f**king idiot ambulance chasing firms....wasting my time.
Discussion
Lurking Lawyer said:
Let me make clear at the outset that I don't do injury work, never have done and it's not an area of the law I have an interest in. There are a couple of points that I can make however that may assist the OP in understanding why he got the original letter in the terms that he did.
As a solicitor, you often have to take what your client tells you at face value and act on their instructions. Sometimes, if things don't make sense, you can push them to clarify something. It may be possible to check certain facts objectively. Sometimes, however, you can't corroborate the "facts" that you're given and so you just have to run them with.
In this case, the solicitor has presumably just fired off a fairly standard form initial letter using the information given to them by their client. If the client has given them duff information, that's probably the cause of the seeming error here.
Add to that, injury work is generally pretty low margin. As such, it relies on minimising the amount of work done on a given file to keep it economical. There is little incentive therefore for the solicitor to second-guess the client and try to corroborate their story and the facts given.
Further, the solicitor in this case will presumably have expected the OP to simply forward the leter to his insurer and let them deal with it.
I'm not trying to justify the solicitor's letter, not act as an apologist for injury solicitors more generally, just to shed some light on how the letter came to be sent out in the first place in a form which suggests that they have not looked very closely at the claim.
OP - if you do want to complain about the solicitor (not that I think you have any real basis to do so, TBH), you would need to do so with the Solicitors Regulation Authority rather than the Law Society. The SRA now deals with regulatory issues.
PS I am just as irked by the prevailing compensation culture in this country as most other people. I had to bite my tongue when my brother in law was talking recently about his whiplash claim (which was, as far as I could see, entirely unfounded) and the couple of grand in compensation he was told he would be receiving.
Let's face it though, the letter wasn't written, or even checked, by a solicitor. It was an automated response based on the data typed in by an indifferent and poorly paid 'paralegal' who is unlikely to have done more than half a day's legal training to complement their three grades A-F at GCSE. Some of the 'paralegals' in such firms that I have had the misfortune to meet are doing well if they can tie their own shoelaces, so fact-checking and grammar are going to be pretty low on their list of priorities.As a solicitor, you often have to take what your client tells you at face value and act on their instructions. Sometimes, if things don't make sense, you can push them to clarify something. It may be possible to check certain facts objectively. Sometimes, however, you can't corroborate the "facts" that you're given and so you just have to run them with.
In this case, the solicitor has presumably just fired off a fairly standard form initial letter using the information given to them by their client. If the client has given them duff information, that's probably the cause of the seeming error here.
Add to that, injury work is generally pretty low margin. As such, it relies on minimising the amount of work done on a given file to keep it economical. There is little incentive therefore for the solicitor to second-guess the client and try to corroborate their story and the facts given.
Further, the solicitor in this case will presumably have expected the OP to simply forward the leter to his insurer and let them deal with it.
I'm not trying to justify the solicitor's letter, not act as an apologist for injury solicitors more generally, just to shed some light on how the letter came to be sent out in the first place in a form which suggests that they have not looked very closely at the claim.
OP - if you do want to complain about the solicitor (not that I think you have any real basis to do so, TBH), you would need to do so with the Solicitors Regulation Authority rather than the Law Society. The SRA now deals with regulatory issues.
PS I am just as irked by the prevailing compensation culture in this country as most other people. I had to bite my tongue when my brother in law was talking recently about his whiplash claim (which was, as far as I could see, entirely unfounded) and the couple of grand in compensation he was told he would be receiving.
Edited by Lurking Lawyer on Wednesday 25th April 13:27
I've put quotation marks around 'paralegal' as this is too wide a definition and covers imbeciles such as the ones I have alluded to as well as some pretty impressive individuals whose knowledge of the law is nothing short of exceptional. I hate the term.
I'm a legal bod, albeit not an ice cream van chaser.
Looking at that letter, it would appear that the Early Learning Centre has opened up a Legal Recruitment department.
No wonder we get a bad press.
I'd copy the letter over to the SRA. I know PI margins are tight but that doesn't given them the right to send threatening letters to innocent members of the public. What if it had been wrongly addressed to a vulnerable OAP? It's not right.
Looking at that letter, it would appear that the Early Learning Centre has opened up a Legal Recruitment department.
No wonder we get a bad press.
I'd copy the letter over to the SRA. I know PI margins are tight but that doesn't given them the right to send threatening letters to innocent members of the public. What if it had been wrongly addressed to a vulnerable OAP? It's not right.
Im sick of solicitors at the moment, whats making my blood boil is the text messages every day along the lines of "we understand you were in an accident and we know how much your claim is worth, reply to this message to find out more" 
Still, I no longer need to worry about such issues as I've just won the nigerian lottery, all I have to do is send on my bank details for them to process it and Im the one whos going to be sitting on a mountain of cash not having to worry about these incompetent ambulance chasers 
Still, I no longer need to worry about such issues as I've just won the nigerian lottery, all I have to do is send on my bank details for them to process it and Im the one whos going to be sitting on a mountain of cash not having to worry about these incompetent ambulance chasers madmover said:
Im sick of solicitors at the moment, whats making my blood boil is the text messages every day along the lines of "we understand you were in an accident and we know how much your claim is worth, reply to this message to find out more" Still, I no longer need to worry about such issues as I've just won the nigerian lottery, all I have to do is send on my bank details for them to process it and Im the one whos going to be sitting on a mountain of cash not having to worry about these incompetent ambulance chasers
If I were PM, one of the very first things I'd do would be ban these people from cold contacting and advertising on prime time tv Still, I no longer need to worry about such issues as I've just won the nigerian lottery, all I have to do is send on my bank details for them to process it and Im the one whos going to be sitting on a mountain of cash not having to worry about these incompetent ambulance chasers Willie Dee said:
tyranical said:
Look at the name of the person making the claim.
Polski!
Need I say more?
Charming bit of racism there, nice.Polski!
Need I say more?
Pointing out a lack of surprise that someone of eastern European origin is making a bogus accident claim isn't racist.
madmover said:
Im sick of solicitors at the moment, whats making my blood boil is the text messages every day along the lines of "we understand you were in an accident and we know how much your claim is worth, reply to this message to find out more" Still, I no longer need to worry about such issues as I've just won the nigerian lottery, all I have to do is send on my bank details for them to process it and Im the one whos going to be sitting on a mountain of cash not having to worry about these incompetent ambulance chasers
Had one of these idiot messages today. Still, I no longer need to worry about such issues as I've just won the nigerian lottery, all I have to do is send on my bank details for them to process it and Im the one whos going to be sitting on a mountain of cash not having to worry about these incompetent ambulance chasers My reply was, oh really, can you give me tonights euro numbers too while your at it? Seein as ive not been in an accident so f
k off.cossy400 said:
Had one of these idiot messages today.
My reply was, oh really, can you give me tonights euro numbers too while your at it? Seein as ive not been in an accident so fk off.
You do realise that in all likelihood you have just replied to a computer that doesn't care what you say? And a computer that now knows that your mobile number is active and can spam you more knowing that someone will read the message?My reply was, oh really, can you give me tonights euro numbers too while your at it? Seein as ive not been in an accident so f
k off.
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