Personal Injury Claims are usually settled by agreement between the Claimant’s Solicitors and the Defendant’s insurers or solicitors without the need for Court Proceedings.
Readers of my blog may remember from my post at starting-court-proceedings-and-why-you-shouldnt-worry-if-your-solicitor-advises-you-to-do-so/ that claims usually only lead to court proceedings if the injured person’s solicitors advise them that they have a very good chance of winning their claim and/or that they will be likely to recover more than the opponent is prepared to offer them if they start those proceedings.
Once Court proceedings have started, they follow procedural stages fixed by the Court known as “directions” after a Defence has been served by the opponents. The directions include dates for exchange of lists of relevant documents, signed witness statements, medical and other expert reports, written questions to experts, schedules of loss (in which both sides say how much the claim is worth – usually two very different amounts) and the completion of Pre-Trial Checklists before the case reaches a final hearing.
Cases can, and usually do, settle by agreement between the parties and their solicitors before the final hearing or civil trial. Of those that don’t settle, most result in a hearing in front of a judge, but a small percentage do settle “at the door of the Court” on the morning of the first day of the trial.
This happened in one of my cases this week. The claim involved serious injuries and was denied from the start by the opponent’s insurers. We started Court Proceedings which were strongly defended by the solicitors appointed by the insurers who made it clear that they would not make any offers to settle the case. The barrister we instructed advised our client that they could win or lose the case and that we should try and settle the case despite the attitude of the opponents.
Two attempts were rejected by the solicitors concerned and so, earlier this week, the civil trial was due to start. I arrived at Court early in the morning with my colleague, met my client, our barrister and several witnesses we had called. I noticed that the opponent’s solicitor, barrister and witnesses were all present. Most, if not all of them, were clearly extremely nervous, not having given evidence in a court before.
Expecting that the case would soon start in front of the judge, my client and I were very surprised indeed when, whilst we were discussing the case over a cup of tea, the barrister for the Defendant approached us stating that the insurers concerned wanted to try and settle the claim. Negotiations started with both sides making offers and counter-offers before we reached agreement – not at the door of the Court, but in a conference room close by! Our client will shortly receive a very substantial amount of compensation.
My client was relieved and surprised, as were I and the barrister. This was another example of how late in proceedings that cases settle and shows that the client was fully justified in taking and pursuing court proceedings on our advice when the opponent had denied liability from the outset and refused to make any offer at all. I’m sure that many lawyers and injured people in the position of our client might have decided not to fight this case, showing the benefit of instructing experienced local personal injury solicitors.
This one will be enjoying our Departmental Christmas outing this evening which will, of course, involve a Christmas curry and some of Sheffield’s finest locally-brewed ales. I hope you have time to enjoy your weekend when not shopping!
Jonathan Stittle
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