Personal injury claim attorney

Have you suffered a personal injury?   If you have, you are entitled to enforce your rights and claim from the person who caused the injury.   Personal injury cases are complex, and there are a number of important factors to consider before you lodge your personal injury claim, and you should engage the services of an attorney with a track record of success in personal injury cases to make sure that you have a valid claim.   If you want to ensure your best chances of winning your personal injury case, you will need to engage the services of a professional personal injury claim attorney.

 

 

1. Procurement of Police Reports, Medical and Employment Records;
2. Medico legal examinations and assessments;
3. Investigation of the circumstances surrounding the incident with a view to identifying and proving negligence on the part of the wrongdoer;
4. Completion and submission of any statutory claim forms e.g. in Road Accident matters, the RAF has 120 days to consider the claim after receipt of same and during which no Court process may be served on them;
5. Instructions to Advocate to prepare Particulars of Claim and consultation with client and experts where necessary;
6. Issue and Service of the Summons on the Defendant;
7. Awaiting Notice of Intention to Defend and Plea/Defense document from Defendant;
8. Plaintiff/Defendant’s Request for Further Particulars for Trial;
9. Receipt of such Further Particulars;
10. Plaintiff’s Replication, (answer) if applicable;
11. Enrolment for allocation of a trial date;
12. Notice of Set down of the trial date;
13. Preparation of Discovery Affidavits and Schedules (an affidavit by you confirming that all the documents that you have or have given us and which are relevant to your case are referred to in an annexure attached to your affidavit);
14. Notice calling upon Defendant’s to discover;
15. Notice to Defendants advising of expert witnesses we intend calling;
16. Notice to Defendants delivering such expert witness reports;
17. Various Notices to Defendants with respect to photographs, plans and documents which are intended to be utilized in the trial;
18. Instructions to the Advocate on preparation for trial;
19. Notice to the Defendant advising of trial date allocated;
20. Letters to all experts, client and witnesses advising of trial date and court locality;
21. Subpoenas where necessary to witnesses, police and hospital personnel;
22. Inspection of the scene of the incident where relevant;
23. Consultations with Counsel, expert and other witnesses and client;
24. Attendance at court for the trial either on the issue of negligence or the value of the claim or both. It is usual in many claims for the issue of negligence i.e. referred to as the “Merits” to first be determined so as to avoid the risks of irrecoverable costs in the event that a trial on the value of the claim proves unsuccessful.
25. Await Court judgment/Order;
26. Await payment of damages. In RAF matters this can take many months usually requiring the Sheriff of the Court having to attach the RAF’s assets to extract payment.
27. Preparation of the special account party and party bill of costs which a Defendant in a successful matter will be liable for. This process involves outside parties and court officials and usually takes a minimum of 3 – 6 months before these costs are determined;
28. Recovery of party and party costs from Defendant;
29. Payment of all disbursements;
30. Accounting and payment to client;

Receiving Your Money
Personal Injury/Medical Negligence Claims in respect of significant injuries or medical negligence having devastating consequences are extremely complex and time consuming.

It is unusual to be able to finalize such a claim in less than two to three years and in cases involving brain injury to children or young persons it is essential that claims are not finalized until the long term final effects of the injury are fully assessed by appropriate experts.

In such cases Neurosurgeons, Neurologists and Neuro Psychologists suggest five years after the injury as an appropriate point at which to provide a final long term prognosis (estimate) of the extent to which the injury will have lifetime consequences.

Once a claim is finalized either by way of a settlement or order of court, in the case of Road Accident Fund claims payment of the damages portion usually only occurs after two to three months. It is usually necessary to instruct the Sheriff of the Court to attach Road Accident Fund assets for sale at an auction so as to satisfy the claim that payment is received.

Once these moneys are recovered and because the Attorney, Advocates and Experts have waited for years to be paid, these fees and disbursements are immediately recovered by the Attorney out of these funds.

Any substantial balance remaining may be paid to the client towards the eventual amount due to the claim or may sometimes be invested in attorney’s 78 (2) (A) Trust Account where the interest accumulates for the client’s benefit.

Thereafter when the Defendant is required to make a contribution towards the expenses – party and party costs – the Attorneys file is forwarded to a specialist Cost Consultant.

The Cost Consultant will then prepare a Costs Account at the tariff applicable to such costs and thereafter that account will either be agreed between the Plaintiff and Defendant’s Cost Consultants or assessed by the Court assessing official.

These costs are at a minimal tariff designed to assist a successful Plaintiff in recovering something towards the expenses of the action. Usually approximately 10 - 20% is recovered towards the fee charged by the attorneys to the client and approximately 70% of disbursements are recovered.

The same arduous process then has to be followed so as to extract these costs from the Road Accident Fund or from a Defendant in other personal injury claims.

Generally speaking it can take up to six months from the time a claim is finalized for the client to receive full payment and accounting.

If You Are Unhappy with the Fees and Disbursements
Good communication between attorney and client is essential as most client dissatisfaction arises from failure by the attorney to properly explain the principles of legal costs, both at the time instructions were first taken as also when accounting takes place.

SAAPIL (SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS) offers a Mediation Service whereby SAAPIL will consider any complaints made by clients regarding services rendered by SAAPIL Members. SAAPIL promotes adherence to the highest ethical and professional standards and will not hesitate to recommend an adjustment to fees charged by any of its members in appropriate circumstances. This service is provided free of charge to the Public.

The Law Society of the Northern Provinces (“LSNP”)
All Attorneys practicing in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West Province, fall under the jurisdiction of the LSNP and in the event of a bona fide complaint concerning fees the LSNP will review the Attorney’s account and where applicable will at the request of both Attorney and client have the fees assessed by a specialist Committee set up by the Law Society.

It can and does occur that such assessment Committee will either reduce or increase the Attorney’s fee in accordance with the evidence and documents placed before the Committee.

Attorneys will often undercharge so as to avoid the time consuming process of preparing a detailed time account and clients should be aware that challenging the Attorney’s fee should only be undertaken where there has clearly been overcharging.

If you would like to get Ronald Bobroff & Partners Inc to assistance you with a Personal Injury Claim, then simply contact us or call us on 011 880-6781 or on our 24hour toll free number 0860 100 184.