Page 36
Editor: Victoria Bischoff
Money Mail http://www.thisismoney.co.uk(^) Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020
recovered £750 on average for
each claimant. However, it can
also charge success fees which
are capped in the same way as
personalinjuryclaims.
This means claimants will be
charged up to 25pc of their
damagesthroughclaimingtheir
moneyback.
Mark Carlisle, founder of
Checkmylegalfees.com, says
that more than two million
p e o p l e m a y h a v e b e e n
overcharged by a personal
injury company.
He says: ‘We conservatively
estimatethattheno-win,no-fee
lawfirmshaveoverchargedroad
traffic accident injury victims
£2billion.’
Theoverchargingmaygoback
asfaras2013whenthe25pccap
wasintroduced.It’sunderstood
that many firms have changed
their charging practices since
the Court of Appeal case, in a
bid to avoid further claims.
P e t e r C o r b e t t , 4 6 , w a s
approached by a secretary
working for Raims Law within
minutes of his accident in
Manchesterin February2017.
He says a young employee of
the firm ran over to the self-
employed joiner after she saw
anothercargointothebackof
hisVauxhallVivaroin stationary
t r a f f i c . Pe t e r a d d s : ‘ I f e l t
harangued. I didn’t think she
would go away unless I went
withherbackto theoffice.’
TheStockportresidentended
up signing aconditional fee
agreementin whichhewastold
he would pay the firm 25pc of
hiscompensationif hewonbut
nothingmorein legalcosts.
However,hewasnottoldthat
the costs Raims Law could
recoverfromtheothermotorist’s
insurerwerelikelyto befixedat
£600 and that he could end up
paying a shortfall for the firm’s
hourlyratecharges.
Peter ended up receiving
£3,700in damagesin June2017,
but he instructedCheckmy
legalfees.com when he realised
RaimsLawhadtakenasuccess
feeof £925.
The High Court in Sheffield
eventually ordered an £835
r e f u n dal o n g w i t h £ 6 0. 5 3
in interest.
ARaimsLawspokesmansays
thatwhileit doesnotcomment
onindividualcases,thepractice
of charging success fees was
‘not particularly clear’ before
t h e A p r i l 2 0 1 9 C o u r t o f
Appealcase.
He adds: ‘That decision has
assistedsolicitorswiththeway
in which certain features of
c h a r g i n g s u c c e s s f e e s i s
explained to their clients, and
most solicitors have made the
a p p r o p r i a t e c h a n g e s t o
their practices to avoid the
typesof problemsthatarosein
[thecase].’
A Law Society spokesman
says: ‘Every case is unique and
p e r s o n a l i n j u r y s o l i c i t o r s
entering into a conditional fee
agreementshouldneverassume
asuccessfeeof 25pcappliesto
allcases.’
An Association of Personal
InjuryLawyersspokesmansays:
‘Solicitors must act in the best
interestof theirclientsandthis
i n c l u d e s p r o v i d i n g a c l e a r
explanationof theirfees.’
[email protected]
C
ARcrashvictimswhousedno-
win, no -fee lawyers to fight
personalinjuryclaimsmayhave
been ripped off to the tune of
hundredsof pounds.
One claims firm estimates that more than
two million may have been overcharged by
solicitors who asked clients to pay top rates
forthemoststraightforwardcases.
No-win, no-fee claims have boomed ever
since the Government began to restrict and
laterabolishlegalaidforpersonalinjurycases
in the1990s.
Under current laws, solicitors make their
moneyoncasestheywinwitha‘basiccharge’
— usually £600 paid by the other driver’s
insurancecompanyforclaimsworthlessthan
£10,000—anda‘successfee’thatcomesoutof
theirclient’sdamages.
Thissuccessfeeis calculatedas apercentage
of thebasiccharge,soshouldnotexceed£600
in most cases. And a Ministry of Justice cap
also means that success fees should not be
higherthan25pcof thedamagestheclaimant
haswon.
The feemust also reflect the risk taken in
fighting the case. So an open-and-shut case
shouldnotrequireahugesuccessfee.
But costs recovery firmCheckmylegalfees.
com says many personal injury lawyers have
been ignoring how the success fee should be
charged and taking a ‘blanket rate’ of 25pc
against the compensation, rather than
properlycalculatingthesuccessfee.
It meansthatclaimantswithlow-riskcases
havebeenmadeto paythesameratesas those
withclaimslesslikelyto succeed.
Andsomesolicitorsarecharging25pcof the
damagesautomatically.
AlandmarkCourtof Appealrulinglastyear
found that oneno-win, no-fee firm was not
entitledto chargethemaximumfee.Ajudge
alsofoundnoclearevidencethattheclaimant
hadapprovedthecostsincurred.
The former director of the Liverpool firm
involved in the case, Hampson Hughes,
confirmed that the company imposed a
blanket rate of success fees across all
similarclaims.
In hiswitnessstatementhesaid:‘I alsoknow
thatmanyof ourcompetitorschargesuccess
feesin thesamewaythatwedo.’
Checkmylegalfees.com represents people
who believe they have been overcharged
bysolicitors.
T
HEfirm is understood to have won
morethan100casesinthepasttwo-
and-a-half years and has used the
Court of Appeal judgment to win
back fees for many of its clients. It has
A landmark court case has lifted the lid
on the rip-off charges of no-win, no-fee
injury lawyers for car crash claims. Now
millions may be in line for a payout
By Fiona
Parker
how to claim
IF you think you have been over-
charged by a law firm, your first port of
call should be the firm you used to
pursue your claim. Ask for a full break-
down of costs and make sure you under-
stand what each charge relates to.
If you don’t feel you are getting
anywhere, take your complaint to the
Legal ombudsman for free. you usually
have six years to lodge a case.
Write to: Legal ombudsman, Po Box
6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ or call
0300 555 0333.
you could also take your case to a cost
recovery firm such as checkmylegal
fees.com.