I have a good Personal Injury Claim – what will it cost me?

This is the most common question we get asked. So why do solicitors in a winning Personal Injury claim deduct fees from a clients damages?

The answer is RISK.

There is always financial risk in pursuing a personal injury claim; always, but the risk is for the firm, not you.  Risk can be high it can be low, but it exists. There is no such thing in law as a risk free personal injury claim:

• Litigation risk; put simply, this is the very real possibility that the Defendant’s factual and/or expert evidence trumps your evidence;
• Usually we take nothing up front nor do you pay anything during the lifetime of the case, which in a complex claim and/or a serious injury claim, could be several years; and
• We will NOT recover any of our legal fees unless we win your case. 

Conditional Fee Agreements

Provided that you agree to fund the cost of these risks, and we are content to accept those risks, we will offer to act for you under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA):

• If we win your case, the fee deduction will be not more than 25% from the total damages. This is the worst-case scenario – 25% is never the norm and in fact, we have never charged a winning client a full 25% from their total damages. Some firms will charge you far more regardless of the risk – check their small print
• You will not pay any fees should we recommend that you withdraw your claim or, you lose at trial provided that:

• You give instructions that allow us to do our work properly
• You do not ask us to work in an improper or unreasonable way
• You do not deliberately mislead us
• You co-operate with us
• You go to any medical or expert examination or court hearing

In the event you were to lose your case, under the terms of the CFA you do not pay us any fees (they are written off), but you will be liable to pay the expenses and disbursements we may have incurred on your behalf (e.g. court fees and the cost of medical experts) hence, we will recommend you take out a policy of after the event legal expenses insurance at the start of the claim, which will cover those expenses if the case fails.

If you lose, you may be liable to pay some or all of your opponent’s costs. However, you would normally have the benefit of Qualified One-Way Cost Shifting so a court will not usually enforce an order for costs against you, unless:

• the proceedings have been struck out; or
• You were found to have been fundamentally dishonest – serious outcome – even exaggeration - jail time likely

Part 36 offers

If you do not wish to accept a formal Part 36 offer from the Defendant but we have recommended that you do so, then the above insurer will not cover any adverse costs order. 

Summary

If you win, no more than 25% and a legal expenses insurance premium will be deducted from your damages.

You do not pay if you lose, and you complied with the terms of the CFA.

There are other methods of funding a personal injury claim:

• Trade union membership
• Any existing Before the Event (BTE) legal expenses insurance – apart from road traffic collisions, such cover is rare but you will be asked to check your insurance policies before signing up to a CFA
• Privately funding the case - expensive and if the case fails, you will not recover your money

Over on Facebook the other day several keyboard warriors were having a gripe about solicitors charging fees in Military Noise Induced Hearing Loss claims.  Playing devil’s advocate, I asked this: 

Would you be confident pursuing the MOD without a lawyer who, in your words, will take 25% of something you had zero chance of achieving without them?

No response.

If you have a good case and a law firm is prepared to act for you under a conditional fee agreement, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain – but if you win, it will come at a modest cost.

Grant Evatt

26th March 2025