Do you find this ad annoying?

[159jim]

It appears on every site i go on!

 

[90019]

I find ambulance chasers annoying in general.

 

[185]

I was walking through reception at work one day, and accidentally tripped over Esther's gigantic teeth.

I got five thousand pounds, and the teeth? well they were removed weeks ago

 

[Mojo]

A while ago my parents got a call at their house asking to speak to me about claiming for an accident I had been in.

Not knowing anything about this, my parents were quite alarmed at the thought I'd been in an accident and tried to get hold of me. Unfortunately I was at the work's christmas party at the time and un contactable. This, quite rightly worried my parents, but the woman at the claims company refused to provide any additional information except to me.

Eventually I got in touch with my parents once I got back home and had to persuade them I had not been in a car accident and had no idea what was going on.

The next day I called the woman at a claims company in Liverpool to ask her what the hell she thought she was doing, and where she got the number of my parents house. Turns out when I applied for car insurance during my first year of driving a few years ago I put that I had zero years of no claims (obviously as I was a new driver), and that my details had been sold to this claims company.

They then assumed that I had no No Claims Bonus because I had been in an accident, whereas had they looked at my date of birth, it would have been obvious that I had no No Claims Bonus because I was a new driver

 

[OuterDistant]

You need Firefox and Adblock Plus!

 

[flymo]

As a slight aside if I may, over here in Hong Kong, there are still a lot of ye olde British laws that have never been changed and are still on the books here. One of these the is Champerty and Maintenance law which covers just these sort of situations. It is still illegal here to advertise and/or carry out these sort of 'no win no fee' and 'have you had an accident recently' ambulance chasing services thank goodness.
For a long time Champerty and Maintenance were considered neither a crime nor a tort but a solicitor and a recovery agent were, in 2009, tried and jailed for 14-16 months for encouraging a claimant to exaggerate their injury so more damages would be paid and then both the the solicitor (the maintainer) and the agent (the champer) would receive more commission. There was apparently an agreement that 25% of any damages would be paid in commission.

I appreciate that this is not really relevant to this case as it is a different Country with different laws but there is no doubt in my mind that so many employers are incredibly anal about H&S, just to try to prevent such incidents. I think H&S has gone too far in some cases but I actually can't really blame them.

 

[Ticket Man]

ambulance chasers are here to keep the world's idiots above the bread line, so what if i cant tell what the right type of ladder is and the instructions never said i couldn't scratch my nose with that drill, I'm thick and you need to pay for it!

After all if these idiots aren't in court claiming, they could be bothering people in the real world

 

[Mojo]

You need Firefox and Adblock Plus!

Please don't. Adverts are what keep websites like this going. We couldn't afford the huge costs related in running this forum if we didn't have adverts.

Read this good blog about it: http://arstechnica.com/business/new...king-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love.ars

 

[deltic1989]

I keep getting stopped by ambulance chasers in town (they're more annoying than the "save the peruvian fruit bat" people) saying "have you had an accident in the last 3 years" my standard response is "yes, but it was entirely my fault" usually shuts them up. It is actually true that I had a motorbike accident a couple of years ago caused by me speeding and showing off to my mates, not somthing i'll be doing again in a hurry.

 

[Broken Viking]

Personally, I'd love to see the whole "No win, no fee" industry be made illegal overnight. Give 'em a baseball bat in the face and a boot out the door, that's what I say...

(Although a Chainsaw Blade swung swiftly through the gut would be a far more preferable and enjoyable sight to behold, in my mind... )

 

[trentside]

I really loathe these ambulance chasers. It's the fear of them that has done away with so much common sense. I agree that if someone is injured by another's negligence they are entitled to compensation, but these firms are sly and underhand. It may be 'no win, no fee' but I seem to remember a report a couple of years ago that some firms were suing for substantially more than the claimant would receive in order to cover their 'fee' and pay for their constance television adverts.

 

[90019]

I really loathe these ambulance chasers. It's the fear of them that has done away with so much common sense. I agree that if someone is injured by another's negligence they are entitled to compensation, but these firms are sly and underhand. It may be 'no win, no fee' but I seem to remember a report a couple of years ago that some firms were suing for substantially more than the claimant would receive in order to cover their 'fee' and pay for their constance television adverts.

IIRC, they would get claimants to say the injuries were worse than they actually were, to get more compensation, then the lawyers would take 25% of the compensation as the fee.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

IIRC, they would get claimants to say the injuries were worse than they actually were, to get more compensation.

So in other words they were guilty of conspiracy to defraud?

 

[90019]

So in other words they were guilty of conspiracy to defraud?

It wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Dai.]

I hate the compensation adverts in general, especially the bgr bloomer ones, the people in those adverts have obviously no sense anyway

For example, the three I remember:

The guy that saw a ladder that wasn't suitable for the job he had to do but still climbed up it.

The guy who went through a metal gate and didn't secure it correctly, hence it slamming back into him.

The woman who was on some form of motorised scooter, turned a corner and went straight into her colleague.

These three show lack of common sense and they would not be getting any compensation because it's their own fault.

 

[Broken Viking]

For some reason, I've been really wanting to run a television advertisement that poses one simple question...

Have you been the victim of a "No win, no fee" advertisement that wasn't your fault?... ​

Joking aside, what would be my position if I attempted to sue said ambulance chasers for each advertisement, claiming that I find the content highly objectionable, offensive, and unfit for broadcast?

 

[telstarbox]

Please don't. Adverts are what keep websites like this going. We couldn't afford the huge costs related in running this forum if we didn't have adverts.

Read this good blog about it: http://arstechnica.com/business/new...king-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love.ars

Out of interest Mojo, do the ads cover the costs of the forum? If not I'd be happy to chip in a donation

 

[Dai.]

For some reason, I've been really wanting to run a television advertisement that poses one simple question...

Have you been the victim of a "No win, no fee" advertisement that wasn't your fault?... ​

Joking aside, what would be my position if I attempted to sue said ambulance chasers for each advertisement, claiming that I find the content highly objectionable, offensive, and unfit for broadcast?

The best way to go about removing adverts would be to visit The ASA, if you want to set up a petition about stupid adverts or just generally complain about these things, I'm right behind you!

 

[Mojo]

Out of interest Mojo, do the ads cover the costs of the forum? If not I'd be happy to chip in a donation

Thanks for your interest. Yes, we are in a fortunate position that we are able to cover all our costs at the present time. In the past we have also been able to make charity donations and also supply forum badges to some selected members.

 

[Mr Spock]

IIRC, they would get claimants to say the injuries were worse than they actually were, to get more compensation, then the lawyers would take 25% of the compensation as the fee.

The ads I see on TV say that the claimant gets 100% of compo so that rules out this tactic.

As far as I understand it if they win the case the other side pays for the legal costs seperately and that is how these firms make their money, their costs are usually a lot higher than any compo paid out.

 

[90019]

The ads I see on TV say that the claimant gets 100% of compo so that rules out this tactic.

Surely they could just get the claimant to agree to different terms?

 

[Mr Spock]

Surely they could just get the claimant to agree to different terms?

I explained how it works.

 

[Broken Viking]

Surely they could just get the claimant to agree to different terms?

That could always be interesting...Most judges will throw out any case where the claimant turns down a reasonable out-of-court settlement, yet these "No win, no fee" (NWNF) services can't touch any compensation that the claimant receives otherwise they're in breach of the claims in their own advertisements, and would find themselves in court facing a false claims tribunal if they tried! Could be a way to bankrupt the lot of them?...

That said, I believe many NWNF services require the claimant to take out "insurance" of some kind with regard to their claims, and I don't know exactly how those policies work and how much they cost. I suppose though they'd plug the loophole that I've highlighted above, wouldn't they?

 

[Geezertronic]

The ads I see on TV say that the claimant gets 100% of compo so that rules out this tactic.

As far as I understand it if they win the case the other side pays for the legal costs seperately and that is how these firms make their money, their costs are usually a lot higher than any compo paid out.

Plus if the case is flaky, they will refuse it. There was a "fly on the wall" documentary about claims etc... and it featured one company who refused claims if they were flaky or assumed to be dodgy

 

[43021HST]

All this talk of Ambulance chasers and lack of common sense reminds me of a poem.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/commonsen.htm

 

[Mr Spock]

Plus if the case is flaky, they will refuse it. There was a "fly on the wall" documentary about claims etc... and it featured one company who refused claims if they were flaky or assumed to be dodgy

These firms are only interested in themselves and probably do not care much how much compo is awarded as long as they get their costs paid (probably charging £500-600 per hour so it soon racks up).

 

[90019]

I explained how it works.

Fair enough, was going on what I'd been told

 

[Mojo]

Most No Win No Fee lawyers will probably require claimants to take out 'after the event' legal expenses insurance to cover themselves in the event of a loss.

 

[Broken Viking]

All this talk of Ambulance chasers and lack of common sense reminds me of a poem. http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/commonsen.htm

I read that earlier and I liked it/agreed with it a lot...Thanks for sharing, Klambert!

Plus if the case is flaky, they will refuse it. There was a "fly on the wall" documentary about claims etc... and it featured one company who refused claims if they were flaky or assumed to be dodgy

These firms are only interested in themselves and probably do not care much how much compo is awarded as long as they get their costs paid

I suppose it's a given that they won't accept any case they havn't got a minimum 98% chance of succeeding in...It'd be commercial suicide otherwise! hock:

And it's blatantly obvious who they care about...If they wern't taking sufficient profits from their "activities" to afford three minute long TV advertisements during prime-time (And TV advertising is Bloody expensive - See Wikipedia!) they wouldn't be doing business.

probably charging £500-600 per hour so it soon racks up.

I know we're discussing commercial lawyers here, but surely even they can't get away with charging that much, can they? What happens in the event that the claimant is successful, but the judge presiding awards the claimant £1.00 (A paper-only victory) and leaves it at that? hock:
That said; If judges started doing that, it'd put 99% of NWNF customers right off the idea of using those services. Maybe that could be a good thing?

Quick straw poll: If anyone has had to employ a real solicitor for legal matters (Or is one themselves) what was the average "going rate" for their services?

Most No Win No Fee lawyers will probably require claimants to take out 'after the event' legal expenses insurance to cover themselves in the event of a loss.

I'm not familiar with such policies myself, although I'm guessing they work in a similar way to car insurance - The cover's there if it's needed, but ye pay for it regardless of the outcome. Is that correct?
(If ye know of a link that describes such policies in plain English, that'd be great! )

 

[jon0844]

The best way to go about removing adverts would be to visit The ASA, if you want to set up a petition about stupid adverts or just generally complain about these things, I'm right behind you!

Or, let the admins know about the bad adverts (namely ones that wouldn't get clicked on anyway) as if the site uses AdSense, they can be blocked - and other adverts (hopefully better ones) will appear instead.

We've banned as many sites as we can selling fake products from China (don't know how or why Google allow them in the first place) and other ads that we don't like, and still make money - possibly more than we would otherwise. Not that anyone will get rich from the ads, but it's really just for the hosting and bandwidth charges.