Are all solicitors ****?

Q: I was involved in a pretty straightforward accident, T boned by an old dear who pulled off her drive, straight into me. She was very sorry, admitted blame to her insurers, the police and even let me keep my bike in her garage, when I got carted off with a broken arm. I did not press charges and reported my claim to my insurance brokers. I was referred to a “specialist firm of solicitors” filled in all their paperwork and waited for a fat cheque. That was 22 months ago. I have heard nothing of significance from these “specialist solicitors”, except a letter telling me an offer had been made for £4450 and I should accept it. At this point the accident had cost me £1000 in kit, £1500 in plastics repairs, 3 months lost overtime and attendance bonus, a snowboarding holiday I spent drinking beer rather than snowboarding, a £400 lid and a mashed Alpinestar jacket which had the arm cut through by the paramedics.

Following a call to your office, I spoke to one of your colleagues who got me to ask the following questions. I admit I was pretty pissed off. I do not think I have ever spoken to the same person twice and I have never had a call returned even once. After 40 odd minutes hanging on to a premium rate number I eventually got through to a person who would not give me her surname or direct dial but I got some questions answered.

1. Who is dealing with my case? The answer was a team of specialist claims handlers.
2. Is the person dealing with my case a qualified lawyer? The answer was my case was being actively supervised by a qualified lawyer. I asked for a name and was told they could not give me that information but I would be called back. Some hope.
3. I asked what experience any one actually had and I was told the specialist team had a variety of backgrounds but most were from the insurance industry and had several years of experience dealing with claims being brought against insurance companies.

At this point I lost my temper. Am I right in thinking I paid £28 for legal cover to get pissed about from pillar to post by some twat of an insurance clerk? When I said I wanted to change to your firm I was told that was illegal, and that any new firm would take 25% of my claim and if I changed solicitors it would look as though my case was weaker. What is the real answer?

A: At the time of publication, you have already moved firms so let me nail a few myths.

1. Legal Cover – you do not need it and whilst it can sometimes be a good idea (for example if you have a non injury claim) it can seriously restrict your choice of solicitor. However, you do not have to stick with your “solicitors” and having seen the file of papers I agree with you. Your case was dealt with by a collection of “litigation Executives” and “Claims Technicians” and so far as I can tell not once looked at by a proper solicitor or barrister.
2. You can change to another firm, as you have done, and as it happened your brokers were quite happy for you to change. Even if they had not been willing you can still change, but it made life a lot easier for me to get the files. No competent, honest solicitor would take 25% of your damages. In English and Welsh law the loser pays the winners costs and your case is unloseable!
3. From the correspondence file it is clear that the claims handlers had no idea that a crash helmet should be replaced after a crash, that motorcycle plastics do cost quite a lot of money and that it is pointless trying to repair a protective jacket that has been cut open.
4. I was also concerned to note that you were advised to send your entire medical records to the insurance company. Luckily you have not been a regular at the VD clinic but it could have been pretty embarrassing if you had.
5. A medical report was initially obtained just after you had come out of plaster and the surgeon said he needed to see you a year after the accident to make a final decision as to whether you had any likelihood of further problems and this was bad organisation by whoever made the decision but if I am honest, I do not think anyone made the decision – I think it was made by a computer. For an arm break without complication you should have been seen about 9 -12 months after the accident.
6. You were advised to make a settlement offer which was for your injuries (which I have to say were undervalued) and your bike. Nothing was put forward for your riding kit which I value at just short of £1,000, your “loss of use” for when your bike was off the road, your additional travel expenses, lost overtime, or your ruined snowboarding holiday. From the file it is clear you told these people about all of your losses (and some you could not claim) but they just ignored you. I also did not like the threatening tone of “If you do not follow our advice, you will become liable for our costs” when all you had asked for was some explanations of advice which was either wrong or inexpert. Your claim is worth around £10,000 and you were right to question the expertise and knowledge of the people dealing with your case.

As a general rule if you have a case, like yours, where you have a broken bone but no complications you should have a lawyer with appropriate experience. A newly admitted solicitor of barrister would be fine. You do not need a top flight lawyer, just a competent one that knows how to bring a bike claim to a fair conclusion. If you have no serious injury a trainee solicitor would be fine. He or she will be qualified in law up to degree level and have a post graduate legal qualification. When you have a more serious claim, involving serious injury or losses you need a solicitor or barrister with a strong track record and demonstrable expertise in bike work. Around one third of this firms work is takeover work from other solicitors. Sometimes the clients move because they just want calls returned, but more often it is because they have severe misgivings about how the case is being run. Often that gut feel is right. It was in your case.

Andrew Dalton

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