Value added - for Clients and Referrers

Case Study: Digby Brown achieve £70,000 settlement following original valuation of £2,500

Our client was involved in a rear end, collision on a motorway slip road. Her previous agent had obtained a medical opinion from a GP. On the basis of that opinion Ms James was advised by her original agents that her claim would be valued in the region of £2,500, despite the fact that they had not yet secured any offer.

Our client was not happy with this advice as she felt that it did not properly reflect the extent of her ongoing symptoms, her psychological reaction or the urological symptoms she had developed since the accident. However, neither our client or her previous agents were able to fund further reports.

Personal injury claim switched to Digby Brown

Following a favourable recommendation from a previous Digby Brown client, the pursuer transferred the agency in her personal injury claim to Digby Brown. With the benefit of no win no fee funding provided by Compensate, Digby Brown were able to obtain several reports from a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, A consultant Psychiatrist and a Consultant Urologist. In addition Digby Brown were able to fully investigate the impact the accident had upon the pursuer’s preparation for the New York marathon and the assistance she required from her parents during her recovery.

This further investigation resulted in an initial, pre-litigation, offer of £38,050.

At this stage, Digby Brown were able to advise the pursuer that this offer was too low and that Compensate would be prepared to fund a Court action. Compensate protected the pursuer against the risk of paying the defenders’ judicial expenses in the event that the offer could not be beaten.

An action was raised in the Court of Session. A tender in the sum of £70,000 was immediately lodged in response to the Court action. This offer was accepted by our client. This represents an 83% increase in the pre-litigation offer and a 2800% increase over the value originally assessed by her previous agents.

Had she accepted an offer of £2,500, the original agents would have received a fee from the insurers of around £1,400 and would have left themselves open to a claim for professional negligence.

By referring this case through the Compensate Network, we estimate that the original agents would have received a share of the success fee in the region of £2,800 plus VAT and a proportionate share of the judicial fees which may have amounted to a further £1,000-£2,000 (taking into account the short duration of the action). More importantly had the original agents referred the case, they would have retained their relationship with the client.