help with solicitors handling my case

[shaakilee]

hello sir i would appreciate if you reply to this thread, i infact had an accident in february on motorbike, it was my first accident, didnt know anything about solicitors or sumat, i contacted a solicitor and gave him my case, but later on some of my friends told me he is dodgy and always rip the customers, from february to this date he didnt inform me of any progress, today i called him and he said your case has been rejected, and your case handler will call you tomorrow, i dont trust him, and i am thinking to ask him to send me in written on solicitor's letterhead that my case has been rejected,

can someone help me what shall i do?

 

my accident was with an illegal Romanian on car, i was on motorbike, and he was driving without any insurance or without any license, police caught him on the spot and sent to court straight away, and i was badly injured even police woman said to me you will get compensation and dont need to worry about, then how can the solicitor say the claim has been rejected?

i would be thankful for any replies,

thanks

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi shaakilee, and welcome to CAG!

 

I hope you have recovered from your injuries.

 

I think your solicitor sounds dodgy too. Is this one of the firms that advertise on the TV and offer you an easy £15,000 or so?

 

What does he mean? Your case has been rejected by whom?

 

What happened with your insurance company?

 

Phone him back and ask him to put the answers in writing. Have you paid him anything?

 

DD

[dacouc]

Hi shaakilee, and welcome to CAG!

 

I hope you have recovered from your injuries.

 

I think your solicitor sounds dodgy too. Is this one of the firms that advertise on the TV and offer you an easy £15,000 or so?

 

What does he mean? Your case has been rejected by whom?

 

What happened with your insurance company?

 

Phone him back and ask him to put the answers in writing. Have you paid him anything?

 

DD

 

Probably rejected by the MIB

[Desperate Daniella]

Maybe. But why would the MIB reject a claim by someone who has been badly injured by an uninsured driver, especially someone who has been charged and taken to Court.

 

Reading the post again, I would think this is one of those quick claim solicitors firms because there is mention of a claims handler. Real solicitors don't have 'claims handlers'.

[shaakilee]

hi thanks everyone for the replies, yes the case is going with MIB, today i called the solicitor again and he said one of the colleague will call me back,

i want to ask is it possible if the solicitor already have got the compensation from MIB and he did not want to give me?

[Desperate Daniella]

I suppose he could have done, but that would be a very risky thing to do as he would almost certainly be struck off.

 

If this is one of those claims firms, rather than a large solicitor with a dedicated Personal Injury department, I am wondering if they have decided that it is not worth THEIR time pursuing it.

 

What have you had in writing from them so far?

[shaakilee]

thanks for reply, till now from february i didnt get any post/email or any progress about my case, yesterday my brother ask me about the claim so i called them and they said the claim has been rejected and after that i tried calling them but they say will contact you soon,

these solicitors are a very small company, may be family run business and always look for getting money by illegal ways ,

[Desperate Daniella]

I think you should call the MIB and see if any claim has been made in your name.

 

Did they ask you for any money before they allegedly starting making your claim?

[fletch70]

DD I am behind you all the way. We have all seen the adverts about slipping over and getting money or where there is blame there's a claim.

 

We all know there are no dodgy solicitors in this country although unless the OP has some proof he may well be better off not repeating that.

I am not sure who or what MIB. are unless we are talking Aliens. Not even sure what to advise,maybe shaakilee has an insurance company.

[ims21]

I've removed some posts from this thread which bear no relevance to the OP's problem.

 

Let's keep the thread on track and civil please.

[honeybee13]

DD I am behind you all the way. We have all seen the adverts about slipping over and getting money or where there is blame there's a claim.

 

We all know there are no dodgy solicitors in this country although unless the OP has some proof he may well be better off not repeating that.

I am not sure who or what MIB. are unless we are talking Aliens. Not even sure what to advise,maybe shaakilee has an insurance company.

 

From memory, fletch, MIB is the Motor Insurance Bureau. I believe they get involved when one party to an accident isn't insured, that kind of stuff. Also from memory from the insurance exams 100 years ago.

 

HB

[Desperate Daniella]

Thank you, fletch.

 

You have only to google some of these "claims lawyers" and check their "claim calculator" to see that for very serious injuries they are suggesting compensation settlement figures of a fraction of what a good Personal Injury Lawyer would get them.

 

It's the Motor Insurers' Bureau. (Maybe run by Aliens!)

 

I assume shaakilee had insurance otherwise the police would probably have charged him too, but it may have been 3rd party only without the extra legal cover.

 

As he was badly injured by an uninsured driver, I can't understand why he wouldn't have a good case.

[Desperate Daniella]

I've removed some posts from this thread which bear no relevance to the OP's problem.

 

Let's keep the thread on track and civil please.

 

Thank you.

[Ganymede]

Even with the MIB uninsured drivers scheme you need to prove negligence and just because you have been injured does not automatically entitle you to compensation.

 

Shaakilee has told us nothing of the accident circumstances so it may well be the case that the MIB have rejected his claim.

 

Even if Shaakilee was fully comp personal injury is an uninsured loss so not covered by his policy.

 

As for the compensation there is no way to know exactly how much the injuries a worth until the Claimant has been examined by a medico-legal expert, until then it would be reckless to promise huge payouts and so I assume that a reasonable estimate would be made based on the JSB Guidelines. We don't even know what Shaakilee's injuries are!

[Desperate Daniella]

Shaakilee refers to being "badly injured," when he was knocked off by an unlicensed, uninsured driver.

 

I agree with what you say about compensation above, but if his claim has been rejected then any good solicitor would have written to him to explain why. He phones and is fobbed off and told he'll be phoned back by a "case handler," yet this is apparently a very small firm of solicitors. I'm sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever. If you phone a firm of solicitors (in the true sense of the word) then you have a solicitor who is responsible for your case and you speak to him, or maybe his assistant/trainee solicitor and you will be given their name. It is only the large, "claim for your accident" solicitors, for want of a better description, who would treat you as a case and refer to a "case handler" calling you back. That is what concerns me.

[Ganymede]

That's nonsense I'm afraid. The people dealing with files are often referred to as generic things such as fee earners, file handlers, case workers etc. This applies to all sizes of firms as some very experienced file handlers are not qualified solicitors so cannot make themselves out to be.

 

"Badly injured" is meaningless and subjective. It could mean severe soft tissue injuries or two broken legs, both of which carry very different levels of compensation.

 

I agree it's bad practice to not keep the client updated and the OP should have been given the reasons for the rejection. I would suggest he sends a letter or email asking for a full response otherwise he will make a complaint through the firm's complaints procedure.

[Desperate Daniella]

I am sorry but you are not correct. I have worked with enough personal injury solicitors - real ones - to know how it works. Yes, people are referred to in house as fee earners, case managers, etc. BUT a proper solicitor gives a client the names of his support staff and the buck stops with him. A client knows that if the solicitor is unavailable then Suzy, John, whoever, also works on their case and can speak to them. Serious matters should be dealt with by the solicitor but his assistants can keep the client up to date in the meantime.

 

I do not work in the legal or medical professions, but my work brings me into contact with solicitors, case managers, and people who have been badly damaged in accidents, and I can assure you that the clients and their families all know the names of the entire team who are working on their case and I have never heard a single one of them say that they have been fobbed off by being told their "case handler" will call them back.

[Ganymede]

The OP said that firm in question is a small firm so there is only likely to be one person dealing with the file, possibly without an assistant, as in this day and age it is not cost effective.

 

What do you class as a "real solicitors"? Pleaces like Irwin Mitchell etc don't have fully qualified solicitors dealing with each file. They also have paralegals/litigation executives/fee earners etc. "Real firms" can employ non-qualified staff too. If the file handler is not a solicitor they can't say "your solicitor will call you back."

 

I would hazard a guess that I know slightly more about how the legal profession works than you.

[Desperate Daniella]

The OP said that firm in question is a small firm so there is only likely to be one person dealing with the file, possibly without an assistant, as in this day and age it is not cost effective.

 

 

So why if this is a small firm with one person dealing with the file can they not give shaakilee a straight answer? Why do they fob him off and tell him that his "case handler" will call him back?

 

 

What do you class as a "real solicitors"? Pleaces like Irwin Mitchell etc don't have fully qualified solicitors dealing with each file. They also have paralegals/litigation executives/fee earners etc. "Real firms" can employ non-qualified staff too. If the file handler is not a solicitor they can't say "your solicitor will call you back."

 

I have just said above that I know that "real solicitors" have non-qualified staff who work on files. They are not referred to as solicitors; they do not call themselves solicitors. If a client is taken on by a solicitor at one of the big firms, it is normal that the solicitor will say to the client, "My assistant, Penny, will call you back." The solicitor does not say to the client, "Your case handler will call you back."

 

By "real solicitors" I am indeed referring to firms such Irwin Mitchell - large firms with a number of areas of practice of which Personal Injury Claims is just one - as opposed to those firms which are touting for quick claim business from anybody and everybody and send out unsolicited emails suggesting you contact them about your accident (which you didn't have in the first place).

 

I would hazard a guess that I know slightly more about how the legal profession works than you.

 

You are of course entitled to guess what you like.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Desperate Daniella

[dacouc]

Irwin Mitchell will / do use para legals to handle injury claims

[Desperate Daniella]

I didn't say they didn't. Paralegals usually work under a solicitor.

[Desperate Daniella]

If you have a relatively small injury, paralegals can deal with a lot of it. If, on the other hand, you have a life-changing spinal injury and a major seven figure compensation claim then you would be dealing with one of their solicitors who would be in charge of your case and instruct everyone else.

[fletch70]

Where is the OP.

We can argue all we like.

In my experience if a case is to be dropped a qualified lawyer with either sign a letter or call the customer.

[Desperate Daniella]

Exactly, fletch.

 

I am not here to defend everything I say. I came here to help the OP.

 

I don't understand why he is getting the run around from his solicitor.

[fletch70]

Neither do i but I have my suspicions which i am not willing to voice.

What we need is the OP to explain exactly what happened. Also was the driver charged with anything other than no insurance tax or whatever.

 

I am not making a judgement just trying to gather facts.