What is the process of making a claim?

When you first contact us, you will speak with a member of our dedicated Legal Enquiry Team who will listen to you to find out what happened. They will either be able to tell you there and then whether we can help, or in a case where the circumstances are a bit more complicated ask one of our Partners to consider whether they believe you have a valid case.

During our initial discussion, we will explain how your case will be funded. Digby Brown operates a funding scheme, Compensate, which covers all the costs of the claims process so you don’t need to worry. We can then send out the paperwork either by email or post.

Once you are fully signed up, your case will be passed to the best person to progress your claim. They will be your point of contact throughout the entire process and you can speak to them at any point. It is important to understand that we will consider a number of factors when deciding who is the best person to help you. What has happened to you and how, the injuries you have suffered and where you live will all be taken into account. 

Digby Brown will formally inform the party we believe who was at fault that we are making a claim against them on your behalf. This could be the insurer of the at-fault driver, your employer if the accident happened at work or the organisation responsible for your safety when you were on their premises.

Your legal representative will work to build a clear and detailed picture of how the incident happened. At this point we may hire experts to help build the picture as to why it happened and how it could’ve been prevented.

We will then carry out detailed investigations into the injury or injuries you suffered and the effect they had on your life, including any financial losses. This is incredibly important as the longer-term effects of your injury may not be understood without gathering the supporting medical evidence.

We will then notify the other side’s representative of the circumstances and extent of your claim, where they generally have up to three months to tell us whether they admit fault. 

A lot of cases are straight forward where the evidence proves who was at fault and all we need to agree on is how much compensation they need to pay. In some cases the other side may disagree with our version of what happened or who was at fault and in these circumstances we are likely to raise a court action. It is important to note this does not mean you are going to court or your case will be heard in court. This is simply a step to start the process of bringing the case to a conclusion.

Once all the necessary evidence has been collected and we can accurately value your case, we will send this full valuation to the insurer. They then typically have five weeks to make an offer for compensation. Again they will either agree or disagree.

If the other side agree on who is at fault we discuss the compensation payment and this is where a settlement offer is made. We then enter into negotiations with the insurers to ensure you are compensated fairly for your losses.

If we can’t agree on the amount of compensation or the other side dispute our version of what happened we use the court process to resolve the issue. A series of discussions between parties will be held to discuss, agree and bring the case to conclusion. Only in extreme circumstances, when every other avenue has been exhausted, a court hearing date will be fixed and a judge will hear all the evidence and decide who was at fault and what is fair level of compensation. Well over 95% of all cases are resolved before this happens.