When diagnosed with an illness such as mesothelioma, it is important for individuals and their families to be secure in the knowledge that their choice of solicitor is right. Undoubtedly, the most important questions relate to the experience of the firm of solicitors but also the experience of the individual solicitor who will be dealing with the claim. It is probably a fact that if the members of the medical profession have not heard of the firm of solicitors, then the firm probably does not have the right sort of experience to conduct your claim properly and swiftly.
Questions to ask a solicitor
When choosing a solicitor for a mesothelioma claim we would recommend asking the following questions. The answers you receive should help you decide if they have the right experience to help you:
- How many mesothelioma cases have you and your firm settled?
- How many cases is your firm currently dealing with for people who have developed mesothelioma?
- What are the difficulties in settling mesothelioma cases and how do you deal with them?
- Will you be my primary contact or will I have to deal with other people in your firm?
Jan’s Story
When her father was diagnosed with mesothelioma, Jan Hopcraft’s first thought was to help her father through the final months of his life and to help her mother to make him as comfortable as possible. Jan was not advised that a legal claim could be brought to help her mother financially until after her father had sadly passed away.
At that point, Jan and her family turned their attention to finding out who might be able to help. Jan was keen to avoid the advertisements on the television and decided with her family to research the choices on the internet. Having found what looked like a credible organisation in the centre of London, she chose to instruct the firm to help her mother to claim compensation.
“The first meeting with the solicitor seemed to go well” she said. “We had never had any dealings with a solicitor before, other than buying our house, and so did not really know what to expect. We were told about how complicated claims could be, but that we would not be charged for the work that was done. We were pleased to hear this.
“However, it quickly became clear that not a lot was happening. The solicitor did not keep in touch with us and we got the feeling that we were simply being fobbed off. My son even went to the offices unannounced and was told that everything was on track.”
Unfortunately for the family, the solicitor had taken no steps to progress the case and worse still, he had allowed the 3 year time period for court proceedings to pass by. At that point, the family made contact with Ian Bailey at Irwin Mitchell to help.
Ian commented, “When I got the file from the previous solicitor, I was shocked at just how little had been achieved. There were just a few notes on the file and it was clear to me that the solicitor had never handled a claim for a client who had mesothelioma before.
“The difficulty was compounded by the fact that evidence could not be obtained, due to the passage of time, about the nature of Jan’s father’s exposure to asbestos. Because of this, I had to advise the family to pursue the solicitor. Thankfully, we managed to secure a settlement, but I would have liked to obtain full compensation for the family.”
Ross Hopcraft, Jan’s son, said, “I just wish that we had approached the right firm to begin with. The frustration of our experience with the first solicitor almost led us to give up completely. We are very pleased that we decided to persevere on behalf of gran and that Ian was able to conclude the case successfully. What was immediately apparent when we met Ian was that he and his firm had acted for many clients and they had the experience of many years behind them.”
Darren and Angela’s story
Darren Spink and Angela Berry contacted Irwin Mitchell after 4 years with their solicitor. Their father, Albert, had died in 2006 from mesothelioma but he had himself instructed solicitors during his own lifetime.
“We were very frustrated that the case on Mum’s behalf did not seem to be concluding and no end appeared in sight. We had lost confidence in our solicitor, who had been recommended to us by a family friend. She did not seem to have a clear plan to bring the case to a successful conclusion and we were becoming increasingly less sure about the amount of experience she had of acting for people with mesothelioma and their families.”
“Irwin Mitchell had been mentioned to my father whilst he was alive, but we decided to go with the suggestion of the family friend. Though we knew that the firm we had instructed was a reputable law firm, we had no idea what the firm’s experience of mesothelioma claims was.”
“After feeling let down, we eventually approached Ian Bailey at Irwin Mitchell to help. The process of changing solicitors was actually far more straight forward than we had thought, even through the decision to switch was not an easy one due to the family connections. When we had changed though, we noticed straight away that the approach was different and the objective was to help us to bring the claim to a conclusion quickly. Questions were asked of us which we had not been asked before.”
“The claim eventually concluded for far more than we had been told previously. Nobody really wants to go through the legal process out of choice, but if you have to do it for the benefit of a family member, it is important that you feel confident that your solicitor has the right experience to achieve the best outcome in what will always be very difficult and challenging circumstances. Angela and I are both pleased, for Mum’s sake, that we made the decision to change solicitors when we did and the compensation Ian achieved for Mum will make sure that she is well looked after for years to come.”