Couple Forced to Use No Win No Fee Solicitor

A couple banking with Newcastle Building Society found that £1.50 per month was being added to their statements for famiy legal cover. They decided to keep the optional cover which worked out well when Mrs A entered into a legal dispute.

Her husbank phoned the bank to check if they would be covered. The bank confirned that they were. However, when they sent the details of the case to the bank, the bank refused to cover them.

Undetterred they hired a no win no fe solicitor and settled the matter that way. They won but were dismayed to find that they owed their no win no fee solicitor £2,195, 33% of their compensation.

They contacted Newcastle Building Society hoping to claim the money back. The building society said that as their case concerned equal pay it was exculded from the cover. As a gesture of goodwill they offered to refund the premiums on the legal policy, £53.

However, the couple were adamant that their case was more complex than the building society realised and was not simply an issue of equal pay. They enlisted the help of an expert and battled Newcastle Building Society.

After a series of negotiantions, the Building Society, after initially offering to pay back 50% of the legal fees, agreed to reimburse the couple for two third of the legal fees.

The couple then received £1,463.80 in partial reimbursement of your solicitor's fees. Newcastle also decided to send another £50 as a gesture of goodwill for the misleading information it originally gave. Together with the refund of policy premiums, they gained £1,567.30 in total.

The couple are reported to be delighted with the outcome and urge others to fight back agaimst the banks.

Carys is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.