Road Traffic Accidents

Fee remission is an application made to the Court at the time of commencing legal proceedings. The application is to establish whether you meet the criteria to have your legal proceedings fees waived and/or reduced.

It is important to establish whether you qualify for fee remission as should you fail to apply for the same and your case subsequently settles then the Defendant shall not reimburse any sums paid in respect of legal proceedings.

Should you not qualify for fee remission and we believe prospects to commence legal proceedings are reasonable, we shall meet the cost of the legal proceeding’s fees on your behalf under the agreement you have in place with us. The fees will thereafter be recovered from the Defendant upon conclusion of your case.

In the unfortunate event that legal proceedings are issued and you are unsuccessful due to no fault of your own and have followed our advice, the fees paid by us shall be waived.

Making an application for fee remission will not impact upon the agreement you already have in place with our firm.

Causation is frequently raised in accidents involving an injury and can be raised for several reasons, regardless of whether or not a breach of duty/liability has been admitted.

One of the main reasons is whether the accident was sufficient enough to cause you an injury. Should the Defendant take the view that it was not then they will raise causation as an issue. In instances like this, we shall endeavour to obtain evidence to prove that, on the balance of probability, an injury was sustainable from the incident, this can include obtaining medical records, vehicle repair documents, and accident locus images.

One of the other reason’s causation may be raised is late presentation. Even though any party involved in an accident has a period of 3 years from the date, or 18th birthday if a minor at the time, to present their case the Defendant may raise the delay as an issue, questioning whether the incident was, in fact, the cause of any alleged pain.

To avoid a late presentation argument, we would advise anyone injured in a road traffic accident to contact HNK immediately to begin their case.

Despite commencing legal proceedings, it does not automatically mean you will need to attend a Court hearing.
Whilst it cannot be guaranteed that you will not need to attend a Court hearing, a Defendant at any time during the proceedings process can enter into settlement negotiations. As a firm, this is a conclusion we always pursue to avoid our clients having to attend a Court hearing.

In the unfortunate event that settlement negotiations cannot be achieved then we shall ensure that you are fully prepared to attend a Court hearing and shall instruct a Barrister to represent you on the day. Our preparation includes a conference with the said Barrister prior to the hearing to discuss matters in detail, receiving the necessary papers which shall be presented to the Court to read through and finally telephone conversations on the days leading to a Court hearing to answer any questions you may have.

An infant approval hearing is necessary in any case involving a minor and provides assurance from a Judge that the settlement award is reasonable for the injury sustained.

Following the hearing the settlement sum, less any deductions shall be invested until such time the minor turns 18 years of age upon which they shall receive the sum invested plus interest. By doing this, it is guaranteed that the compensation award benefits the minor only.

The hearing itself is relatively informal, lasting no more than 15 – 20 minutes, and shall be in your local Court. You will have a legal representative of our firm at this hearing and it will be questioned whether the minor has made a full recovery and if so, when. You will also be required to produce the minor’s original Birth Certificate to prove identity and enable a Court Funds account to be set up.