Personal Injury: Will I have to go to court?

One of the main concerns clients have when making a personal injury claim is that they may need to attend court. Clients often have a fear that they will be forced into court against their will whereafter a barrister in a powdered wig will cross-examine them endlessly. Or, that all of a sudden during their claim they will be brought to the doors of the court without proper warning or time to prepare.

This is not the case as we will explain below.

In what case would my claim go to court?

The two main reasons are:

1. The Defendant denies liability for your claim. This means that the Defendant has been presented with the facts and evidence of your claim and denies any responsibility for your accident or their negligence.
2. It may be that the Defendant admits liability but disagrees with our opinion on the value of your claim. If there is a significant gap in our interpretation of value and the Defendants it may be that the Court is required to make their judgment based on the facts.

In reality when undertaking a personal injury claim 99% of the time there will be a dispute between us and the Defendants on these two points. That in no way means you will be required to go to court.

How likely is it that my claim will go to court?

Statistically only approximately 2% of our personal injury claims end with trial. The points of dispute, as detailed above, are more often than not compromised and agreed with the Defendant during a claim.

What is key to remember is that you are in control of your claim. Our role as your legal representative is to advise not to instruct. If you were to provide your instructions to us that you do not wish to go to court we will follow your instructions and offer our advice on that basis, namely, this would be to seek settlement of your claim before any trial date.

How long does it take for a claim to go to court?

Generally, you have three years from the date of the accident to issue your claim to the courts or otherwise settle it, if you are 18 or over. During this time we will be gathering evidence, both medical and factual, to ensure that we put forward the strongest case for your claim. If, at that point, there is still significant disagreement from the Defendants the case will be passed to a Judge who will provide directions.

From recent experience this takes upwards of 6 months to receive directions from the Judge. A costs hearing will be organised for another 3 months from that date where we will argue with the Defendants on what costs we are entitled to recover from the Defendant for running your claim. Only once that is complete will the Judge provide directions for your claim and provide a trial date which is usually a year from that point. That is a maximum total of almost 5 years from the date of your accident.

Once your claim is served all of this is clearly set out and prescribed by the Judge. Any trial date that is fixed you will be made aware of and it will be a year plus from when the Judge informs us, at that point you will likely already be 4 years into the claim.

As you can see, there is a huge amount of time available to settle your claim before trial and any trial will be a fixed date that you will be aware of and prepared for. This is partly why so many claims settle long before trial, the time available to settle a claim pre-trial is so extensive.

What if my claim goes to court and I need to attend?

In the very unlikely event you are required to go to trial you will be so familiar with the process of running a claim and the evidence prepared for you that it will not appear such a daunting task. All advice of what you are required to do will have been provided long in advance and you will be very familiar with the facts. You will also have the support of a barrister at this stage who will also offer his advice on the court process.

But, as stated previously, you would only attend court if you wish to do so and instruct us accordingly. If, at any stage, before attending court you state you wish to settle we will follow your instructions and settle your claim, sparing you the need to attend.

We are here to help with compassion, empathy and transparency.

At Thatcher + Hallam our personal injury team are experienced in advocating for those who have suffered all manners of accident and injury and are on hand to assist with your claim.

Contact us via our easy-fill form, through our website, by calling us on 01761 414646 or emailing to enquiries@th-law.co.uk to secure your initial free advice. Thereafter, the choice is yours as to whether you would like to progress your claim with us.