What does “no win no fee” mean?
At Accident Compensation Aid not only do we guarantee that you will never have to pay a penny win or lose , but we guarantee that you will receive every penny of your compensation. So how do we and our solicitors get paid ? Our fees and the solicitors fees are paid by the insurance company of the person responsible for your accident.
With no win no fee agreements, a solicitor will take on your case, on the understanding that if they lose your case they will not get paid. The question is, what happens if they win the case? This is where the term can be misleading. In no way does it mean that if you win then you don’t pay. This has caught many people out as they have understandably thought this was the case.
The reason being is that some claims management companies and solicitors are very keen to advertise under the “ no win no fee ” banner but fail to tell their clients the effect of the client winning their case. Clients can be caught by having to take out loans to cover the cost of insurance premiums and disbursements. In addition, clients may have to pay a management fee to the company taking on their case. Furthermore if the solicitor fails to obtain all the costs of disbursements and insurance premiums these will be taken out of the client’s compensation. What is unfair is that these provisions enabling the solicitor and claims management company to take away these sums out of the client’s compensation is hidden in small print which is not brought easily to the client’s attention. One well known claims managements company produces a pack whereby the client is encouraged not to read the contents and merely to sign tearaway slips.
The " no win no fee " term came into existence in 1995 when lawyers were permitted to take on cases on this basis. The godfather of all this was Claims Direct. You may recall their adverts which advertised “ no win no fee ”. In reality unfortunately, a great amount of people lost most of their compensation by being charged interest on loans, management fees which in effect left them with pounds after their compensation.
Nowadays, what “ no win no fee ” has achieved is to give access to justice for a great many people. Prior to 1995 the only way that you could pursue a personal injury case, was to either pay for it privately, legal aid or before the event insurance. A great many people did not qualify for legal aid or have before the event insurance. The result of this is that they would have to pay their solicitor privately, and hope that they would recover the costs from the opponent.
Accident Claims Procedure Time frame - no win no fee
Accident Claims – How much Compensation on a no win no fee case?
Choosing your no win no fee solicitor
Work Accident Claims - No win no fee
Introduction to What are accident claims?
Health & Safety – No win no fee
Holiday Accident Claims – No win no fee
Conditional Fee Agreement – No win No Fee
Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) – Does no win no fee apply?
No win No Fee History
No win no fee – The battle!
Scenatios – Why you need a no win no fee agreement
After the event insurance.
An after the event policy is there to afford you protection when you are already in a dispute and need to cover your disbursements and the other side’s costs if you lose your case. Under a “ no win no fee ” agreement, your solicitor will examine what is the best route for you to take. The cost of the policy can vary greatly and can be expensive. For a road traffic accident, you could pay £350 - £500. For a work accident you could pay £700 - £1000. But of course under a “no win no fee”, you do not want to be incurring any costs.
What some claims management companies will ask you to do is to take out a loan which could be up to £1500 in order to cover the costs of the policy and any disbursements. The problem with this is that in the event that you win the interest payable on the loan will come out of your compensation. Not what you had expected from a “ no win no fee ” agreement. However many solicitors now take the insurance policy for you paying the premium themselves. Other “ no win no fee ” agreements mean that insurance is paid on a deferred basis. Which means that the solicitor only pays once he has received the money from the insurance company.
At Accident Compensation aid, our solicitors will NEVER ask you to take out or buy an insurance policy .If appropriate they will purchase one for you and will be reimbursed by the insurance company.
Disbursements.
With a ' no win no fee ' arrangement it is important to examine who is responsible for the disbursements in the event of you losing. In addition under the “ no win no fee ” system who is responsible for any sums which are not recoverable from the losing party. This is where it is important to check whether your before the event or after the event insurance and your solicitors “no win no fee” agreement.