Compensation Claims and Personal Injury Solicitor
Brian Barr Solicitors are the leading Solicitors for chronic pain and critical illness insurance claims in England and Wales. Based in Manchester, Brian Barr specialise in assisting claimants with accident claims, negligence claims and claims against insurance companies.
If you are fed up trying to convince your Solicitors that you have more than a simple whiplash injury, or they persuaded you to settle your accident claim on the basis of a simple personal injury when they knew that you had a chronic pain condition such as CRPS, RSD or Fibromyalgia, please contact us.
Brian Barr Solicitors Manchester understand chronic pain and serious illness. If you would like us to act on your accident claim, you have a claim against an insurance company or your previous Lawyer settled your case for too little, please contact us.
If you are looking to make a claim under a Critical Illness, Mortgage Protection, Accident Protection or Income Protection Policy, our experience is second-to-none.
We are expert lawyers for people with chronic pain and fatigue conditions such as:
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
- Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
- Myofacial Pain Syndrome (MPS)
- Fibromyalgia
- ME / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Chronic Back Pain
Call 0161 737 9248 or e-mail now on info@brianbarr.co.uk for free accident claims advice.
Funding Your Claim for Compensation
It is your right to instruct the Solicitor of your choice. Funding is not nearly such a problem as you may imagine. The main options are set out below:
Legal Expenses Insurance
If you have legal expenses insurance then provided you comply with the terms of your policy you can conduct your litigation without having to worry about legal costs.
However, often your insurers will indicate to you that if you wish to enjoy the benefits of your insurance you will have to use one of their panel Solicitors. There are two important exceptions to this rule:
- Under Regulation 6(1) of the Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations 1990, if court proceedings have been issued you are entitled to insist that the Solicitor of your choice act for you under your insurance policy. If you are unsure whether proceedings have been issued in your case just ask your current Solicitor
- Yours may well be the type of case where you are entitled to have the Solicitor of your choice even where proceedings have not been issued. The March 2003 edition of Ombudsman News (Issue 26) indicates the Ombudsman’s view that in complex cases the insurer should agree to the appointment of the policyholder’s preferred Solicitor at any stage of the litigation. Fibromyalgia/ME/Chronic Pain type cases are by their very nature complex and we may be able to convince your insurer to allow us to act for you even before proceedings have been issued.
"No Win No Fee" Agreement
If you have no suitable legal expenses insurance we may be able to act for you under a Conditional Fee ("no win no fee") Agreement (CFA). The main points to note about a CFA are as follows:
- You only pay us if you win your claim (“win” being defined by the conditions of the Agreement). You would not, provided you kept to the terms of the Agreement, pay a fee if you lost the claim.
- If the claim did not succeed, you would still potentially be responsible for:
- The cost of medical reports or other outlays incurred by our firm on your behalf.
- The costs of your opponent. However, you only become responsible for the costs of the opponent once proceedings are issued.
A special type of insurance can be taken out to protect you in respect of these matters and this is something we can discuss with you should it be relevant. - If the claim did succeed the costs will be paid by your opponent.
If Your Insurer Refuses to Allow you to Transfer Your Case to our Firm of Solicitors
If you have suitable Legal Expenses Insurance but your insurer refuses to allow you to transfer your case (before proceedings are issued), there may be circumstances where it would be reasonable for you to reject your insurance and enter into a CFA with us on account of our specialist knowledge.
In these circumstances we would act under a CFA until proceedings had been issued at which point we could look to act for you under the terms of your insurance policy or carry on acting under the CFA.
However, a decision to reject existing legal expenses insurance in favour of a CFA is not a decision which should be taken lightly and only after careful consideration with us of the advantages and disadvantages of this course of action. In the first instance we would generally press your insurer to allow us to act for you under your insurance policy.
Other Funding for Compensation Claims
These might include paying privately, being funded by your Union or applying for public funding. Public funding is only available for accident claims in very rare circumstances.
Contact Brian Barr Solicitors in Manchester
Brian Barr Solicitors are located at:
Grosvenor House
Agecroft Road
Manchester
M27 8UW
UK
Directions: The offices are not accessible directly from Agecroft Road by car. You have to turn off Agecroft Road into Tallyman Way and then onto Shearer Way to come back towards the offices.
Telephone: 0161 737 9248
Fax: 0161 637 4946
E-mail: info@brianbarr.co.uk