How to Avoid Capture

5th May 2011

Daytime television is certainly different. It is not only The Jeremy Kyle Show. The adverts are even different. The audience seemingly has only two needs, either help with their debts or assistance with their personal injury claims. A quick telephone conversation with someone sitting in a warehouse call centre and everyone’s problems are well on their way to being solved. Perhaps.

What are known as personal injury ‘claim farmers’ are of course nothing new. Over 25 years practising as a personal injury lawyer, Thatcher & Hallam LLP partner William Weller has seen all sorts of developments in his chosen field, not all of them good.

What is of concern to William and other specialist personal injury lawyers is a new development that is increasingly becoming common practice amongst insurance companies and may yet challenge the claims farmers.  It is called ‘third party capture’. William Weller explains.

‘Many people having been involved in an accident not their fault will have been delighted and surprised to quickly receive a friendly telephone call from the insurance company enquiring after their well-being and making sure that car hire etc is sorted. So far so good,’ says William.  ‘However, it is not often until later when the offer of compensation is made that many people then realise that the insurers they are dealing with are in fact not their own insurers, but the insurers of the party that caused the accident. By this time, they are of course well on the way to being captured.’

‘Several clients have come to see me who have agreed an early settlement with the third party insurers,’ adds William. ‘Settlement monies have often been agreed within a very short time of the accident, without a medical report or knowing the full extent of the injuries. Once settlement has been made, it is by then very often too late. I recently saw a client who had been ‘captured’ and made an early settlement, only later to discover that her injuries were in fact far more serious than she originally sought.’

‘I am an expert in what I do. I therefore know what a claim is worth. What is truly alarming is how insurers try to pressure a claimant into making a quick financial settlement without knowing the extent of the injuries. Accidents can wreck lives yet claimants are being regularly short-changed. No wonder the third party capture tactic is so popular with many insurance companies, who often discourage claimants to seek legal advice and use undue pressure with persistent phone calls to ensure an early settlement.’

The advice from William is clear.

‘If you are ever unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident and receive a ‘helpful’ telephone call from someone else’s insurance company, politely decline that help and seek immediate independent legal advice,’ urges William. ‘Talking to myself, an expert in my field, costs you nothing and we do of course operate the No Win No Fee scheme.’

William is a member of The Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers where he is an accredited Senior Litigator in Personal Injury Law.