Step 1: A Letter of Claim

The negligent party/defendant will receive a Letter of Claim, sent by the claimant’s solicitors, therefore beginning the process of a claim. This document will contain details of the accident, and what injuries you obtained as a result of the accident. It is important to recognise that compensation can only be claimed for injuries which were a result of the defendant’s actions. The Letter should therefore clearly state the reason (or reasons) why the defendant’s actions have resulted in the particular injury/injuries. The Letter will also include the economic loss suffered.

Normally before the Letter is delivered to the defendant, the claimant’s solicitor will send a draft copy to the claimant to sign.

Step 2: Acknowledgement of Receipt

Once this Letter has been sent, either the defendant’s insurers or the defendant himself must confirm they have received this within a 21 day period. If either of them fail to comply with this requirement, it is possible for the claimant’s solicitor to commence court proceedings.

Step 3: Investigation of the Claim and a Response

Once receipt has been acknowledged, there is then a 3 month period granted to the defendant in order for them to investigate the claim and send out a response to the claimant. This response will include whether the defendant accepts he is liable for the accident. If the defendant refuses to admit they are at fault, then they will need to present a comprehensive justification why this is the case.

The defendant may accept liability for part of the accident, also blaming the claimant. If this is the case, the defendant will include the reasons why he/she believes this to be true.

Step 4: If the Defendant Accepts they are Liable

If there is no dispute to the liability of the defendant, the parties will then gather evidence for the claim. Evidence required will include evidence proving economic loss occurring from the accident, and medical evidence as proof of your injuries and the treatment plan which was followed.

Regarding the gathering of medical evidence, the claimant must provide the defendant with a list of medical experts which the defendant’s team then has 14 days to object to any of the names on the list. Once an expert has been agreed upon and the claimant has been examined, the claimant will serve the defendant with the report.

The expert will then be used in attempt to settle the claim.

Step 4: If the Defendant Does not Accept they are Liable

The claimant’s team will examine the defendant’s justifications. If they believe that the claim will not be a success, the likelihood is that the case will be dropped. If however, they believe that the claim would still be a success, it is likely that court proceedings would be pursued.

Why Follow the Personal Injury Protocol?

If either a claimant or a defendant commences court proceedings without following personal injury protocol, it is likely that the court will take this into account, bearing negative consequences for the party who chose not to follow it.

There are many types of personal injury fraud but perhaps the 2 most common forms have been :-

1. multiple whiplash claims made as a result of repeated claims from manufactured Road Traffic accidents – in relation to this in some postcodes the number of personal injury claims are way above the national average, leading to this type of fraud being known as “postcode fraud”

2. Exaggeration of personal injury claims – general damages for pain and suffering under English law are actually fairly modest. What makes claims of bigger value is ongoing claims for inability to work over an extended period. These are known as special damages for loss of earnings.

Applying all of the above, a recent case shows just how big claims can be and that there is perhaps, finally, a trend to take action against fraudsters which may help to reduce the extent of the problem.

In this case, a car crash victim claimed he had been left “mute and incoherent” and sought to claim millions of pounds from the Motor Insurers Bureau which compensates when an injury is caused by an unlawfully uninsured driver. the individual lied about the extent of his injuries claiming he had suffered a severe brain injury.

With big claims such as this it is not unusual for covert surveillance to be used to check the truth of the claims and the claimant’s activities.This revealed that he :-

• regularly worked out in the gym with weights
• socialised with friends
• drove a car

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this case is that the individual has been jailed for 4 months for contempt of court and several family members have also received criminal sentences as a result of the attempted fraud. This puts a marker down that this sort of behaviour will be perhaps less tolerated going forward which can only be a good thing, particularly since insurance fraud costs an estimated £2 billion annually which equates to an additional £50.00 cost for insurance on each honest policyholder. In additions, uninsured and untraced drivers cost another £30.00 in annual premium.