No win no fee solicitor?

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

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I'll try to keep this as short as possible.

I bought a medical product from a very well known online retailer, used as per instructions etc. It took the skin off my feet, and I had to go to hospital twice treated for chemical burns, and the doctor twice, feet were bandaged for a week and a half and couldn't really walk or do much for about 3 weeks in total.

I complained to the large company, who put it through to their own loss adjusters/solicitors who are a seperate company but represent them.

I gave them all the details and and they offered me a gesture of goodwill/without predudice settlement of £250. Which I thought was an insult.

However, I have so far tried one no win no fee company (Slater & Gordon) who took all the details and have come back to me to say that isnt something they would take on.

I don't know whether to take that as a sign that the £250 might be the best I am going to get or try though another firm?

I didnt incure any costs as such because I work from home, could continue to work from home and I have a nice boss who let me take the time back, so financially/work wise, I didnt loose anything. Just the pain and inconvenience of not really being able to walk for a few weeks. So its not goign to be a huge settlement in any case, I was hoping for like £1000, maybe being optimistic there....

I am tempted just to give up and take the £250 now, maybe try one more no win no legal firm first.

Any one have experience in this sort of thing?
 
put on your best compo face and go to the local newspaper? joking aside, there's possibly not enough in it for a no win no fee solicitor but i understand where you're coming from, i'd be wanting paid oo if a product someone sold me took the skin off my feet! what product was it - for no reason other than to know not to buy it!!
 
Sort of.

I had a medical claim, and similarly went to a big name who said "not for us, thanks".

I went it alone, and the other side eventually came back and said they would settle for £1k, and they would cover all of my ensuing legal costs.

I then went back to the big name, and they said "still no, because even though we can claim the costs back from the other side, there's a risk they'll say our fees are excessive".

So I had to go to a much smaller firm, where I knew someone there, and they took it on. Hard to say whether me knowing someone influenced it.

They said much the same, the problem is that their fees so quickly outweigh the benefit of any claim - though in this case they were happy to take the risk that they didn't get fully compensated by the other side.

I can imagine you might be able to get £1k, like I did, but the legal costs would make it a fairly pointless endeavour.

I'd take the £250.
 
No win no fee will only take on cases that they have an excellent chance of winning. If they aren't going to take it on then there's probably not enough money in it or not a good chance of you winning. You could try a couple more, and if no joy then I would probably just take the £250. Or just ask yourself if you want the hassle if it's just been a minor inconvenience.

Personally I'd take the £250.
 
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do you have legal cover through your home insurance, might be worth talking to them? You could also do some research to see what established payouts look like for similar cases and counter offer with that (always worth a try) although a quick google leads to ambulance chasers websites and I suspect they are inflating their payouts...
 
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Siliconslave said:
do you have legal cover through your home insurance, might be worth talking to them?
Click to expand...
In my experience they tend to have a clause which says "if our fees will exceed the value of your claim then we won't proceed", which would be a blocker on a claim like this. Always a possibility, though.
 
UK compensation is pretty awful- look at what you get for a lost eye, limb etc. I think £35,000 for amputated limb

I got about £7000 for broken collar bone no win no fee, and they only took £400 fee, which I thought was pretty good
 
Thats brutal and £250 doesn't do it justice at all. Failing using another place to get more, I would write back and ask them politely to do better than that.
 
This is what ChatGPT says lol

‘3. How much are such injuries worth?

From the Judicial College Guidelines (15th ed., 2019–2022) (used by courts and insurers):
• Minor foot injuries that recover in a few weeks but are painful and inconvenient might fall in the range of £1,000 – £4,000.
• Superficial chemical burns that heal without lasting damage may be on the lower end of that.

So your hope of around £1,000 isn’t unrealistic — but many claims settle lower if there’s no ongoing impact or scarring, especially if the product wasn’t clearly defective (e.g., correct use is disputed).’
 
momo56 said:
• Minor foot injuries that recover in a few weeks but are painful and inconvenient might fall in the range of £1,000 – £4,000.
• Superficial chemical burns that heal without lasting damage may be on the lower end of that.

So your hope of around £1,000 isn’t unrealistic — but many claims settle lower if there’s no ongoing impact or scarring, especially if the product wasn’t clearly defective (e.g., correct use is disputed).’
Click to expand...

This is what Im probably thinking, these firms typically pay out 25% of the claim (fair enough) so if its only worth a grand then after they take their fees its probably not worth it.
 
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