LEGAL Q&A

This information is provided by Stephen Hattersley, of WildWood Legal, a firm of solicitors specialising in claims for injured scooterists. Stephen, a qualified solicitor for 25 years, has been riding scooters for more than 30 years, and has acted for injured riders across the UK. He knows the tricks and pitfalls that insurers use and pulls no punches in his dealings with them. He rides to work every day and understands the challenges you face out there.

Q.

I want to bring a claim but I am worried about having to pay costs if I lose as I can’t afford it.

A. Until a few years ago, if you brought a personal injury claim and lost at court, you would indeed run the risk of having to pay the other side’s legal costs – a scary thought. Solicitors could arrange insurance cover to protect against this but that was expensive and not always worth the paper it was written upon.

Fortunately, the situation has now changed. We have Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting – a mouthful of a phrase which means that if you lose a personal injury case, you will not now have to pay the defendant’s costs.

The only exception is where there has been ‘fundamental dishonesty’ in bringing the claim. That can result in the situation reverting to the old rules whereby the unsuccessful claimant has to pay the defendant’s costs. There have been cases

in the press recently where people have been found (often through their social media accounts) to have lied about their claims and they have paid a heavy financial price.

The moral is – bring an honest claim and you have nothing to worry about!