How Off-court Settlements Monopolize Reconciliations Among Claimants

If you were to ask me how No Win No Fee UK claims could be settled quickly and amicably, then I would answer what I have been advocating ever since I settled my own work accident claim five years ago: talk outside the courts.

There are many reasons why this works. But first, let me talk about why I think on-court solutions, hardly, if ever work.

For one thing, once you involve the courts in your accident claim, the probable effect is that the claiming process becomes more serious, and with that, more difficult to unravel. The normal psychological effect of involving the courts among claimants and defendants is that they come to think of the claiming process no longer as a dispute that can be finished without hassle or drama, but a grand object which must be relentlessly pursued without compromise. It seems as if they think that once inside the courts, they must give Lady Justice herself a good show. The stakes, as they see it, are now weightier than before. Dignity, not just money, they feel, has now become the prize.

This is pathetic. If there is anything which the courts add to solving No Win No Fee UK claims, it’s either confusion or rage. Claiming your compensation is just as serious and just as valid when done outside the courts. Only superficial people whose minds are devoid of philosophy and think that specific locations hold a monopoly over specific kinds of virtue, will accept the argument that justice becomes more just in the house of a judge and less just outside of it. It’s senseless.

Another thing why on-court disputes rarely satisfy both parties is the tedium they involve. Courts are boring places, to be frank. If you want to spend countless hours listening to the drumming voice of a humorless judge articulating words and words of legal jargon than to simply talk to the person who injured you and ask for the proper amount of compensation, then it’s your choice. I would rather that I received my compensation early, even if it was less than the amount I should have received had I processed my claim with the help of the courts, if only I could be spared the boring tedium which is the hallmark of our judiciary.