We are specialist No Win No Fee Solicitors for personal injury and medical negligence claims.
Sheldon Davidson Solicitors are one of Manchester's most established No Win No Fee Injury Claim law firms.
Our expert team of Personal Injury Lawyers has been successfully claiming compensation for injured parties and their families throughout England and Wales for over 20 years.
SDS Solicitors have the specialist knowledge and expertise to deal with injury claims of all types. With our No Win No Fee promise you can rest assured that there are no legal fees to be paid upfront, and no financial risk if your claim is unsuccessful.
If you are thinking about pursuing a claim, contact our No Win No Fee Solicitors as soon as possible. It is important not to delay, as there are time limits to bringing claims that could apply.
What is a Conditional Fee Agreement?
A Conditional Fee Agreement (“CFA”) enables us to take on your claim on a “No Win, No Fee” basis; this means we will not charge you anything if your claim is unsuccessful. Rest assured, we will take your claim on if we think we can win the case.
How does a Conditional Fee Agreement work?
At the outset of your case, or as soon as we are able to do so, we will let you know whether we feel able to undertake your claim on a CFA. We will need to consider if there are other ways in which your claim can be funded (more of that later). If not, then we will weigh up your case and the risks attached to it and where appropriate complete the CFA document and deal with any other relevant paperwork. This means that if your case is successful you should be awarded compensation.
Where successful you may be entitled to recover some of the costs from your opponent. You will be given credit for any costs recovered against what you will have to pay. You will have to pay a “success fee” but this will be limited so that the success fee is no more than 25% of your damages for pain, suffering, loss of amenity and past losses. If you do not recover compensation, so long as you act in accordance with the terms of the CFA agreement then we will not charge you for the work that we have carried out.
The Success Fee
The success fee is a charge that we make at the end of the case. This reflects the fact that we are taking a risk in handling your case on a CFA because if we do not win we will not be paid anything. The success fee is expressed as a percentage figure and is based on a percentage of the fees and NOT as a percentage of your compensation. The success fee is worked out at the beginning of your case and is calculated by reference to how complex the case is and the chances of winning. The rules limit the deduction for the success fee to no more than 25% of your damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity and past losses. No deduction can be made from your compensation for future losses e.g. future loss of earnings. It is important to note that whilst the success fee deducted from your damages is limited to 25% you may still have to pay more that relates to a shortfall in costs between the amount we are entitled to bill and the costs you recover from your opponent. Any such shortfall will usually be deducted from your damages as well.
Who pays your costs and the Success Fee?
If your claim is successful then as well as paying you compensation your opponents will be liable for some but not all of your costs and expenses (disbursements). However, your opponent or their insurer will not be liable for the success fee. You will have to pay the success fee which will be met out of your damages but cannot exceed 25% of the damages awarded for pain, suffering, loss of amenity and damages for pecuniary loss (monetary) other than future pecuniary loss, in other words future loss of earnings.
Separate to the success fee, you may also have to contribute to your costs to make up the shortfall between the costs we are entitled to charge. We have deducted the amount recovered from your opponent. We will aim to agree any such shortfall contribution with you so it is clear what you have to pay.