Court Proceedings in Personal Injury & Medical Negligence Claims

Hearing that Court proceedings are necessary in your claim can often be intimidating especially if you have never been through the process before.

The important thing to remember is that Court proceedings are always considered a last resort and your legal representative will have exhausted all options before issuing Court proceedings.

It might be necessary to issue Court proceedings for a number of reasons however the most common reasons are that liability for your claim i.e. who was responsible for the accident and/or negligence, remains in dispute or, agreement cannot be reached regarding the value of your claim.

Even once proceedings are underway, your legal representative will make every effort to settle the claim without needing to attend a final hearing.

Once Court proceedings have been issued, the Defendant in your claim will have an opportunity to respond to the claim by filing their Defence. After this, there are a number of steps which must be taken before a final hearing can take place, your legal representative will guide you through this process however you should expect to provide disclosure of all relevant documents in your claim and provide a formal witness statement to the Defendant and Court.

In more complex cases, there may be additional steps required however you will always be appropriately advised throughout the process.

If your claim cannot be settled, a final hearing will need to take place at Court. You will need to attend the hearing and give evidence however you will have a Barrister there to represent you.

One of the most common questions about Court proceedings is how long will it take? An average timeline for Court proceedings to be completed is around nine to twelve months however it is completely dependent on how complex your claim is and how busy your local County Court is.