Conditional Fee Arrangements

 

JNP Legal offer Conditional Fee Agreements and Contingency Fee Agreements in applicable personal injury and clinical negligence cases where prospects of success are considered sufficient.

 

In most qualifying personal injury and clinical negligence cases a Conditional Fee Agreement will be entered into, although where the personal injury case relates to a claim for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority a Contingency Fee Agreement will be entered into.

 

In any case where we are considering entering in to a Conditional Fee Agreement or Contingency Fee Agreement we will need to take time to assess the viability of the case before agreeing to accept it under such a funding arrangement. The time that we will take to assess the viability is usually no longer than 28 days. If such assessment is likely to take longer due to the particular complexity of the case we will notify you and keep you updated in relation to the timescale for us to confirm whether we are able to offer such funding arrangement.

 

In the event that we do not assess prospects to be viable to offer a Conditional Fee Agreement or Contingency Fee Agreement we will not charge a fee for the assessment.

 

Payment of Costs under Conditional Fee Agreements

 

When acting under a Conditional Fee Agreement you will pay our full basic charges, our expenses and disbursements and a success fee together with the premium for any insurance you take out, in the event that your claim is won. Expenses and disbursements include but are not limited to records, reports and Court fees. You are entitled to seek recovery from your opponent of part or all of our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements, but not the success fee or any insurance premium (save for limited circumstances in clinical negligence cases where you may be able to recover from your opponent the part of the insurance premium which relates to the risk of having to pay expert reports). The success fee is calculated on the basis of the risk of the case and is capped at 25% of your damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, and past losses and expenses. The insurance premium is dependent upon the nature of the case.

 

It may be that your opponent makes a formal offer to settle your claim and your claim for damages goes ahead to Trial where you recover damages that are less than that offer. If this happens, you may be ordered to pay your opponent’s costs, but (unless you are found to have been fundamentally dishonest in the claim) any order will normally only be up to the amount of damages and interest awarded to you.

 

You can end the Conditional Fee Agreement at any time. Unless you have a right to cancel the agreement we then have the right to decide whether you must pay our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements but not the success fee when we ask for them or pay our basic charges, and our expenses and disbursements and success fees if you go on to win your claim for damages.

 

We can also end the Conditional Fee Agreement if you do not keep to your responsibilities. We then have the right to decide whether you must pay our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements but not the success fee when we ask for them; or pay our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements and success fees if you go on to win your claim for damages.

 

We can end the Conditional Fee Agreement if we believe you are unlikely to win the case. If this happens, you will only have to pay our expenses and disbursements, in the event that they are not covered by an insurance policy.

 

The Conditional Fee Agreement can also be ended by us if you reject our opinion about making a settlement with your opponent. You must then pay the basic charges and our expenses and disbursements, and you must pay the success fee if you go on to win your claim for damages.

 

If you ask us to get a second opinion from a specialist solicitor outside our firm, we will do so and the cost of such opinion will need to be paid by you.

 

In the event that you are found to be dishonest in any element of the case you will be liable to pay our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements. In such circumstances it is unlikely that any insurance policy will cover such expenses and disbursements.

 

Payment of Costs under Contingency Fee Agreements

 

When acting under a Contingency Fee Agreement in claims for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, if you are awarded compensation you pay us 25% of that compensation. You also pay us expenses and disbursements. If you lose the case you do not pay us anything, except expenses and disbursements.

 

If you end the Contingency Fee Agreement before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority makes a decision with regard to whether or not to award you compensation, you are liable to pay our costs along with expenses and disbursements.

 

If you do not keep to your responsibilities under the Contingency Fee Agreement or reject our opinion about accepting compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority we can end the agreement. You will then be liable to pay us our costs incurred up to the date the agreement ends.

 

 

The members of the team who will be involved in undertaking the initial assessment and acting in the matter are:

 

Director and Head of Civil Litigation Department: Rebecca Rees

 

Associate Solicitor: Kate Morey