LONDON, August 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

A leading personal injury lawyer has blasted the insurance industry for regularly trying to settle claims directly with injured victims for inappropriately low and unfair amounts.

Karl Tonks, an equity partner with Fentons Solicitors LLP, said the practice of defendants and insurers contacting victims and trying to settle claims early for significantly less than their true worth - in many cases before they have even sought legal or medical advice - should be a cause for great concern.

"As a national personal injury firm we handle thousands of claims for people across the country every year," said. "We have noticed a worrying increase in the number of clients who tell us they have been approached by the defendants with what appears to be a very low offer within a few days of their injury. In many of these cases the defendant has subsequently sought specialist legal advice and gone on to receive several times the amount of compensation they were first offered. But it begs the worrying question as to how many other victims are accepting these 'low-ball' offers and being massively under-compensated for their injuries?"

Karl, who is also president of the not-for-profit group APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers), said that at a time when accident victims and their solicitors were consistently being blamed by insurers over the spiralling cost of premiums, insurers need to look closely at their own actions. "It seems massively hypocritical to be constantly pointing the finger at claimants and their lawyers, when they are simultaneously trying to deny those same policyholders the right to a fair level of compensation when an injured person makes an honest, justifiable claim," he said. "People who take out an insurance policy should be able to have faith that when they are unfortunate enough to need to make a claim, the level of compensation will be calculated with their best interests in mind, and not simply the lowest amount that their insurer can get away with."

Following the reforms made to the way personal injury claims will be handled under the controversial Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Bill - which will come into force next year - Karl said he expects more and more cases to be settled earlier.

"The purpose of the reforms was supposedly to speed up the process of making a legal claim whilst reducing the amount it costs to do so," he said. "The reason for the need to do this was laid squarely at the door of accident victims and personal injury lawyers, with allegations of spurious claims and massive success fees making headlines.

"But I would ask the same insurance industry luminaries that are quick to censure lawyers to examine their own practices," he said. "Perhaps they should ask just how many claims they are settling before a victim has discussed their injury with a lawyer and been referred to a medical expert to assess their immediate and, crucially, their future needs."

He said that Fentons Solicitors was seeing a growing number of clients who might have settled their case earlier, but thankfully sought legal advice after they were offered what seemed like suspiciously low amounts of damages.

"In one recent case, a client was contacted by the defendant's insurer and was offered 500 to settle her claim in full," he said. "After engaging the services of a specialist lawyer, she settled her case for more than 37,000.

Read more:
Insurers Must Stop Trying to Settle Claims With Unfair "low-ball" Offers