This article was originally published in February 2022 and was updated in November 2022.
A surprising number of people do not claim personal injury compensation after an accident that wasn’t their fault. A detailed report by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) ten years ago revealed that over 40% of people who could claim compensation for whiplash injuries after an accident didn’t do so.
More recently, statistics produced by the Ministry of Justice in September show that for the third quarter of 2022, personal injury claims accounted for just over 6% of all claims issued in the County Court.
Why won’t some people pursue personal injury claims when they have a valid claim?
1. I don’t want to be part of ‘The Compensation Culture’
Some people get put off from claiming accident injury compensation because they feel it is wrong because of what the press and insurance companies call a “compensation culture.”
If you suffer personal injury in an accident which was the fault of another person or organisation, you should claim. You have the right to be compensated for the pain and suffering you suffer. The term ‘compensation culture’ is just a sound bite invented by the press.
2. Making a personal injury claim will cost too much in legal fees
The public perception of solicitors is that they cost too much. However, most personal injury solicitors fund compensation claims using No Win No Fee Agreements. Entering into this type of agreement with a personal injury solicitor, means your claim will be risk-free for you. You will have nothing to pay, if your claim is unsuccessful.
If your claim succeeds, you will pay your solicitor an agreed fee as a percentage of the compensation you recover from the other party.
Legal expenses insurance and trade union representation are other ways of funding claims.
3. I think I might be partly to blame, so I don’t think I can claim
If you are partly to blame for an accident, you could still pursue a successful claim. If your claim has any reasonable prospects of success, some No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors will still take it on.
Many successful pedestrian accident claims, cycling accident claims, motorcycle accident claims or accident at work claims almost didn’t start because the injury victim initially thought they couldn’t make a claim.
If you feel you are partly responsible for an accident but want to know whether you still have a claim, you should call a firm of personal injury solicitors, like Mooneerams Solicitors, who you can call on 029 2048 3615.
At Mooneerams, we believe a claim is worth pursuing as long as your potential claim has some prospects of success, even if it’s likely to be decided on a 75/25 or 50/50 basis.
When pursuing compensation in a serious injury claim, even if it appears you were 75% to blame for the accident, your compensation award could still be substantial should you recover 25% of the full amount claimed
4. I’m worried I might lose my job if I make an accident at work claim against my employer
Injuries resulting from accidents at work are an everyday occurrence. Employers owe their employees a duty of care to keep them safe. If a worker gets injured and the accident was the fault of their employer, the employee is entitled to make an accident at work claim.
Many employees who could pursue an accident at work claim are worried they might get sacked if they decide to.
Your employer has no legal right to sack you for claiming against them; if they do, you will have strong grounds to claim unfair dismissal.
Most employers accept that running a business brings with it a possibility that accidents at work will happen and that the company may be responsible for some of those accidents.
Similarly, if a worker files an accident at work claim, most employers pass the claim to their liability insurers and let them deal with it. All employers are required to have this type of insurance.
In the improbable event you get dismissed for starting an accident at work claim, you will have solid grounds for taking your employer to an Employment Tribunal, and your injury claim will continue as well.
5. The accident occurred too long ago to make a claim
If you want to make a personal injury claim, the sooner you speak to a personal injury solicitor, the better.
However, there are numerous reasons why people don’t start claims soon after an accident. The court rules acknowledge this and allow for a reasonable time limit to bring a personal injury claim. After this period, if a claim has not started, it will become ‘time-barred’, meaning they can no longer pursue compensation.
For most adults, the time limit for making a personal injury claim is three years from the accident (or incident) that caused the injury (or illness) you wish to claim for. There are exceptions to this rule for children under 18, persons who lack the mental capacity to bring a claim themselves, some clinical negligence claims and asbestos disease claims.
See our accident advice centre for further details about the exceptions to the three-year rule for bringing a personal injury claim.
Important point; starting a claim doesn’t refer to the first time you contact a solicitor – it means filing the papers with the court to commence court proceedings.
If you are unsure whether you can claim because the accident happened years ago, call Mooneerams on 029 2048 3615 to see whether you can still start a claim.
6. I don’t want to claim because I don’t want to go to court
Court proceedings are commenced in a high percentage of personal injury cases. Yet, the number of those cases that end up in a court hearing before a Judge is small.
If you have an efficient personal injury solicitor handling your claim, they may issue court proceedings in your case for a variety of reasons:
- The other person (the ‘third party’) denies liability. Issuing court proceedings is the only way to move your claim forward. It’s not unknown for third-party insurers to change their stance on liability once proceedings are issued.
- The insurers or solicitors of the third party are dragging their heels. Starting court proceedings forces them to act and may even result in offers to settle your claim.
- The third-party insurers/solicitors have made settlement offers but refuse to meet the true value of your claim. Issuing proceedings puts pressure on the third party, and the nearer a case gets to trial, the more likely you will get a more acceptable settlement offer.
After issuing proceedings, the claims process follows a strict timetable, with plenty of opportunities for a claim to settle.
Only a small percentage of cases go to a court hearing, but some do. If that happens to you, remember your solicitor believes in your case and will be there to advise and guide you throughout
If your claim is on a No Win No Fee basis, remember that if you lose the case, you’ll have nothing to pay as long as you have been entirely honest about how the accident happened and the nature and extent of your injuries.
Finally, if you do end up in court and you win your case, you’ll breathe a sigh of relief and realise it’s all been worthwhile.
Watch Our Video – 6 Reasons Why People Don’t Make a Personal Injury Claim
Mooneerams solicitors are specialist personal injury solicitors with over twenty years ‘experience of handling personal injury claims of all types, including;
Call us on 029 2048 3615
We handle most personal injury claims on a No Win, No Fee basis.
