to simplify and accelerate the management of the case.

In more complicated claims, for example where several experts are likely to be required or where the value of the claim is likely to exceed £15,000, the Court will probably allocate your claim to the Mufti-Track procedure. This track provides for a more flexible approach to the management of the case approach by the Court. The Court will usually issue directions immediately in most cases and then fix a case management conference or pre trial review appointment, to help the parties and the Court decide on the most appropriate means preparing the case for trial. The Court will probably require you to attend a case management conference and or a pre trial review. The parties will still be encouraged to try to settle their differences. If this is not possible the Court will try to list the claim for a final hearing within a year of commencement.

During the course of your claim, it is possible to ask to the Court for specific directions in order to assist the preparation and progress of your claim generally. The standard directions set out above are usually sufficient for most personal injury claims. A party losing an special application is likely to face an immediate costs order, which will be payable within 14 days.

In all special applications and final hearings lasting less than one day, the Court is likely to make a summary assessment of costs at the hearing itself. Accordingly, most fast track cases will be subject to summary cost assessments.

We will review the merits and value of your claim as your claim progresses and further evidence is gathered and exchanged. We will continue the dialogue with the opponent and try to settle the claim without the need to trouble you with a Court appearance. The majority of claims settle without proceeding to a hearing. Defendant insurers often like to make a Part 36 payment into Court after exchange of expert evidence. The payment is intended to reflect the value that they put on your claim and this has important cost consequences that we will advise you about, as and when this occurs.

It is open for a Claimant or a Defendant to place their opponent at risk of incurring costs and other financial penalties by making a formal offer to settle a claim, called a Part 36 offer. This can be made at any time. A Part 36 offer will be calculated to take into account any reduction on account of contributory negligence. A Part 36 offer is a tactical step. It is used as a means to pressurize a Claimant into settling a claim early, rather than proceeding to a hearing.

If it is not possible to settle your claim without proceeding to a hearing then we will contact you and any other witnesses (including any experts whose attendance at Court is required) before applying to the Court for a hearing date. We will find out which dates are inconvenient. Because a substantial proportion of your legal costs will be incurred in the final preparations for and in attending the trial itself, we will carry out a further review of the evidence, the merits and review the value of your claim at this stage. If your claim is allocated to the fast track, the Court will take the initiative by sending out a listing questionnaire to the parties.

 We will arrange for you to be represented at the hearing. The Court will consider the evidence and reach a decision on liability, if appropriate, and on the value of your claim. If you are successful, the Court will assess the value of your claim and include this in the judgment. The usual rule is that the loser pays the winning party's costs. In a Fast Track case, the hearing is restricted to a maximum length of one day

Monies received under a judgment or paid out of Court in your favour are paid to us. We will account to you for these monies subject to payment of any outstanding costs and expenses. 

In the event of a successful outcome the trial judge will probably assess the amount of costs that the losing party is obliged to pay, at the end of the case and then direct that this should be paid within 14 days. If your claim is a Multi Track case then the usual direction in the judgment will be that the Defendant must pay the Claimant's costs within 14 days of assessment or agreement. Upon receiving an order for costs in your favour, we will cost our file promptly and request payment from your opponent. It is usual practice for the Opponent to object to the level of a Claimant's costs and accordingly it usually takes 4-6 weeks to agree costs, where they have not already been assessed summarily at the hearing. There is often a shortfall between the amount of costs incurred on your behalf and the amount of costs actually recovered from an opponent. You will be obliged to meet this shortfall from your damages. We will try to keep any shortfall to a minimum.

Where no summary assessment has been made and if we cannot agree the level of your costs with the Opponent then they can apply to the Court to decide the correct level of our fees. This process is called "detailed assessment of costs". The procedure can take several months.

It is possible to obtain a payment on account of your claim from an opponent or his insurers on a voluntary basis, even before proceedings have been commenced. Defendant insurers commonly agree to pay something on account of a claim where liability is not in dispute. It is also possible to apply to the Court for an interim payment, after proceedings have commenced. Where liability is disputed, it is necessary to persuade the Court that your claim is very likely to succeed and that you will be entitled to substantial damages against the Defendant. An interim payment application, if disputed, can often amount to a mini trial of the case. If the application succeeds then the costs of the application are potentially recoverable from the Defendant. It should be appreciated that this kind of application can increase the costs of a claim significantly. It may be possible to advance a substantial proportion of the judgment monies, once received, provided sufficient monies are retained to cover any possible shortfall.

Because of the strict time limits imposed by the Court, it is important that most of the enquiries and preparations are undertaken prior to starting proceedings. This will reduce the risk that part or all of your claim will not be disallowed due to a failure to adhere to the automatic directions.

We can offer you a FREE INITIAL ASSESSMENT to see if you can make a claim. There is no obligation. Simply complete our Assessment form.
GENERAL ACCIDENT FREE ASSESSMENT FORM
ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT FREE ASSESSMENT FORM
WORK ACCIDENT FREE ASSESSMENT FORM
SLIP TRIP FREE ASSESSMENT FORM
CRIMINAL INJURIES CLAIM FREE ASSESSMENT FORM

Let us handle your claim.
We will fight to make sure you win your claim
And that you get the maximum compensation.

We offer genuine No Win No Fee arrangements.
You never pay a penny win or lose.
COSTS FUNDING OPTIONS.

We act for clients on accident claims across the UK.

We offer a friendly effective and quality legal service. We are Members of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel.