No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims

What is a No Win No Fee Agreement?

No Win No Fee (or Conditional Fee) Agreements are agreements between you and your Lawyer that provide easier access to justice.

Put simply, a No Win No Fee agreement means that should you not be successful in your claim you will not be responsible for your Lawyer’s fees for investigating the claim.

If you are successful, ultimately you are responsible for your Lawyer’s fees. However, these are usually recovered in full from the Defendant and so you will keep 100% of your damages.

Certain costs, however, are not recoverable from the Defendant and so, if successful, you may still be responsible for these costs. This is really only an issue in high value claims where there are many issues that require investigating.

What about Defendant’s costs?

Any agreement between you and your Lawyer can only relate to your legal costs. Therefore, a No Win No Fee agreement does not cover the costs of the Defendant’s legal advisors. Should you not be successful in your claim you will be responsible for the Defendant’s costs from the date Proceedings are issued. However, your Lawyer will take out an insurance policy to cover this risk. The premiums for these policies are deferred and self-insured. That means that if you lose the policy covers the premium so you will not have to pay this.

If you are successful, the cost of the insurance policy is payable by the Defendant.

What are disbursements and will I be responsible for these?

Disbursements are costs that arise throughout the investigation that are not your Lawyers costs. They include: medical reports, medical records and Court fees.

Medical Negligence investigations are costly and so, in certain circumstances, you may have to fund disbursements, at least during the initial investigative stages. These are recoverable from the Defendant if successful and if you have an insurance policy, you will be reimbursed should you not be successful in your case.

Is my case suitable for a No Win No Fee Agreement?

Unlike simple personal injury claims, not all medical negligence claims are suitable for No Win No Fee funding. Your Lawyer will conduct a risk assessment to assess your claims suitability. It may be that your Lawyer asks you to fund some of the investigation until the prospects of success are established.

Our Lawyers conduct many cases on No Win No fee Agreements and will happily explain them in detail. Contact us today to discus your case with a specialist Lawyer.