What Next?
The Personal Injury Claim Process
Under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 the Courts have set out pre-action protocols in respect of injury, disease and clinical negligence claims. Below is information on the personal injury claim process.
The general objectives of the pre-action protocols are:
- to encourage the exchange of early and full information about a prospective legal claim
- to enable the parties to avoid litigation by agreeing a settlement of the claim
- to support the efficient management of proceedings if litigation cannot be avoided
When your solicitor has obtained detailed information from you about your accident and injuries, a letter of claim will be sent to the person/s or authority responsible. If details of their insurers are known, the letter will be sent to the insurers as well.
The letter will contain:
- a clear summary of the facts
- the injuries suffered and whether they are ongoing
- details of your financial losses
- details of any funding arrangement (essentially a conditional fee agreement)
- a list of the types of documents that your opponent should disclose to your solicitor, which will vary, depending upon the type of claim. For example, in a road traffic accident, your solicitor may wish to see a valid MOT certificate as evidence of the vehicle’s roadworthiness.
Your opponent, or his insurers, must reply to the letter of claim within 21 days. If they fail to do so, justifies the issue of court proceedings without complying any further with the protocol.
Your opponent, or his insurers, will have a maximum of 3 months from acknowledging the letter of claim to investigate the claim and state whether liability is admitted or denied and, if so, on what grounds.
If your opponent disputes liability there is a requirement that they disclose any documents they intend to rely on with the letter of denial.
If contributory negligence is alleged, then this must be responded to before any proceedings are issued.
A schedule of losses and expenses (special damages), together with supporting documents will be sent out and a medical report will be obtained from an independent medical expert. Dependant upon the likely value of your claim, the protocol encourages the use of a single joint expert, rather than each party obtaining their own medical report.
You will be expected to attend an examination before the independent medical expert, who will then issue his report. You will be sent a copy of the report for your comments, and confirmation that you agree with its content.
The approved medical report will then be disclosed to your opponent and, where ever possible, there will be negotiations with a view to achieving settlement of your claim.
If, attempts to settle your claim by negotiation fail, it may be that proceedings will have to be issued, so that the court will decide who is liable and the value of your claim.
In certain claims, although your opponent may accept liability (responsibility) for the circumstances of your accident, they may not accept that the injuries you claim to have suffered are attributable to the accident, or that they are attributable to the extent you are claiming. In these circumstances, it is likely that the Court will have to make the final decision.
