What to expect
your case is unique, but there are a number of steps that every personal injury case goes through
Step 1: The intake
During an intake one of our personal injury lawyers will discuss your case with you. We discuss your injury, the circumstances under which the accident took place and we look at the feasibility of your personal injury claim. We also make an initial inventory of the damages you have suffered.
Depending on your wishes, this meeting can take place at your home or at our office. The intake is entirely free of charge and without any obligation.
Step 2: Liability
After the intake has taken place, we do any additional investigation into the liability and draw up a liability statement. This is a letter in which we hold the (insurer of) the party who’s at fault for your damage liable for the damage suffered by you. We do this on the basis of the information provided by you about the circumstances of the accident and information that we may collect ourselves, like witness statements and police reports.
Sometimes liability for the accident is not immediately acknowledged by the other party. It may be that the’res a discussion about the facts or the law, it may be that the other party wants more information, or it may be that the other party takes the position that there is no liability. In the latter case we will look at the possibilities to bring your case to court on a no cure no pay basis. A special low-threshold procedure has been set up by the legislator for these kind of cases. Our personal injury lawyers have extensive experience urguing such cases before a court and will take the work off your hands so that you can focus on your recovery.
Step 3: Recovery and an advance payment
Once liability for your personal injury claim has been acknowledged, your damage (both past and future damage) will be further assessed by us. You can now focus on your recovery knowing your damages will be reimbursed. We will get you an advance payment on the damages as soon as possible. It can sometimes take as little as a few days before you have the money in your account.
At this moment we will also take a closer look at your injury. We do this by collecting information from your doctors and other medical professionals. We will then, with your permission, submit this information to our own medical advisor to interpret all the information and advise us further.
If necessary, we will contact other experts in consultation with you. For example we will entaminate an expert assessment (often done a professor or other absolute expert in the field of your specific injury) to provide further expertise. Or an employment expert to help you reintegrate at work. Or perhaps a doctor to give a second opinion.
Our working method is aimed at the best and quickest possible recovery. During your recovery, we will always provide you with advice and assistance and we will also make sure that your damage is adequately compensated by means of periodic advance payments.
We will take all the hard work out of your hands. We conduct difficult discussions with the other party so that you can focus on your recovery.
In many cases this whole process takes place outside of court. If, however, a discussion arises, our personal injury lawyers have extensive litigation experience and are happy to go to court for you to the compensation that is rightfully yours..
Step 4: Final settlement of your personal injury case
When a final medical situation is reached, your personal injury case can be settled. A final medical situation is the situation that your medical situation has been fully mapped out and that there are no more foreseen changes in it. You have recovered or it is clear that you will not fully recover (apart from any beneficial effects that time will bring).
At this moment your damage can be definitively determined. Damages that are at this moment still to be determined can be finally calculated. For example, the amount of grief compensation (smartengeld), your future loss of income, possible future treatments that will take place and other future costs that will be incurred.
We always try to reach a settlement with the other party outside of court that is as advantageous as possible for you.
If this is not possible, a lawyer can and will also go to court at this stage of the case. Once final settlement has been reached, the terms will be laid down in a settlement agreement. After signing this agreement you will receive a final amount of money after which, with a few exceptions, you will not be able to return to the matter. The amount of this final payment usually varies from a few thousand euros to many hundreds of thousands euros or in the worst case even millions of euros. For this reason, it is very important that you hire a good lawyer and do not deal with an inexperienced claims handler that is not a lawyer. Unfortunately in the Netherlands anyone can call himself a claims handler or even a lawyer and in the worst case you will then potentially be left with a huge financial noose.