A year ago, Ian and Mary Smythe*, simple working-class people, were enjoying a holiday in the Cotswolds when they had the misfortune to cross paths with a lorry owned by a foreign company, XYZ Ltd., that failed to maintain the vehicle properly. To make a long story short, Ian suffered two broken legs and an arm while Mary received serious internal injuries; although they eventually recovered, the Smythes required months of rehabilitation and lost thousands of pounds in wages in the meantime, nearly losing their home as well as their motorcar.

The Problem - And The Solution

Few would argue that XYZ Ltd. bears responsibility in this matter - but how could the Smythes hope to hire a solicitor in their state of penury?

Happily for the Smythes, there was legal representation available from a no win no fee [http://www.no-win-no-fee-solicitor.com] solicitor. This legal professional took the Smythe's complaint before the County Court without requiring an advance fee. Ultimately, the Smythe's no win no fee solicitor was able to argue their case successfully before the judge, who required XYZ Ltd. to compensate the Smythes in the amount of £250,000.

An Ancient System

The Smythes' case falls into the legal area known as torts, or personal injury law. This sort of case does not typically involve criminal wrongdoing, but rather injury suffered by an individual or group caused by the negligence or non-criminal actions of another. Although it was Willy Bastard who brought us the vocabulary and much of the practice associated with this area of the law in 1066, the concept goes back much further in English history - all the way back to old Hengist himself. In Anglo-Saxon times, one who was wronged by another could bring his case before the folc-gemot - an assembly of freemen who would determine whether or not the claimant had a valid case. If so, the party responsible for the injury would be made to pay the claimant an amount of money, known as were-gyld (literally, "man-price"), which was determined by the nature and seriousness of the injury.

It Goes Beyond The Physical

Under U.K. law, a no win no fee solicitor can bring your case before a judge even if your injury was not physical in nature. In fact, there are four categories, or negligence subsets under which a tort case may be categorized:

 Psychiatric Injury
 Pure Economic Loss
 Public Bodies (Administrative Liability)
 Omissions and Third Parties

Your solicitor can assist you in determining which of these applies - and will even file a no win no fee claim on your behalf.

*names have been changed to preserve privacy