Friday, 22 March 2013

Personal Injury Claims can Bring out the Worst in People



This world was never a nice place to live in. In the early, pre-history times, humans were just like many of the animals around them – competitive.

In order to survive, humans had to fight for food, water, and shelter. Starting out as hunters, they most likely played a role in wiping out the Woolly Mammoths in their quest for food. Over time, they evolved to become farmers so they did not have to depend on chasing down dangerous animals for food.

Thousands of years later, humans finally declared themselves to be civilised. They believed this to be so because instead of following the laws of the jungle, they now follow the laws of court.

But then some things just can not be forgotten. With thousands of years of hunting, violence, and aggression being ingrained in the human brain, their more basic instincts still come out when push comes to shove.

And the one place humans are probably at their worst in two instances. The first is when they are injured. Fear and pain all make up part of the more primitive feelings humans feel. So when one becomes injured, it is these strong primal feelings that come to play.

And the second is when they are in court. Many lawyers have compared court to be similar to going hunting, or worse, going to war. So once a human is injured and that human decides to fight for personal injury claims, it brings out the most intense feelings they have.


Fight Fire with Fire by Getting a Good Lawyer

Other than the boxing ring, one of the last places where humans can let go and follow their instincts is in Tort and Criminal Court.

When an accident occurs and personal injury claims have been filed, all bets are off. Good lawyers are expected to slug it out; doing everything they can to secure a win for their clients.

Both sides will exploit any opportunity so they can to win, including pushing humans to their limits. And when this happens, even the most civilised person can devolve back to a child who shouts, cries, and even gets physical. But if you think that being childish is the lowest humans can stoop to, you may be surprised to hear that humans have been known to scratch, bite, and even kill in court.

Interestingly, this is actually the response that quite a few lawyers want to elicit from their opponents. By pushing them to the edge of their humanity, lawyers can catch opposing witnesses off guard to bring out the truth. And by bringing out the truth, they may be able to discredit the testimony of opposing witnesses.

One of the reasons why humans fight tooth and nail when personal injury claims are involved is that there is so much to lose. For the victim, losing means that their medical bills will not be paid. It means that any loss of income will not be covered. It means that they may even end up paying the legal expenses of the tortfeasor or defendant’s lawyers.

In the case of the tortfeasor, or the person who caused the injury, losing means paying for the victim’s medical expenses. It also means having to pay a salary to a victim to did not come to work. It also means paying for the legal fees of their own and the victim’s lawyers. It is also all about getting one’s reputation ruined with a loss.

And since the other side is expected to dig up any dirt, sling mud, and take no prisoners by killing the other’s case, a victim needs to get a good lawyer to slug it out till the end.

The bottom line is that humans may have learned to become civilised, but back them in to a corner and they devolve in to animals. Getting good people is needed when this happens because one of the best ways to fight fire is to do it with fire as well. So getting a good aggressive lawyer to fight an equally good vicious lawyer is what victims need when fighting in the jungle of Tort Court.



Clients Expect to Pay a Lot for Solicitors

Majority of people know that litigation is expensive. It may start out cheap but as a case drags on, the bills begin to pile up quickly. Sadly, not even the best predictions come close to the total cost a case will end up with. With this in mind, many people avoid engaging in litigation as much as possible.

Lawyers usually charge an acceptance fee just to take on a case of a client. And just like the law of supply and demand, the fee goes higher as a person becomes more desperate. So if a person is in dire need of representation right this moment because of an injury, they can be expected to be charged predatory pricing.

After this initial fee is agreed upon, lawyers will then charge clients an hourly fee for work done. Whether it is to conduct research on laws they already know to having lunch with the opposing solicitor because they play golf together, the client ends up paying through the nose.

Then there is the closing fee, which is charged once a case is won or lost. A similar fee is also levied on the client if they decide to get a new lawyer, regardless of the reason. So if the lawyer is incompetent, clients have to pay even more money just to get rid of him.

Fortunately, today’s legal landscape provides people with more options than before. The existence of no win no fee solicitors do away with all of the billings listed above.


Clients Do Not Need to Pay Anything to Solicitors

With so many creative ways for solicitors to extract money from clients, it is no wonder the entire legal industry is ridiculed. Looked on as vultures who dine on the carcasses of anything, even their friends, they have no moral shame of bleeding clients dry. And once they are all tapped out of funds, lawyers have no qualms about dropping their clients at a moment’s notice.

Fortunately, a new breed of solicitor has come up that does away with predatory pricing. Thanks to the efforts of no win no fee solicitors, many new people are beginning to see that litigation does not have to be expensive or unpleasant.

With conditional fee agreements, people will never have to pay a single penny anymore. And while it may sound free, it certainly is, at least for clients. However, it is not free in the sense that solicitors do not get paid. Any fee that a solicitor gets will come from the other party.

And since fees are conditional on the solicitor winning, people can expect their lawyers to fight tooth and nail for a favourable decision. But even more to the benefit of people is if their solicitor loses the case, they don’t have to pay them a single penny because that is the principle behind the no win no fee arrangement.

The legal system certainly has come a long way since the days of acceptance fees, hourly billings, and closing fees. No win no fee arrangements have done away with all of that so clients do not have to pay predatory prices for solicitors.