Paying for Legal Action of a Personal Injury Claim

Anyone that has been injured as a result of an accident and has identified someone who is legally responsible for the accident, will still need to consider how they are going tol pay for any legal action which would be necessary for their claim. There are several options that you could choose from:

Hourly rate and fixed costs
If you enter into an hourly rate or fixed cost agreement with a solicitor, you are personally liable to pay their fees. These costs will be very high in a long running personal injury case, this is not usually an option which most people will be willing to take on. This kind of arrangement is only suitable for dealing with specific legal issues, such as those that just want initial legal advice on whether or not you have a valid claim, it ispossible to pay for this on a fixed fee basis. Alternatively the person responsible for your injuries may be willing to discuss an out of court settlement and you may just want a solicitor to advise and negotiate the correct level of compensation on your behalf.

No win, no fee arrangements
Many solicitors offer to take personal injury cases on a no win, no fee basis and this is very attractive to people as they will often mistakenly believe that there will never be any cost to them. However, care should be taken because if you lose the case, even though you will not have to pay your solicitor's fees there will still be other costs that you will have to pay. Any disbursements which your solicitor has made on your behalf and with your permission, such as paying a medical expert to examine you and produce a report on your injuries, these are not classed as fees and you will still have to pay for them.

Wherever a case goes to court, the party which loses the case is normally ordered to pay all of the winner's costs and fees. Whilst you won't have to pay your own solicitor's fees if you lose, it is very likely that you will have to pay the other side's legal costs.

If you win the case, your solicitor is paid their costs by the other side and you will keep 100% of your compensation.

Success fee arrangements
These are a type of no win, no fee arrangement and it has the same disadvantages in that if you lose the case you will have to pay the other side's costs. However, the major difference with a success fee arrangement is that if you win the case, as well as your solicitor having his fees paid by the losing side, they will also be entitled to a chunk of your compensation as a "success fee". Sometimes the portion of your compensation which the solicitor will take is extremely high. These types of arrangements are sometimes offered in personal injury cases where there is less chance of success, but where the solicitor is prepared to take on the risk of failure in exchange for a substantial bonus if they win your case.

Legal expenses insurance
This is often included as a complimentary or optional extra alongside home insurance and car insurance policies. The terms of legal expenses insurance policies vary substantially, but in most cases the insurance company will pay your legal costs if you need to make a personal injury claim against someone else, so long as the prospects of winning the case are above a certain level. In the case of personal injury which results from a car accident, you will normally just have to make your insurance company aware of the injury which you have suffered, and they will take care of all of the arrangements for a personal injury claim.