No Win, No Fee Terms & Conditions

1. The offer applies to all personal injury claims for conditional costs agreements in every state of Australia (i.e. workers’ compensation, motor vehicle accidents, occupiers or public liability, medical negligence, or institutional abuse etc.)

2. Our offer to conduct a case on a No Win, No Fee basis or a conditional costs agreement is subject to our approval and acceptance of the case and its prospects of success. For example, if a person has been injured in a motor vehicle accident and is the driver, they may not be able to establish negligence if the accident is their fault. Likewise, there are cases where the client’s injuries and damages generally are not sufficient to warrant bringing a claim with lawyers involved and the costs associated with same. Accordingly, any case that is accepted by us on a No Win, No Fee basis must satisfy the criteria/conditions that:-

(a) It has reasonable prospects of success in relation to liability;

(b) The likely amount of damages recoverable for the claim make it commercially viable to pursue in terms of the costs associated with prosecuting the claim as well as costs that are recoverable from the insurer or other parties (if any);

(c) The assessment as to whether a case has reasonable prospects and/or sufficient damages to be recoverable to make it economically viable rests solely with Attwood Marshall Lawyers and is completely at our discretion;

(d) You promptly sign and return our Costs Agreement and cooperate throughout the claim to ensure it is prosecuted diligently, including accepting our advice as to the management of the claim and considering any reasonable offers of settlement that are made by the defendants.

3. The basic condition of the No Win, No Fee arrangement is that we will only charge you our costs and disbursements in accordance with our conditional costs agreement if there is a successful outcome of your matter. The definition of a ‘successful outcome’ is a verdict or settlement of your matter in your favour. A successful verdict is when you take a matter to trial and obtain a judgment from the Court. A settlement of the matter is where the matter is settled by way of offer and acceptance for an amount prior to the hearing (this can occur through negotiations or at a compulsory conference or Mediation).

4. Sometimes an offer of settlement will be made to you that we believe should be accepted due to all of the relevant issues applying to your case. In some cases, if you fail to accept our advice in relation to the amount of the offer that is being made by the insurance company and/or the defendants, we can terminate our retainer, withdraw from acting on your behalf and refuse to continue with the case. This is a complicated area and there are many factors involved in relation to making a decision about whether a case should be settled or proceed to trial. Once again, the decision in relation to this aspect of the matter is entirely ours and is not made without careful consideration being given to all relevant factors. Certain evidence and matters can come up during the course of the matter which may change our opinion as to your prospects of success and/or our decision to continue with the matter on a No Win, No Fee basis. Once again, this can be quite complicated in relation to all the relevant issues but we will always do what is best for you as the client and discuss these matters with you fully and carefully before making any decisions.

5. If we cannot settle your case or we go to trial and lose, we will not charge you anything for costs and disbursements. This will only apply if we do not recover damages and/or costs from the insurer in relation to the matter. This does not mean that we will pay for costs that are awarded against you in favour of the defendants and/or the insurance company in the event that you lose your case. It is important that you understand that if you run a case and lose, you could have costs awarded against you and these could be a considerable amount. If you have assets in your name or work in a job where you are earning a wage, the insurance company and/or the defendants can enforce a judgment against you and sell up your assets and/or garnishee your wage to satisfy any judgment obtained. It is therefore very important that you only proceed with a case that has reasonable prospects of success.

Please note in some instances we may accept No Win, No Fee on commercial and estate litigation cases applying the above criteria and conditions. This is determined
on a case-by-case basis.

If you require any further information about Personal Injury Claims please do not hesitate to contact Department Manager Tyra Hall on direct line 07 5506 8261, Freecall 1800 621 071 or email:  thall@attwoodmarshall.com.au for a free initial consultation and discuss our ‘No Win, No Fee’ terms. We have a dedicated team of lawyers who specialise in this area of law and practice exclusively in personal injury claims.

If you require any further information about Commercial Litigation or Estate Litigation matters please do not hesitate to contact Department Manager Amanda Heather on direct line 07 5506 8245, freecall 1800 621 071 or email:  aheather@attwoodmarshall.com.au to discuss our ‘No Win, No Fee’ terms.