One of my favourite rock bands is the Canadian trio, Rush. I have seen them live in concert 5 times between 1981 and 2013. They were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, having released their first album as long ago as 1974. By 1976, Rush were about to release their fourth album. Their previous LPs had been relative commercial failures. And so their record label encouraged them to ditch the ‘concept album’ format – with whole sides devoted to a single theme or story – which they had followed for albums 2 and 3. In fact, they stuck to their philosophy. Side 1 has the 7-part suite of the album’s title, set in a musically intolerant world, now less than 100 years in the future. 2112 (“Twenty-one Twelve”) went on to become arguably their most famous record; it was certainly their breakthrough. The final track on Side 2 is called ‘Something for Nothing’ and has the chorus: You don't get something for nothing You don't get freedom for free You won't get Continue Reading
Funding a personal injury claim
This can be a confusing subject and the funding landscape for personal injury claims is constantly shifting.
These articles deal with a range of topics in relation to funding personal injury claims, including:
- No win-no fee
- Legal aid
- Legal expenses insurance, generally
- Before the Event (BTE) insurance,
- After the Event (ATE) insurance, and
- Qualified One-way Cost-Shifting (QOCS)
Free of charge help with your personal injury claim from a solicitor (even if your claim succeeds)?
It’s natural to be suspicious if someone seems to be offering you something valuable in return for nothing. We are all conditioned to think that if something sounds “too good to be true”, then it must in fact be too good to be true. There are times when we’re vulnerable to letting our guard down – for example, if it’s something we really want – and system tools have evolved to provide some protection. For example, many spam filters will catch emails with “free” in the subject line because use of that one word alone indicates dodgy intentions on the part of the sender. But just because a service is offered as 'provided free of charge' to you, it's not necessarily dodgy as long as the service provider is getting by some other method - such as happens with solicitors working for claimants with personal injury claims. We invite people to ask us questions via our Google Business page. You can ask a question of Moray Claims on Google Business here. You can see the questions Continue Reading
How personal injury claim funding got to its best-ever position in Scotland
In jokes, lawyers are never portrayed as the cream of society. Musicians like to make jokes about each other. Drummers and viola players are a bit dim; accordionists and banjo players are downright annoying (because their instruments are 'loud' and drown out others nearby). Here are a couple of cartoon-based jokes where lawyers and banjo players are on opposite sides. (A) Lawyer (probably a lawyer rather just a "businessman" - because his discomfort is doubly delicious) in a lift (elevator), talking on his mobile phone: "I'm trapped in an elevator. Wait it gets worse..." (The other occupant of the lift is a banjo player). It works better in the original... (B) Father to young child who is holding a banjo and standing on a chair to be high enough to see the music on their music stand: "Certainly a law degree is a worthwhile endeavour, son, but you need something to fall back on. Now practise your banjo." (Lawyers' response: Ouch). You wouldn't necessarily expect to be Continue Reading
What’s qualified one-way cost-shifting for personal injury claims in Scotland?
"Give me 10 men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world," These were the words of Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), long-suffering superior of the hilariously inept Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) in the Pink Panther films of the 1960s and 70s. Another crucial supporting role to Clouseau was that of Cato Fong (Burt Kwouk – pronounced “Kwok”), the Inspector’s Chinese manservant, trained to spring regular surprise attacks on his boss to keep him alert and practised in martial arts. A prime example of Clouseau’s extreme destructive power is in one apartment scene where, with Cato’s assistance, he destroys not only a four-poster bed and a TV set but also inflicts structural damage on the flat below, occupied by the hysterically twitching Dreyfus. We could say that Burt Kwouk’s role was crucial in support of Peter Sellers’ performance. And, because we love a pun, we could also say that, in the context of personal injury claims, QOCS (which is Continue Reading
Reducing Success Fees paid by Scottish personal injury claimants
Success fees are the “hidden cost” of personal injury claims. They reduce the amount of compensation you receive from a personal injury claim after that compensation figure has been fixed and paid. Success fees are fees that are paid out of compensation (awarded or agreed) by successful personal injury claimants to their solicitors or claims management companies under a success fee agreement. In this article, we will look at how the Scottish Government wishes to regulate the maximum levels of success fee that can be charged – to provide a better financial outcome for injured people than they often get at present. First of all, in order to understand the context in which this is all happening, we need to look at wider changes that will soon affect Scottish personal injury claims. The Scottish Government intends to change the way personal injury claims are run in Scotland. This follows similar changes brought in in England and Wales. One big proposed change is to reduce Continue Reading
How soon can you choose your own solicitor under Before the Event insurance?
We’ve covered the topic of Before the Event insurance in other articles. Before the Event (BTE) Insurance is legal expenses insurance you can choose to take out. It means that if, for example, you are injured in an accident, the insurance covers the cost of legal advice on the prospects of claiming compensation. It’s an alternative to other funding methods such as no win-no fee and legal aid. One of the friction points of BTE Insurance is that you usually have to use the BTE insurer’s own panel solicitor for legal advice in the early stages. The justification most commonly given is that BTE insurers prefer to use their own panel solicitors for valid commercial and quality-control reasons. You can’t use, say, your own local, specialist solicitor for advice under the policy in the initial stages of advice. (You can still use them for advice, it just won’t be under the policy - which may not be a problem, in fact). The situation changes if it becomes necessary to raise a court Continue Reading
Why it matters if you have a contribution for Civil Legal Aid
One of the ways to fund a personal injury claim is by means of legal aid. Advice and assistance is available to cover the preliminary work, including intimating the claim and negotiating with the third party or their insurers. If the negotiations break down for any reason, you will need to raise a court action if you are going to achieve a fair settlement of your claim. Under legal aid, you need to apply for Civil Legal Aid, which requires various forms to be completed. This includes providing details and vouching of your income and capital. The application is then submitted to the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) via an online system. SLAB have various tests they apply in determining whether civil legal aid should be granted. This includes such things as: the value of the claim (and whether this is significantly in excess of any offers that have been made already to settle your claim); the prospects of success (anything less than 50% chances of success is going to Continue Reading
How we help you at Moray Claims
In the video below, Peter Brash of Moray Claims and Grigor & Young explains how we can help you with advice in relation to a possible personal injury claim, especially if you are in Moray. We recommend all injured people to get advice as soon as possible from a local, specialist solicitor. By doing that, you'll be clear about your rights and be in a position to get proper access to justice should you choose to go down the route of making a compensation claim. You need to speak to someone who is not only knowledgeable and experienced, but independent and definitely on your side. The insurers on the other side of your potential claim fit the "well-informed" bit but they're principally looking after the interests of their shareholders and not your interests, despite what they may tell you. In the video, Peter explains why "local is best", in our view. Early advice from a solicitor will set you off on the right track, with the best chance of avoiding all the pitfalls. And Continue Reading
FAQs about After the Event Insurance and Speculative Fee Agreements
Given the way we deal with personal injury claims on a ‘no win- no fee’ (or ‘speculative’) basis at Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, we have to have ‘After the Event’ (‘ATE’) insurance in place. ATE insurance is “after the event” in the sense that your accident was the “event”. If you did not have any ‘Before the Event’ insurance in place (e.g. legal expenses insurance included as part of your house contents insurance) and you do not qualify for legal aid, we need to find another way to insure against the risk that your claim will be unsuccessful and a court makes an award of costs/expenses against you. ATE insurance insures against that risk of adverse costs. In this article, we will consider three questions related to ATE insurance and the speculative fees agreement we get you to sign in conjunction with the ATE insurance. Continue Reading
A Comparison Of Personal Injury Claim Funding Methods: No Win-No Fee vs Legal Aid vs Legal Expenses Insurance
In theory, you could run your Personal Injury Claim on a private fee-paying basis. You would have to pay your solicitor interim fees as the case progressed. You would have to pay for all outlays, including recovery of medical records and payment of expert witness fees. If your case went to Court, you would have to bear a hefty risk. Lose your case and you will not only have to pay the fees and outlays of your own solicitor; you will also be responsible for paying the fees and outlays of the opposing solicitor. Depending upon the complexity of the case and which Court any action is raised in, your legal bill would certainly be thousands of pounds and might be tens of thousands of pounds. Unless you have bottomless financial resources (in much the way that insurance companies do) private fee paying arrangements for personal injury claims are generally reckoned to be “a bad idea”. You need to be able to run your claim in a way which costs a lot less and carries a lot less Continue Reading
Winning and losing your personal injury claim
If you live in Moray or have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray, we can help. If you have any questions about any aspect of our personal injury claims services at Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, please get in touch with us. You can send a Free Online Enquiry via this website (basically, it's an online method of sending us an email). You can also phone us. Our accredited specialist personal injury solicitors – Peter and Marie – are on (Elgin) 01343 544077. We’ll help you directly if that appears to be in your best interests. We might refer you on elsewhere if we think that’s a better option for you. Our main aim is to make sure everyone with a valid claim gets access to the justice they deserve through the solicitor who is best-placed to help them – in terms of expertise, experience and location. We don't want you, as an injured person, to end up winning and losing your personal injury claim - we just want you to experience the success part. Continue Reading
How Much Does A Personal Injury Claim Cost?
Your solicitor’s aim is to maximise the amount of compensation you receive for your injuries and other losses. The “top line” value of your claim needs to be as high as possible, but that’s not all. You also want to try to reduce the amount you will lose in having to pay legal fees from your compensation. For most people who become a personal injury client of Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, you pay nothing to us out of your compensation. In other words, you receive your damages in full, without any deduction. In a minority of cases, though, a deduction does apply. So , how much does a personal injury claim cost? And how can you minimise what you will have to pay out of your damages? As we will see, it can mean the difference between receiving 100% of your compensation and only 80% - and the reduction has nothing to do with contributory negligence. Putting it another way, how would you feel if your claim settled at £75,000 and you only received £60,000 when, Continue Reading