I am a solicitor in the Asbestos Diseases Litigation team in Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office. My blog will follow two mesothelioma sufferers 'William' and 'John' through the compensation process in real time to show how claims work and to highlight some of the issues that may arise.

Having seen William’s and John’s diagnosis of mesothelioma confirmed in their medical records, the next step has been to sort how their cases are funded.  Both gentleman are funding their cases through a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement.

The funding of the case is an important step and William especially was worried about having to pay legal costs if the case was not successful.  He told me that he couldn’t afford to risk thousands of pounds as he had his wife to provide for.  I was able to reassure him that our ‘no win, no fee’ would protect him from a large legal bill.

The ‘no win, no fee’ agreement operates in slightly different ways, depending on whether the case is successful or not.  If John and William win their cases, which we expect that they will, under the ‘no win, no fee’ agreement, their legal costs are paid on top of their damages.  That means they get to keep 100% of their compensation.

The ‘no win, no fee’ agreement will also protect William and John from having to pay legal costs if the case is unsuccessful.  If the case is unsuccessful, under the ‘no win, no fee’ my firm agrees to write off all of our costs.  Any other costs of the claim are paid by an insurance policy that we obtain.  The insurance policy premium is self-insuring which means that the insurer only gets paid if William and John win as well.  John was so impressed by this part of the ‘no win, no fee’ agreement he asked if the company did car insurance on the same terms!

The ‘no win, no fee’ agreement is a very good way of funding mesothelioma claims because it means that clients like William and John can bring a claim without having to worry about paying legal costs.