no win no fee

No win no fee arrangements are being widely discussed at the moment. It has been reported that the Law Society who represent Solicitors in England and Wales have urged caution over the proposed government changes to no win no fee arrangements. The Law S...

  Farming company, GJ Orr, has been fined £112,500 after a worker was crushed to death between the rollers of a potato harvester.  Keth Wannan’s arms and legs were caught in the machine and he was only freed after the harvester was ...

  I was shocked to read recently about a woman who was involved in a terrifying accident at Kirkcaldy train station. The mother of two was trying to get off the train with her husband and two sons when the accident happened.  She stated that...

  I was shocked to read in the news that companies are still breaching health and safety regulations and causing needless deaths.  I read that Vion Food was fined £100,000 after a worker was run over and killed by a forklift truck in West...

  I was shocked to read that health and safety failings led to an employee at Lowmac Alloys being crushed between two skips.  The company were rightly fined £80,000 by the Health and Safety Executive but this is an accident that, if all t...

  I saw such an inspirational story today in the papers about an Aberdeen woman, Lorna Harper, who said she feels like the Bionic Woman after doctors practically rebuilt her after a road traffic accident.  The series of operations she received ...

  I was sad to hear that 22 people had to be taken to hospital following a bus crash close to Glasgow airport.   Early in the morning on the A726 Barnesford Road close to Glasgow Airport the bus crashed into a perimeter fence and ended up pe...

  I saw recently that a van driver in Edinburgh ploughed into a woman’s parked car after he had a sneezing fit at the wheel.  Luckily the woman escaped the smash as she was in a café nearby but her car was completely written off by the ac...

  When you buy cleaning products in the supermarket you don’t expect to be injured by them but I saw recently that that’s exactly what happened to a Malaga housewife and she was recently awarded compensation for the injuries she received...

My friends at Thompsons have been out and about on their bikes to give a better service to cyclists who end up in accidents.  I love getting around on my bike and Mrs Thom and the kids do too but it can sometimes be really pretty dangerous.   ...

  Some of my friends at Thompsons have signed up for an 8 hour Cycle Commuter Course run by Cycle Scotland.  The course is aimed at providing cyclists, including new and returning bike enthusiasts, with the skills and confidence to tackle every...

  I was saddened to read about two tourists that were killed when a vessel they were sightseeing in flipped over at Iguazu Falls in Argentina.  The driver of the boat and 5 other passengers were seriously injured. The boat, which was owned b...

  The “wonderful phrase” “No win, No fee”. It sounds great to all those who have been injured due to the negligence of someone else. This “wonderful phrase” gives those, who are not eligible for Legal Aid and don&...

PREPOSTEROUS OR PRACTICAL?  PROPOSALS TO SCRAP "NO-WIN NO-FEE" CLAIMS PREPOSTEROUS? It is important to understand both sides of the argument, to be the diplomat; I guess this is one of the main attributes we take from Law School. To f...

  A trip to the gym left Robert Gordon University student Anthony McDavitt feeling anything but fit, after a car reversed out of a parking place and directly into his path. Mr McDavitt sustained a broken wrist, broken teeth, cuts and bruises whe...

My friends at Thompsons are announcing a new, imaginative and fun way to offer students a No Win No Fee Internship at one of their offices in Scotland.  This takes me back to the days when I was an up and coming law student, every year me and my f...

  I was pleased to learn that my friends at Thompsons successfully negotiated a £17,000 settlement for an Aberdeen man who was involved in a hit and run incident. The man was socialising with friends in Aberdeen city centre when he was struck ...

  I read in the papers that a woman was saved from her car as it filled with water after skidding into a Moray canal.  Christine Rhodes, skidded her car on black ice, hit a verge and crashed down a steep embankment, landing upturned in the free...

  Repetitive driving injury is a condition that is caused by a poor driving posture which can lead to serious long term muscle, joint and spinal injuries. Repetitive driving injury may include foot cramps, lumbar pain, stiff neck, side ache, and hea...

  It may be a challenge for a cyclist to survive on the road when commuting daily, especially if you live in a big city with busy traffic. In order to avoid a hazardous and potentially fatal bicycle accident a few steps can be followed. Firstly, ...

  One of the things that I love about all of this snow that we have been having is that it allows all of the family to take a trip up north to go skiing.  The three of us love to drive up to Glenshee at the weekend and spend a day out on the sl...

  Well folks it's getting to that time of year again when little Thom gets excited about building snowmen, me and Mrs Thom pretend to be fictional characters while devouring our son with presents and Granny Thom pulls on her granny-grip shoes. ...

  I was flicking through my motorbike magazine today when I read about Ruth, a fellow biker, who was involved in a nasty motorbike accident that was not her fault.  She suffered an injury to her knee and had to get bone, hamstring and tendon gr...

  In theory bull bars are there to make driving safer for us, yet there has been a lot of discussion as to whether it really is the case.  It is argued that quite a high number of pedestrian deaths and injuries are only increased by cars that h...

  I read in the paper the other day that the Government cuts will result in the loss of 1.6 million jobs. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) have warned that the recent cuts in public spending allied with the rising rate of ...

No win no fee claims have been in the news an awful lot this week.  Although no win no fee stories are very topical this week and the potential changes that the government want to make might have a huge impact on the law, I think I will talk abou...

  I was shocked to hear that golfer, Colin “Monty” Montgomery was involved in a road traffic accident on A80 this week. It is also a shame to learn that he suffered a personal injury by virtue of which, he will not be able to take part i...

  I am of the opinion adverts like the one on the tv which I am in and my family are in provide a route for injured people to secure access to justice.  It is thought Lord Young in his review of the so called “compensation culture&rdq...

  Anyone who has ever experienced a serious back problem will be able to tell you how excruciating the back pain can be, how it can affect your mobility, work abilities and how considerabily it can reduce the quality of your life. Around 80% of t...

  Every year around 30 million vehicles travel in Britain and around 10,000 accidents are reported every day. Even though these include minor scrapes, bumps etc, it is still a worrying number and suggests people are not taking all necessary precauti...

  Continuing on my ‘no win no fee compensation’ blogging sabbatical I want to again talk about Politics and Achievements.   As I mentioned last week, my big mate Frank Maguire, Senior Partner here at Thompsons won Solicitor of the...

  I like toast and butter for breakfast, which is why I felt unwell when I read the story of Mr Forse who found a dead mouse in a loaf he had bought online through Tesco. Mr Forse noticed something dark in colour in the corner of three or four s...

  I took a break from helping you with your No Win No Fee compensation claims this week and instead focused my efforts on the forthcoming Penrose Inquiry (called this because it will be chaired by Supreme Court judge Lord Penrose). Indeed, unles...

  In the weeks leading up to my yearly family holiday I’m rushing about making sure I’ve got everything, (passport, money, travel insurance, toiletries etc etc) working late clearing my desk for the next couple of weeks….. I just ...

  The risk of being involved in a road traffic accident for drivers who eat at the wheel is around twice that of drivers who don’t. This is similar to the risk involved in driving while using a mobile phone. Research by Brunel University ha...

  Children’s injuries are a very common occurrence of Emergency Departments in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Research shows that safety devices, such as helmets and seatbelts, are being ignored in many cases. A case study on children&r...

As someone who is in full time employment, if I was unfortunate enough to suffer a personal injury in a road traffic accident I wouldn’t qualify for Legal Aid because my income, after paying essential expenses such as my mortgage, tax and childcare,...

Making a legitimate No Win No Fee Compensation Claim after suffering a disease, accident or injury can be a catalyst to changing behaviour and the law – it can ultimately protect others from the same thing happening again.   Using the No Win No Fee system is not the UK slavishly following the USA or a social problem or even as some claim the emergence of a Compensation Culture. It’s how normal, hardworking people get the opportunity to say I am not going to tolerate this, I am going to use the law of the land because I have suffered through no fault of my own.  After an accident, suffering injuries or contracting a disease, claiming financial compensation can help you rebuild your life and/or care for loved ones in a way that might not have been possible otherwise. You may have lost money through no longer being able to work or might have had your social world turned upside down: accidents often result in sports and other recreational hobbies having to be cast aside. What if you have to alter your family home to adapt to your new situation? If you and your family do not get sufficient compensation this can be impossible and cause you even more stress.  Recent studies have shown that only about 30% of people in the UK that could have made a Compensation Claim actually did; is it possible the people that did not claim were worried about the costs involved?  No Win No Fee is here to protect you; it helps to relieve the stress of paying high legal fees in the event your claim is unsuccessful. At Thompsons we do not believe No Win No Fee is causing a Compensation Claim culture. We think it is worse to ignore the actions of irresponsible companies / management who ignore their duties and responsibilities. We believe claiming compensation can help to reduce risk and improve compliance with the law, but we’d like to hear what you think.