Medical Negligence Solicitors in Leicester

Your claim will cost you nothing at all if we are unsuccessful as you will be protected from having to pay any legal costs in those circumstances. If we are successful with your claim, you will be asked to make a contribution towards your legal costs out of your compensation, but this deduction will be 25% (the Success Fee, see below for more information) and is to compensate us for the risk that if your claim was unsuccessful then we would not be paid at all. Your basic legal costs, if we are successful, are recovered from your opponent, but are capped dependant on the complexity and value of your claim.  If there are any legal costs not paid by your opponent, then they may be deducted from the compensation that you receive. We will discuss this with you beforehand, so that you know what to expect at the conclusion of your claim and will always strive to keep any deductions to your compensation to a minimum.

A success fee is the element of legal costs that we are entitled to charge if we win the case, to compensation us for having taken a risk that we would not be paid if we had been unsuccessful, as not all of our costs are recoverable from the Defendant. It is the success fee that you are asked to contribute out of your compensation as we are no longer able to recover that element of legal fees from the defendant, even if we win the case, because of legal changes made by the government in 2013. The Success fee is capped at 25% but may be less depending on the risks associated with your claim and/or the amount of work we do to finalise it. 

This varies considerably depending on several factors, including how cooperative the defendant and their insurers are, and whether they are prepared to admit liability for your claim at an early stage, but also depending on your recovery period and length of time that it takes to obtain the full medical evidence to support your case. On average, and depending on these factors, most cases take anything between six months and three years to conclude, although complex cases can take longer than this if they proceed all the way to a court hearing.

Yes, if a child has been injured and it wasn’t their fault then a claim for damages can be made, an appropriate adult (I.e. a parent) is appointed as a Litigation Friend and acts on their behalf. A child has until their 21st birthday to bring a claim, with the ability to act for themselves when they turn 18. Child claims are largely the same as adult personal injury claims, however any damages received will have to be approved by the Court before they are awarded to protect the child’s interests and are invested until their 18th Birthday.

The value of a claim is assessed in two separate heads of loss; General Damages and Special Damages. The former is assessed based on the injury itself, taking into account prognosis and the pain suffering and loss. Special Damages are your financial losses such as loss of earnings or travel expenses etc…

Yes, we will always offer you a free initial interview and free initial advice, even if we then conclude that we are unable to take your case on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. It will never cost you anything to seek initial advice from us and you have nothing to lose in doing so.

You should try to ensure that any accident or injury has been recorded by your employer in an accident book. You should then contact your solicitor as soon as possible to seek legal advice and you should write out a straightforward account of what happened while the events are still fresh in your mind. You may have a claim for this so long as under the law your accident has been caused or even partially caused by the negligence of your employer or by your employer’s breach of health & safety legislation. We can assess this at an early stage.