Am I still able to claim even if no one was convicted of a crime?

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    How No Win No Fee Works

    With no win no fee agreements (also known as a Conditional Fee Arrangements, or CFAs), there are no upfront legal fees, which means anyone who has been involved in an accident that wasn’t their fault can gain access to justice without any financial risk. Your solicitor only gets a fee if your claim is successful. If your claim isn't successful, you won’t pay your solicitor any legal fees.

    If your case is successful, typically you will pay 25% (including VAT) of your compensation to your solicitor, although they will discuss any fees before starting your case. To ensure your claim is risk free, your solicitor may take out an insurance policy on your behalf. If you terminate the agreement, you may have to pay fees for the time already spent on your claim, or due to: lack of cooperation, misleading your solicitor, missing medical or expert examinations, or not attending court hearings.

    There are some instances where you are not required to use the services of a claims management company, and are able to claim yourself, for free, directly via the relevant ombudsman/compensation scheme. These include:

    - Criminal injuries: The Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (England, Wales, and Scotland) or the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme (Northern Ireland)

    - Minor road accidents: The Official Injury Claim Portal

    - Accidents involving uninsured drivers: The Motor Insurers' Bureau

    Am I still able to claim even if no one was convicted of a crime?

    The very nature of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) means that personal injury claims of this kind are different in nature from any other. In all other cases you will be seeking compensation from another party who has acted in a negligent manner, and, through this negligence, caused you some form of harm. In the cases of criminal injury, however, the person who has caused the injury is the person guilty of committing a criminal act, a fact which could make the situation much more complicated.

    CICA, however, is run and funded by the government, in order to ensure that the victims of crime are able to seek compensation even if the person who committed the crime remains unknown. The rules state that the perpetrator does not have to have been charged, convicted or even identified for a claim to go ahead, just as long as a crime took place and was reported to the police.

    There are factors which may result in CICA refusing to award compensation, however, and these include your own criminal record, if you have one, your behaviour before, during or after the incident itself, any refusal to co-operate with the police or indeed any delay in reporting the incident to the police. There is also a time limit of two years from the date of the incident, after which claims will generally not be considered, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

    If you feel you may have been injured during an act of criminality, then discussing your case with an injury lawyer will allow you to make an informed choice as to whether to go ahead with a claim for compensation. Getting caught up in a crime can often shake an individual’s faith in the rule of law and the fairness of society. Seeking compensation can begin to rebuild this faith.

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