Insurers or Solicitors: You Decide
The Ministry of Justice are currently looking at reforming the personal injury claims process to make it more efficient and to streamline costs. Before they do so, insurers are taking the opportunity to take a swipe at solicitors, possibly with a view to obtain decisions more favourable to them.
In the lead up to the announcement for reforms in the personal injury claims process, insurers have made it clear that they believe solicitors are largely at fault for the slow process and cost of claims.
The Association of British Insurers launched an attack on the legal profession, claiming that the costs were high and disproportionate to the level of work involved. However, solicitors were quick to respond by pointing out that the ABI’s own report previously stated that the level of legal costs has remained constant for the last ten years. So who is right?
With two opposing points of view it is worth looking at the current system. In nearly all areas of law (conveyancing excepted) solicitors charge for their time on an hourly basis and are paid as they do the work. However, with personal injury claims the lawyers are not paid until the end of the case, and often accept less for their costs than the amount of hours they have put into the case to ensure that clients can benefit from a true "no win no fee" service. In theory they could return to their client but they do not generally do this.
Insurers often claim that another reason for the costs being so high is that lawyers take too long. What they do not mention is that insurers can take weeks or months to respond to requests for information, often causing or contributing significantly to the delay in the process.
1stClaims is keen to ensure is that the victims of accidents should have free access to justice and that their claims should be dealt with quickly and fairly. We believe that it is possible to achieve this at the same time as ensuring solicitors are properly rewarded for their time and insurers pay a reasonable settlement. We wait with interest to see the results from the Ministry of Justice.
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