Accident, Injury and Sickness claims

A personal accident or injury can have a dramatic impact, not only upon your life, but also on the lives of those you around you. The physical pain and discomfort you suffer can cause difficulties with transport, employment, childcare, household chores and much more. When you make a claim for compensation for an accident that was not your fault, you want to make sure you have the best chance of recovering what you have lost so things can get back to how they were before.

Solicitors at Coles are members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and the Law Society Personal Injury Panel. This gives you the reassurance that your claim will be handled by experts with experience of looking after people just like you, getting the compensation you deserve. You can be sure you will receive the very best legal advice and personal service for your claim.

How much does it cost ? No win, no fee – what does it mean?

A No Win No Fee agreement, or, to give it its full name – conditional fee arrangement simply means that a case is accepted to be pursued on the basis that if the case is lost there will be no fees charged, but there will be if the case is won. They are common for personal injury claims. Simply put, if the case is lost you pay nothing and we earn nothing; if the case is won the paying party (usually an insurance company) will pay your compensation and some of your legal costs too. Win or lose, you should normally not end up out of pocket, and in the event of winning should be better off financially.

Why choose Coles Solicitors?

Choosing who to handle your accident claim is like anything else – if you make a bad choice, the service and damages you receive will reflect that. Like in any other profession, there are good and bad firms handling accident claims. Then there is Coles solicitors – we have an excellent track record dealing with Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence claims.

By instructing Coles Solicitors, you will receive a service second to none from only qualified, Specialist Personal injury Solicitors, all with over 20 years’ experience. If you choose a less experienced firm, you are likely to be rushed through the process, get less in damages, and may end up with an unqualified clerk handling your claim.

Your injury claim – did you get the settlement you were due?

Thousands of people are injured every year through no fault of their own. Many victims are represented by unqualified claims management staff sometimes working from call centres or on referral from “before the event” insurance companies. A quick settlement without the benefit of professional advice can often result in short measure for the claimant and quick profits for the claims company.

Were you happy with your settlement?

If you think you may have been short changed then Coles solicitors can help. Our specialist personal injury solicitors are accredited as senior litigators by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. We can review your case free of charge and let you know if you had a fair deal – if not, we will fight for further compensation on your behalf.

Your injury claim – one strike and you’re out?

Was your claim struck out by the Court because your legal representatives failed to keep to a timetable or serve court proceedings in time? Coles solicitors will advise you free of charge on where you go from here.

10 of our recent cases:

Mr B. Yorkshire – Involved in a simple rear end shunt. Initially he contacted his insurance company’s panel solicitors arranged , but was unhappy with them and their proposals for their costs in dealing with the claim when under legal expense insurance there should not have been any costs. We agreed to take the matter over and settled the claim for simple whiplash injuries in the sum of £2,500.00.

Mrs H. Tadcaster – Involved in a no-fault RTA as a passenger. She sustained quite nasty whiplash type injuries and originally her claim was being dealt with by the legal expense insurance company of the driver in whose vehicle she was travelling. She was unhappy with the service provided by the legal expense insurers and we agreed to take the matter over on her behalf, obtained full and proper medical evidence and ultimately settled her claim for £11,000.00

Mr W. York – Sustained a nasty injury working for a removal company. He sustained a nasty finger laceration and his company went into liquidation and none of the documentation to prove the claim could be found. We ultimately managed to discover the insurance company, get agreement from the licensing insolvency practitioners dealing with the liquidation that they would not object to the claim being pursued and despite there being no independent evidence, persuaded the Defendant’s insurance company to settle the claim by carefully constructed the claim from medical records and the client’s own evidence. The claim settled for £10,000.00

Mrs W. Hull – Sustained a very straight forward and simply injury when she cut herself on the exposed edge of a can whilst in a supermarket. The claim settled very quickly for £1,000.00

Mr R. Harrogate – Was involved in an accident on his bicycle which collided with a vehicle on a country lane. When the claim came to us the driver of the vehicle was seeking to blame our client entirely for the accident and seeking the cost of damage to the vehicle. We were instructed and agreed to take the claim on and ultimately settled the claim on a 50:50 basis and after off-set of the damage to the vehicle, the client recovered £2,835.00 in a claim where originally, he was concerned about having to pay out for the vehicle damage and was expecting to recover nothing.

Mrs D. Northallerton – Tripped on a dangerous and unlit path at the side of a supermarket. She sustained nasty injuries to her face and teeth and whiplash type injuries to other parts of her person. Liability was strongly denied based on an inspection defence, but by obtaining appropriate engineering evidence, ultimately liability was conceded and the claim went on to settle for £11,000.00

Miss T. Nottingham – Sat on a stool in a bar which collapsed underneath her. The owners of the bar went into liquidation and finding the legal owners of the premises took some considerable effort. It was negotiated with the liquidators that proceedings could be issued and ultimately a settlement was brokered for £3,500.00

Miss B. York – Injured at work due to poor lighting and poor work conditions. She sustained injuries to her feet and after a denial of liability, agreement was reached to settle the claim in the sum of £8,000.00

Mr D. Thirsk – Sustained very nasty injuries to his leg and hip in an accident at work. Liability was accepted and by obtaining appropriate physical and psychological evidence we eventually brokered settlement for £120,000.00

Mr S. Harrogate – Sustained an injury to his eye caused by defective clothing and originally pursued a claim with a firm of Solicitors who did nothing for 2 ½ years. He then transferred to another firm who sadly also made mistakes when issuing court proceedings. His claim was struck out and he brought the claim to Coles Solicitors. We agreed to try and assist and bring a professional negligence claim against the previous solicitors and ultimately settled the claim for £60,000.00.