What is no-win, no-fee?
A No-Win, No-Fee agreement protects you from paying any legal fees in the event that a case is not successful. In legal jargon, this is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
The conditional agreement is between you and the law firm you choose to represent you. It removes any risk by protecting you from court fees, lawyer’s costs and any other fees associated with a typical case.
If you join a claim on a No-Win, No-Fee basis, you will not pay a penny unless you win the case.
The purpose
The purpose of a No-Win, No-Fee agreement is to reduce the risk for prospective claimants.
When many people have been misled or defrauded by the same company, group action claims are often filed to represent numerous victims in one go. Often, group litigations use agreements to encourage claimants to sign-up so that the case can be strengthened and litigated effectively.
How does a No-Win, No-Fee agreement work?
When you enter into an agreement, your chosen law firm will take out an insurance policy on your behalf. This policy will cover all costs usually attributed to you in the event that your claim is unsuccessful. It is known as ‘After-the-Event’ (ATE) insurance.
For you, it means you will be covered against adverse costs. For the law firm, it means that they can afford to run the case without any upfront payment of their expenses.
If the claim is successful and you receive your compensation, the law firm will take a percentage from your payment to cover the costs that have been incurred in bringing the claim.
Each law firm decides on the amount of the fee. An important factor when entering into a no-win, no-fee agreement is at what percentage the fees will be capped.
Do we act on a No-Win, No-Fee basis?
Yes, we litigate all our claims using a No-Win, No-Fee agreement.
A good example of this is in our claim against Mercedes for diesel emissions fraud.
Any clients signing up to the Mercedes claim have the reassurance that they will not have to pay a penny should the group action not be successful.
If the case is successful, we have estimated that our fees will be somewhere between 20% and 50%. We cannot guarantee a final figure at this point in the litigation as there are a number of contributing factors that must be taken into consideration first.
Factors include:
- The conduct of the defendant
- The length of time the case takes to reach its conclusion
- The number of hours spent on the case
We cap our fees so that none of our clients will ever pay more than 50% of the compensation they win.
When choosing a law firm, be sure to check the terms and conditions of their fees to prevent yourself from being taken advantage of.
