Peter Kneale Solicitor

There's a time limit on most accidents: make sure you know how long you have left to put in a claim. If you are unfortunate enough to have an accident and want to bring a personal injury claim, one of the first things to consider is how long you have before you have to start court proceedings. There is very rarely anything to be gained by delaying; small, everyday documents such as receipts can easily be mislaid, your witnesses may change jobs or addresses and be more difficult to find and other developments at work could make your claim worth less than it was originally. Making a claim is, despite what the insurance industry suggests, not the first thing on most people’s minds after they have an injury. If you had an accident some years ago you need to take the following into account. Generally, you have only  three years to start court proceedings in your claim . That means that all paperwork, contact with defendant and all evidence needs to be prepared and ready to be pres...

Civil cases are dealt with by a judge. There is no jury. You will be represented by either a solicitor or barrister and you will normally need to attend court at least an hour before the time of the hearing to go through the case with them. When it's your turn to speak... The judge and both sides will have a bundle of documents relating to the case which will be prepared by your solicitor. Included in these documents will be your witness statement and when you are called to give evidence you will simply be asked by your lawyer to verify that that is your statement. He will then sit down and the defendants have the opportunity to ask questions of you. You will need to answer their questions clearly, making sure you ask them to rephrase or repeat the question  if you don’t understand it. Each witness goes through the same procedure of verifying the statement and then answering questions from the other side.  Once all the witnesses have been heard.... Once all the ...

It's probably easier to settle out of court... It is obviously always easier to settle the case before you get to court. It removes any uncertainty about what the court may decide in your case and avoids you having to go through the stress of appearing in court.  However, sometimes the other side refuse to make any offers of settlement or any offers they do make are so low that you feel you should refuse and go to court. This isn't easy, but it may be necessary for you to get the outcome that you want. Sometimes the only way to get what you deserve is to take the case to court. Your solicitor will advise you on whether the offer is too high or too low based on what the case would be expected to get if you went to court. The ultimate decision is up to you, the client and sometimes a client may want to take an offer even though the advice is that it is too low because they need the money at that particular time. Insurance companies know this so often make relati...

Don't worry if you don't know where your records are. Medical records are generally held in the UK by your doctor or by the hospital where you were treated. If they are required for the claim your solicitor will be able to obtain these records for you, so you don't need to have your own copy. You have a legal right to ask for your own medical records, and your solicitor has the ability as your agent to request them on your behalf. Doctors are aware of these circumstances and usually cooperate with your solicitor fully. The Medical Protection Society sets out this position clearly. Other records that may be useful for the claim can also be obtained from other sources. If you are bringing a claim against a previous employer then the National Insurance office in Newcastle will provide a history of your employment with a list of each employer and the tax year that you worked for them. If you want to bring a loss of earnings claim and you’ve lost all your wage slips it ...

Claims for children are generally like any other claim, although there are few significant differences. Firstly, someone has to make the decisions for the child about the case. This is usually one of the parents or the child’s legal guardian and they are appointed as a litigation friend. Secondly, the rules about time limits are different for a child who, assuming the accident happened while they were under 18, has until their 21 st birthday to start court proceedings, no matter how many years have passed since the accident happened. The final difference is that if you reach a settlement on behalf of your child there will normally have to be a short court hearing for a judge to check independently that the settlement is for the right amount. You will find the child normally needs to attend this brief hearing which would last less than 30 minutes. It is the final safeguard for you to be sure that you have got your child the right amount of compensation. Once the claim is se...

Once you have instructed your solicitor, then work on your case will start. Even the cleverest solicitor can't do it all themselves, so a good lawyer will have contacts with other professionals whose advice and expert evidence will help the court make a decision. The professionals won't be known personally by you, but during the course of your case you will probably meet the experts used. In almost all personal injury cases it is necessary to obtain a medical report. Generally the expert instructed will not be someone who has dealt with you previously, because it is important to obtain an independent review of your injuries. It's highly unlikely that they will need to appear in court on your behalf. Usually their written report will be sufficient, unless the case is worth a lot of money, when the defendants would ask for permission to have you examined by a second expert chosen by them. If there are 2 experts and they disagree they might both be called to Court to give evid...

If you are instructing a solicitor in a personal injury claim you should ensure that your solicitor is acting on a conditional fee agreement (otherwise known as a 'no win no fee' agreement). If you approach a solicitor and they are not prepared to take the case on this basis you should be very careful before proceeding. Make sure you understand why they are not entering into a no win no fee agreement with you. Is it because they think you don't have a good case?  Under a no win no fee agreement you don’t have to pay anything to your solicitor unless you win the case. Some solicitors may, however, ask you to pay for things that they have to pay out for, such as court fees and medical reports. If you win the case your solicitor should be able to recover their basic costs and the things they have paid out for from your opponent. However, many solicitors are also asking clients to pay up to 25% of their damages to the solicitor by way of a success fee. Prior to April 2013 th...

In any case the first stage will be a client/solicitor meeting. This will be a chance for your lawyer to make sure that they  have a clear understanding of what happened, an idea of what damage has been done and a chance to start thinking about what the next step in your claim should be. The next stage is that the solicitor will make contact with the defendant's insurance company, assuming they are insured. This is done either by letter or for more recent claims it can be done through a computer website which has been set up for this purpose. Once the insurance company have details of the claim they will investigate it and then respond within one to four months depending on the type of claim. At this stage they will either admit the claim and agree to pay damages, deny the claim, or admit that they are mainly responsible for the claim but say that it was also partly the client's fault (this is known in the law as contributory negligence) if the claim is admitted then the nex...

You will probably need to bring some form of identification as solicitors are required to check that you are who you say you are.  Good forms of identification are; Driving licence photocard, full or provisional Passport, any current and valid passport. Biometric residence permit (UK) Birth certificate Adoption certificate Proof of address may also be needed. You should try to have current (within the past three months) versions of one or two of these; Bank or building society statement Credit card statement Council tax statement You should also take with you any documents that you have relating to the accident such as accident reports, investigation reports, photographs of the scene of the accident etc. If you haven't got a hard copy of any of these, then having a digital version (Jpeg files of photographs are best) or being prepared to email them across would be good. Don't worry if you haven't got any documents relating to the accident; you r s...

What work will I have to do for it or does the solicitor do it all? Putting the claim in involves an initial meeting which will probably last less than an hour. Your solicitor will need to take details of what happened and what the effect has been on you, and also consider what evidence there is to show that it is someone else’s fault. After the initial meeting you will probably not be involved in spending a lot of time on the case, generally your solicitor will get on with things although he will come back to you for instructions on anything that comes in from the other side and on medical evidence etc. At this point you need to make sure that you go through everything thoroughly and understand it. If there are any problems your solicitor should be happy to meet and have a discussion with you to explain it is going on. In almost all personal injury cases you will have to go to see a medical expert appointment which will probably last for less than an hour. Good practice is to always i...

If you win a personal injury claim then most defendants are insured and you simply receive a cheque from the insurance company sent via your solicitors. If there is a problem with insurance then this will come up very early on in the case and your solicitor will be able to discuss it with you. If you are injured in a road traffic accident and the other driver is not insured then you can still make a claim and it is paid for by the  Motor Insurers Bureau  which is an organisation set up by the government but paid for by the insurance industry. If you lose the case then, following a change in the law in April 2013, there will normally be no need for you to pay any legal costs to your opponent. The only exceptions to this are if your claim is found by the court to be fraudulent or if the claim was so weak that it should never been taken to court, which  your solicitor will advise you on. If you are still concerned about this discuss with your solicitor the possibility of tak...

Q; I saw a court room drama from America and they were talking about paralegals. What are they and do we have them here? A; A Paralegal is essentially just someone who works in a solicitor’s office who may have no legal qualifications at all. Large firms of lawyers use paralegals for the more routine tasks around the office although some firms may use paralegals to handle files under supervision. There is more information about paralegals on the  National Careers Advice Service website .  Because I work in a very small office, I don't have a paralegal. You are guaranteed that your case will be handled by me personally, so every step of your claim is managed by a solicitor of 24 plus years experience.  If you believe you have a claim, you have had an accident at work or out and about that wasn't your fault and you'd like a free consultation or to have your case handled by an experienced solicitor with a no win no fee agreement, 100% compensation guaranteed ...