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Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

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Original poster

Personal injury claim for my 7yr old son.

22 replies

Mummyparkin · 08/05/2011 19:59

Hello I'm new here, and I wanted to see if I could get some feed back on this subject.

12 days ago my son came off his scooter on the way to school hitting a faulty drain cover. As he went over it , it flipped up, stopped him dead , and he went over the handle bars, landing on his face, causing very nasty facial injurys.

Cutting a long story short, after dealing with those responsable, I decided to contact the National Accident Helpline. I gave them my details, and they put me through to a solicitor who is willing to take the case on.

As many of you may know the National Accident Helpline along with the solicitor work on a "no win, no fee" basis.
I would like to hear from anyone who may have dealt with a similar or the same company for some feed back. As both me and my husband have never dealt with this sort of thing before, we would like to see if any one has had any success in using them. Also can we be totally sure that we would not have to pay any fees either way what so ever?

The solicitor will be visiting us tomorrow, but we would like to be prepared, and know what to expect.
Thanks for reading.
Jules x

OP posts:

A1980 · 13/05/2011 00:15

You will have seen them by now I trust. I have heaps of expereince with NAH, I hate them. The NAH only introduce you to the firm of soliciotrs and they will have no further involvement in your claim.

No you can't be totally sure you will never pay fees. There are terms and conditions attached to the CFA I presume you've entered into. If you breach those terms and conditions you can be liable for fees. TBH going to see you at your home is a bit keen. My firm stopped doing that years ago.

It'll be fine thoguh.

A1980 · 13/05/2011 00:16

PS one thing they should've told you is that if your son is successful in his claim you will not get his compensation. It will be held in trust by the Court and given to him when he reaches majority (18 years).

I hope they told you that.

HummelBoy · 13/05/2011 00:29

Shit happens, suck it up, and get over it.

bleedingstill · 13/05/2011 00:31

are his injuries permanent?
Why do you think money will help?

ThatVikRinA22 · 13/05/2011 00:49

i hate this claim culture, it is driving the cost of living up and making it impossible to do anything in case someone is held liable.

unless the council have been negligent in the extreme i think you are being silly and grasping.

kids fall off scooters. how can you blame the council? did your son not see the drain cover? i assume its big enough to see?

these stupid sodding firms that encourage claims at the drop of a hat annoy me so much.

compensation is warranted in the right circumstances, but not for childhood bumps and scrapes surely?

lljkk · 13/05/2011 06:25

How bad are the injuries? How many, how big and how many stitches?

A1980 · 14/05/2011 12:50

Ooh that's a little harsh from all of you.

TBH the claim may fail anyway. If the drain cover looks flat until it is stepped on then how does anyone know to repair it? In order for a claim to succeed there has to have been negligence or breach of duty.

pud1 · 14/05/2011 12:56

in order for you to be anle to claim from a trip hazard in the street the defect has to be visably over 1 inch. i used to work for a no win no fee company ( the accident group ) and i would suggest to you that you go to a local solicitor. most of them do a no win no fee but you are not dealing with a large company.

please also remember that even if you have already signed up you have a 10 day cooling off period so you can still go elsewhere.
i dont know if they provide no win no fee by getting you to take a loan out for an after the even insurane or if they simply reclaim the cost. either way there is no way you can be sure that there will not be fees

scarlettsmummy2 · 14/05/2011 13:04

You might want to approach a local solicitor you know and trust yourself who will not be having to pay any commission/fees to organisations such as the national accident helpline (although to be honest i don't know much about how they work).

I had a minor accident a few years ago and made a claim using a small local legal practice. I didn't have to pay any costs as the other party had to do that as they were at fault. The local firm I used were really excellent and they negotiated me an excellent settlement- much more than I was expecting!

Good luck

scarlettsmummy2 · 14/05/2011 13:09

Also, you will need to have some form of evidence to prove what actually happened, for example photos of the faulty drain and photos of the injuries sustained. You also may find that if the council contest it and you have to go to court, your son may be required to give evidence. He would be able to do this by video link however it could still be quite traumatic for him.

ChaosTrulyReigns · 14/05/2011 13:28

Well, obviously OP needs to claim for her son's loss of earnings.

SugarPasteFrog · 15/05/2011 21:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

A1980 · 17/05/2011 22:40

"I wouldn't use them to be honest - you have to be very careful with 'no win, no fee' outfits - some of them you can end up paying more in fees than the settlement is worth!"

That is absolute rubbish SugarPasteFrog. I am a personal injury and clinical negligence solicitor and have extensive expereince of CFA's. You worked for the defendant side so you see them forking out the costs which is what happens when the claimant wins. If the claimant loses we can't charge them as it's a no win no fee!

The only occasions I have ever claimed legal costs from clients is when they have breached their agreement or I've busted them for making a fraudulent claim. In those circumstances we can bill.

Celibin · 17/05/2011 23:51

I am not a lawyer but have been through this a few times. I think ideally you need to get them to accept liability -lawyers please correct if wrong. In one of our cases a relative slipped down on//over an uncovered manhole at a famous holiday resort; they accepted liability and offered compensation because you see they had been careless etc In your case unless there has been negligence you may not have a case.Another time we got compensation after a driver pleaded gulity in a criminal court but the sols did not claim all the costs so we missed out a bit.The injury was permanent and we still had to go to court and again sols told us to take first offer but a sols friend said no and we went higher and got a decent amount - it took 4 years.You need to watch the doctors as well (unbelievable they were as well) I think the test is whether it was foreseeable or something like that

A1980 · 18/05/2011 00:42

"I think ideally you need to get them to accept liability "

That's a no brainer as they won't settle a claim unless they accept liability.

I've dealt with hundres of claims similar to this (I am a PI solicitor). TBH given that the OP said it didn't flip over until her DS rode over it then the council may argue they did not know it was defective adn that may well succeed.

SugarPasteFrog · 18/05/2011 10:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pinkytheshrinky · 18/05/2011 10:37

This could have happened at anytime and honestly I think you need to suck it up - compo culture - very fucking classy

Not everything is someone's fault - all this sort of shit puts up everyone's premiums

A1980 · 19/05/2011 00:22

"so apologies if there was any offence caused. However there ARE firms out there that aren't reliable or above board - it was these outfits that my post referred to. "

No offence taken at all

m5lfh · 27/10/2014 12:45

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

7to25 · 27/10/2014 12:55

As mentioned above, you will not get the money.
My son was awarded £6000 for a broken arm caused by a driver going the wrong way down a motorway.
All cut and dried. Insurance. No fault on our part and many witnesses including the police.
The Judge thought the award was "generous"
He gets it when he is 18, with interest. It is held in an account.

Benb · 17/06/2015 10:37

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Haggismcbaggis · 17/06/2015 10:41

Benb your post is a breach of MNs rules.

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