Personal injury and losses - worth the Hassle?

[Sled-driver]

Having had a recent not at fault and triple witnessed motorbike accident, I am now being pursued by the personal injury and losses lawyers.

I keep telling them that my damages are minimal, although to expensive items - small dent and on a plastic fitting of my fairly new £640 Shoei helmet (not structural) and two small flecks of paint off the same fitting, small tear to one £160 heated glove, slight scuff on one arm of £370 textile jacket, scuff on metal protectors on £130 boots, stiff neck for a few days, slightly sore elbow and finger, and a couple of grazes on my legs.

Yet they pursue me to get a claim going.

Is it really worth it? Just how much hassle might this be for me paperwork wise etc. I have been honest with them, but they still suggest they will get me a new helmet and gloves, which would definitely be worthwhile.

Considering that a family member was in a horrific car accident, head on collision by a drunk driver that almost killed him and he was in agony for weeks afterwards just breathing, and he got £1500, I keep wondering if I am going to make a lot of work for myself and end up with 50 quid. If I can realistically expect to get my gear replaced, then I would definitely pursue the claim.

Does anyone have experience similar to mine or understand these things and the likely outcome?

I just hate this sue and counter sue society, but I don't want to be out of pocket either...

 

[bluebirdphil]

You definitely want to get your bike and all your gear back to the condition it was before the accident. Whether you go for injury compensation is up to you.

 

[T.C]

Whether or not you make a claim or not is very subjective, and really depends on the severity of the injuries you sustained.

Injury claims are split into categories.

Serious crashes come under what is called ?Multi Track? and cover all cases perceived to have a value of over ?25,000. Lower value cases which have a perceived value of up to ?25,000 come under what is called ?Fast Track? and are usually subject to fixed costs.

Personal Injury cases are typically run by law firms on ?no-win no-fee? agreements. These agreements allow clients to walk away from unsuccessful claims without having to pay any legal fees or bills. Lawyers make money from these sorts of arrangements by charging a ?success fee? on the successful cases, which is effectively a bonus.

If you are being chased by a law firm or firms, then they have probably been instructed or tipped off by the insurance companies, usually because these firms are owned by the insurance companies and have to be seen to be justifying their existance.

In most cases, if you go with such firms, your claim will be undervalued and settled far too quickly, but..... You are entitled to compensation for injuries sustained and you should be returned to at least the financial situation that you were in before the crash. In other words, not out of pocket.

Since the law changed in April 2013, client?s are no longer able to retain 100% of their compensation monies. Now, if the claim is successful, not only are the lawyers entitled to recover their basic costs from the other side (which was always the case) but the bonus or ?success fee? that they charge becomes the responsibility of the client?..

Many people have posted on here about the 25% deduction and the fact that they are unhappy with that, despite it being perfectly legal and now an accepted practice for law firms to take this percentage from client?s compensation.

Most law firms take the full 25% which is the maximum deduction allowed by law.

If you are looking to make a claim, or you want to discuss further, without obligation, then I will be more than happy to advise and I would point you in the direction of the post I put up a few weeks ago.

http://www.bikersoracle.com/blackbird/forum/showthread.php?t=69660

 

[stormer]

Thank God for NZ ACC system....@tu*