You may have needed a lawyer at some point. For example, because you have had a conflict with your employer or in the event of a divorce. You then know how expensive a lawyer can be. The hourly rates do not lie, sometimes you pay € 200.00 or more per hour for a lawyer. This can be very difficult for you financially.
In most countries, recovering personal injury also requires you to incur high lawyer costs. Sometimes there are personal injury lawyers who work on a no win no pay basis, but this does mean that you pay part of the compensation to your lawyer. So it is not free.
Claiming personal injury in the Netherlands
The same applies in the Netherlands if you are looking for an employment law lawyer or a rental law lawyer. You pay the costs yourself. But if you are a personal injury lawyer in Rotterdam (Dutch: letselschade advocaat Rotterdam) or another Dutch location, a special system applies. In the Netherlands, under certain circumstances you pay nothing at all for your personal injury lawyer. You can read how this is possible in this blog.
The Dutch system of extrajudicial costs
Suppose you are hit by a car in the Dutch city of Nijmegen and suffer whiplash complaints. There is a good chance that there will be personal injury. Claiming personal injury is specialist work, so you want to hire a personal injury lawyer in Nijmegen (Dutch: letselschade advocaat Nijmegen) to recover your damages.
In the Netherlands, the costs incurred by a personal injury lawyer are included as damages. This is based on a legal provision from the Dutch Civil Code. This states that the costs that must be incurred to recover damages are part of the damage. In other words, if you need a personal injury lawyer in the Netherlands, the costs will be fully reimbursed by the other party. This is often an insurance company.
In the Netherlands you can therefore recover your personal injury damages free of charge from the liable person or their personal injury insurance. But what does a personal injury lawyer do for you?
What does a personal injury lawyer do?
Recovering personal injury claims is complicated. A personal injury lawyer can help you obtain what you are entitled to. First, a personal injury lawyer will investigate who the liable party is. Questions such as who is at fault in a collision and can the employer be considered liable are answered.
If it is clear who the liable person is, this person will be held liable. This is done by means of a liability claim. This is a letter stating what happened, what injuries the personal injury victim suffered from the accident and what damage was suffered.
As soon as liability has been acknowledged, your personal injury lawyer will request an advance on compensation. The initial costs you have incurred, and any loss of income will be reimbursed.
Finally, your personal injury lawyer will negotiate with the personal injury insurance company about the amount of your compensation.
The system in the Netherlands for recovering personal injury is unique. It is a great system because victims receive help in recovering personal injury without incurring costs and a lawyer can relieve many of their worries.
