Hit by a car while cycling, driver admits blame, bad injuries, need advice re solicitors & making a claim.

Hi, sorry to just jump straight in but as a matter of urgency I could do with some advice about solicitors, their fees and making a claim in court for compensation following a bike RTA in which the driver has admitted he was at fault and has done so to the police in his witness statement.

The person who was knocked off their bike was my Mum so I'll just make that clear from the off.

A couple of weeks ago she was cycling to her Monday morning exercise class and was knocked off her bike by a car driven by a bloke who has, in short said "I can't understand how I didn't see you but I really just didn't, it was my fault and I take full responsibility for the accident".

He was filtering onto the road my Mum was cycling along from a sliproad off a motorway. He'd stopped at the top of the sliproad at the broken white line where the sliproad meets the road my Mum was on. He stopped there to check the state of the road he was filtering onto, saw a clear route forward and set off.

My Mum had cycled across the end of the sliproad (the sliproad the bloke had driven up and was waiting at the end of) moments before and when the bloke set off from his stationary position at the end of the sliproad my Mum was a few meters to the left of the bloke in the car.

The bloke set off and within a very short space of time he had driven into my Mum hitting her with the drivers front side catapulating her off her bike and into the air. He was travelling at 10mph when he hit her.

To cut a long story short my Mum was admitted to hospital and she was found to have one broken rib a punctured lung and a gash in the back of her head that went down as deep as her skull.

She was not wearing a helmet, usually she does but of course sods law being what it is the day that she doesn't wear one this is what happens. So while there is a lot that I'm sure many people reading this would like to say about the stupidity inherent in the decision my Mum took that morning not to wear a helmet I'd like to ask anyone reading this to please, with respect leave out the whys and wherefores of helmet wearing from this thread that is intended to be a genuine appeal for advice about solicitiors and making a claim following a cycling RTA.

Again, cutting things short what I would like to get some idea of is how much we can expect a solicitor to reasonably take from any award the court makes, we spoke to a solicitor today who said his fee would be a quarter of whatever is awarded, is this about normal, high or low?

Also, we have so far spoken to two firms of solicitors in our home town. Would people say we can potentially expect to receive a perfectly good service from a 'multipurpose' solicitor (I know I'm not using the right terminology here but what I mean is a solicitor that isn't a specialist in cycling accidents but also deals with other types of cases) or is it imperative that we seek out a specialist cycling accident solicitor (if such a solicitor even exists) to get the best possible outcome in a case like my Mums?

I would be massively grateful for any / all help anyone can give me with this and thanks in advance to anyone still reading at this point.

James (North Yorkshire)

Others will be able to advise you much better, but just to say best wishes for a speedy recovery to your mum, this forum is unlikely to lecture about helmets, and have you looked at the What to do in case of an accident sticky - http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/131099/ - not all relevant to you, but some good advice there. I think forum 'recommended' solicitors may have changed recently.

Nice one, thanks mate it's appreciated.

http://www.c-ams.co.uk/

Really feel for you, hope your mum heals up fast.

Slater and Gordon are decent no win no fee solicitors. Your mum has some nasty injurys and will be looking at a good size pay out so they will happily take the case and all costs will be picked up by the drivers insurance.

The drivers insurance will try to knock something for the no helmet thing, DONT ACCEPT THAT, they'll try it on but they will back down as if the case goes to court as they will side with your mum. (Sorry to mention helmet thing, I used to work in injury claims and I know they'll try it on)

Slater and Gordon are decent no win no fee solicitors.

In my experience they take time and you'll need to stay on top of them to get your case resolved. I was also hit with the driver claiming all responsibility with it taking over two years to get the case sorted.

Each case is very different and this "sounds" like an open and shut case in terms of liability (it's been admitted).

But a quick settlement isn't always the best thing, as both sides need to fully understand the nature of the injuries and more importantly the nature of the recovery and often this require months rather than weeks of assessment especially where a head injury is concerned.

Generally yes whoever your solicitors are your going to need to chase and chase.

I recommend Leigh Day. Hope your mum heals up quick

I work in insurance and happy to help privately, DM me if you like.

1. Find out who their insurer is, there are good guys and bad guys out there (DM me for the list)
   
2. If good guy, speak to them and try to arrange a cash settlement by phone.
   
3. If bad guy or you can't estimate your damages, send the insurer a letter saying what happened and that you are getting legal representation
   
4. Don't go no win no fee. Decide whether you want cash now or to wait for medical expenses to evolve, then instruct a per hour lawyer
   
   

Overall - you need to decide on your perspective. Looking to cover your expenses, feel like you were wronged, make the person pay? All will result in a slightly different approach.

Unrepresented injured parties get a significantly worse settlement than going through a solicitor.

http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/julie-rand/will-proposed-increase-small-claims-limit-affect-cyclists

You know you linked a Q&A with Slater and Gordon, right? You also know they're going bust because of they're barely legal approach to trading, right?

Like I said, happy to help. I run a startup insurer that is trying to change some of this stuff, so have a unique perspective.

The point is, someone was hurt; how best to move forward.

It's just a suggestion, I've always found them reasonable to deal with often lead to a better settlement for their client, at least when I was settling the claim anyway.

I didn't know they were going bust, I haven't been dealing with claims first hand for sometime (thank God)

But even a going bust Slater and Gordon is a better suggestion than going to an insurance company and expecting a fair settlement for a claim involving a head injury unrepresented.

+1 on avoiding S+G

Hey now worries mentioning the helmet thing, we want to know stuff like that.
The solicitor my Mum spoke to yesterday said their fee would be a quarter of the settlement, is that fair enough?
The solicitor my Mum spoke to on Tuesday when my Mum asked about his fee said "Oh don't worry about the fee that comes out of the other guys insurance". But my response to that (I wasn't there at the time I just mean when my Mum told me what he'd said) was what does that mean "it comes out of the guys insurance" cos surely any settlement comes out of the other guys insurance, no?
Thanks so much for the comments so far its all helping begin to understand the process a bit and any further input will be very welcome.

My suggestion Of S+G would appear to be bad, it's been a few years since I had any dealing with them.

Your mums injuries will exceed the small claims limit of £1000 (currently) by the sound of it they would also exceed a £5000 limit too. Once the settlement is over the £1k limit solicitors are entitled to their costs being paid by the third parties insurers and this is total independent of any settlement your mum would get.

c-ams.co.uk/>

Thanks for this roadwarrior, I'm going to get in touch with them.

I recommend Leigh Day. They have a dedicated cycle team and are thoroughly decent. They will ensure your mum gets the best settlement possible. https://www.leighday.co.uk

If making a common law claim through a solicitor, generally if you 'win', i.e. if an agreement is made to settle the claim, the claimant has a right to recover their reasonable legal costs from the defendant. It also means that if you 'lose', you could be liable for the insurer's costs in defending the claim. It's important to understand all of the ins and outs of any agreement that a solicitor want you to sign up to when they take on the claim - the 'Conditional Fee Agreement'.

Recoverable costs in personal injury claims have decreased in a few ways following reforms introduced in 2013. Some firms now operate on a 'damages based agreement' basis to make up for this shortfall, whereby you enter in to an agreement to forgoe a certain percentage of your damages settlement. In theory, this is meant to incentivise the claimant's solicitors to recover as much in damages as possible, but in practice this isn't always the case when dealing with high-frequency / (relatively) low loss claims. In any event, they should be trying to maximise damages anyway.

I hope your mum's healing up well. Good luck.

I got >£5000 and S+G took 25% of the final settlement.
Insurers don't cover all of the solicitors costs now (or so I was told by S+G)

Sorry it was you mum, hope she heals quick. (Edit - original reply not that helpful)

Thanks for this jonnydelmundo, I've just contacted them to ask for a callback.

leighday.co.uk

Appreciate it bazschmaz, she's become very down since it happened and (stating the obvious) is very fearful of getting back on her bike.

Thanks Thoma, nice of you to take the time to post.

That's helpful thanks Ste_S, we've just been looking at the written info from the solicitor my mum went to speak to yesterday and it says in there that will take 25% of the award but they also talk about a success fee and disbursement costs making their paperwork very difficult to read and at the end of it be sure exactly whats what and how much they want at the end of it.