One example…
Recently we were contacted by a young man who had suffered whiplash in a road traffic accident nearly three years before. He was “allocated” a large law firm to “process” his case by his car insurers. Like most injured people in these scenarios the man was not told that he could have exercised his “freedom of choice” to appoint the solicitors of his choosing; solicitors, like Truth Legal, who were local to him, rather than solicitors in a city whom he never met in 2 and half years.
In person, over a number of face-to-face meetings (yes, we meet our clients in person), the injured man explained to our experienced solicitors (yes, we had two expert solicitors in a face-to-face meeting) that his previous solicitors had valued his claim at around £4,500 and that he was being put under intense pressure by the paralegal (not solicitor) to settle his case. The man explained that he did not agree with the orthopaedic medical evidence which stated that his back pain related to the accident lasted for only 18 months and that anything else was wear and tear.
After taking his detailed instructions we advised the man – as he should have been advised – that the most important thing he needed to do was to look after himself; that his claim was secondary. With ease, the man switched solicitors to us.
What happened?
We want all our clients to make a full recovery, wherever possible. On our recommendation our client returned to his GP to request further medical help. Eventually the GP referred our client to a pain management team at the local hospital and arranged for physiotherapy whilst he awaited a consultation with the pain team. We empowered our client to demand the treatment that he so badly needed.
During this time the three year limitation period came to pass (there is no need to settle a claim before three years, rather, all that is required is that the claim is issued at court before the third year and served/send four months later), so we issued court proceedings to protect our client’s position.
As we try to do at Truth Legal, we established a positive relationship with the representative at the insurance company on the other side. On our client’s instructions we advanced offers to the other side.
With no additional medical evidence, but with the insurers being fully appraised of our client’s medical position, a settlement was reached in the sum of circa £14,500. Our client was delighted with the result, particularly given that not many months before he was under pressure to accept £10,000 less.
This case illustrates the importance of listening to your body, and listening to your instinct. If you find yourself in disagreement with the opinion of a medical expert who only saw you for a few minutes, and you are of the view that as a result of this medical evidence you will be insufficiently compensated. Or, if your solicitors are not listening to you, then please get in touch with our team. At Truth Legal your case will be run by an expert solicitor, or two expert solicitors, with the assistance of a trainee solicitor and a paralegal, rather than being run by a paralegal. Unlike many of the road traffic accident factory law firms, we really try and get to know our clients, because the better we know our clients, the better the job we can do.
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