Changes to Personal Injury Law
You may or may not know about the changes or read about plans which are being introduced from April 2013 which will effectively deny people who have been involved in an accident their right to compensation in full.
At the moment, everyone is able to pursue a personal injury claim under a "No Win No Fee" Agreement and recover 100% of their compensation.
After April 2013 it is likely that even if you find a Solicitor to pursue your claim they will require you to sign an Agreement which will enable them to take up to 25% of your damages (compensation award) in part payment of their Legal Fees.
The Government is introducing Legislation to prevent claims being conducted under "No Win No Fee" Agreements backed by Insurance Policies paid for by Defendants (those responsible for your injuries).
Having taken away legal aid to help people make claims for personal injuries and introduced "No Win No Fee" Agreements the insurance industry has persuaded the Government that this has increased the number of claims and that too many bogus claims are now being pursued. The legal profession is, however, of the impression that both of these statements are untrue.
The Government is, under pressure from the insurance industry, therefore introducing laws which are likely to prevent people who are involved in accidents obtaining full compensation for their injuries by preventing legal advisers recovering insurance premiums or success fees and limiting any recoverable fees from those responsible and therefore looking to Lawyers to make deductions from any compensation payments obtained.
What will this mean to the personal injury market and indeed to PI teams and law firms? It is difficult to tell at this moment in time but it will be interesting to see how these changes develop.