cfa

This agreement is a binding legal contract between you and your solicitor, Fairplane UK Limited. It comes into effect on the date you receive it but also covers any work we have carried out on your behalf since you instructed us. You should read this Agreement in conjunction with the �CFAs, What you need to know� document (item 5).

In this agreement, �We� means, the Solicitor, Fairplane UK Limited and �You� means you the Client. This Conditional Fee Agreement (the "CFA" also known as a �No Win No Fee Agreement�) is a binding legal contract between you and Fairplane UK Limited. Before you sign this CFA, please read everything carefully and make sure you understand all aspects. Do not sign this CFA if there is any aspect of it that you do not understand. This CFA must be read alongside the Terms & Conditions overleaf which contains the provisions recommended by the Law Society. The Term & Conditions set out in that document form part of this CFA.

What is covered by this agreement:

Your claim for compensation and reimbursement of losses arising out of a PCP agreement you entered into with your lender.

Any appeal by your opponent.

Any proceedings you take to enforce a judgment, order or agreement.

Negotiations about and/or a court assessment of the costs of this claim.

The preliminary assessment and conduct of your claim for damages, losses and/or other relief arising out of or in connection with your financial mis-selling claim against Lender (the "Claim").

any interim or interlocutory applications.

 

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What is not covered by this agreement?

Any counter claim made against you

Any appeal you make against the final judgment or order.

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Paying us if you win

If you win your claim, you pay us our charges, our disbursements, any success fee and VAT. You may be entitled to seek recovery from your opponent of part or all of our charges, disbursements and VAT, but not the success fee or any legal expenses insurance premium however our charge to you is limited in any event to whatever costs, disbursements and VAT we can recover from the lender on your behalf, plus:

a)����������� 40% plus VAT of the compensation and interest we are due to send you and

b)����������� Any disbursements paid on your behalf

Payment by electronic bank transfer to a UK bank � no charge.

 

What do I pay if I lose?

If you lose, you may be liable to pay your opponent�s costs, disbursements, and VAT, but if that occurs then we will be responsible for that liability and we will pay it ourselves, so you will not be required to make any payment. If you lose, you do not pay our charges, disbursements, or VAT.

 

 

Other points

 

The parties acknowledge and agree that this agreement is not a non-contentious business agreement within the terms of the Solicitors Act 1974, and it is not a damages based agreement within the terms of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.

 

Right to cancel your agreement

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 applies to our agreement with you.

You have the right to cancel this agreement within 14 days of receiving it without giving any reason.

 

The cancellation period will expire after 14 days of you receiving this agreement.

 

To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or email) which should be sent to FairPlane UK Limited, 10A Bellevue Way, Swansea, SA1 5BY or by email to help@therefundlawyer.co.uk. To meet your cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.

 

This document is a version recommended by the Law Society, but modified by us to suit the individual circumstances of your claim. The definitions used in this document and the accompanying Conditional Fee Agreement (item 5) are explained at the end of this document.

 

 

Effects of cancellation

 

If you cancel this agreement within the 14 days stipulated above, we will reimburse to you all payments we have received from you, within 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract.

 

We will make this reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise, in any event you will not incur any fees as a result of reimbursement.

 

If you requested us to begin the performance of services during the cancellation period, we will charge you only for the work which we have carried out until we receive your cancelation and any charges which have arisen during that period.

What do I pay if I win?

If you win your claim, you pay our charges, our disbursements and VAT. You may be able to claim part or all of our charges, disbursements and VAT from your opponent, but our total charges to you are limited in any event to whatever costs, disbursements and VAT we can recover from the lender on your behalf, plus:

a)����������� 40% plus VAT of the compensation and interest we are due to send you and

 

In this agreement we refer to all of the above as our �Overall Charge�. If you win overall but on the way, you lose an interim hearing, then you may be required to pay your opponent�s costs, disbursements and VAT of that hearing, but if that occurs then we will be responsible for that liability and will pay it ourselves, so you will not be required to make payment. If on the way to winning or losing you are awarded any costs, either by agreement or by court order, then we are entitled to payment of those costs immediately.

What do I pay if I lose?

If you lose, you may be liable to pay your opponent�s costs, disbursements, and VAT, but if that occurs then we will be responsible for that liability and we will pay it ourselves, so you will not be required to make any payment. If you lose, you do not pay our charges, disbursements, or VAT.

Ending this agreement

If you end this agreement before you win or lose, you must pay our Overall Charge

We may end this agreement before you win or lose.

Our charges

These are for work done from now until this agreement ends. They are subject to review.� This agreement retrospectively covers work done prior to the Conditional Fee Agreement coming into effect.� These charges are subject to annual review.

 

How we calculate our charges

These are calculated for each hour engaged on your matter. Routine letters and telephone calls will be charged as units of one tenth of an hour. Other letters and telephone calls will be charged on a time basis. The hourly rate which applies is set out below.� We review the hourly rate on the 10th January each year, and we will notify you in writing of any change in the rate.

Grade and Basic Costs Rates:

1.����������� Partners, Consultants and Solicitors with over 8 years post qualified experience. �472.00

2.����������� Solicitors, Senior Legal Executives, and Litigation Executives with over 4 years post qualified experience. �416.00

3.����������� Other Solicitors, Legal Executives and Litigation Executives with less than 4 years post qualified experience. �350.00

4.����������� Trainee Solicitors, paralegals, and other fee earners. �255.00

Value added tax (VAT)

We add VAT, at the rate (now 20%) that applies when the work is done, to the total of the charges.

Law Society conditions

The Law Society Conditions below are part of this agreement. Any amendments or additions to them will apply to you. You should read the conditions carefully and ask us about anything you find unclear.

Our responsibilities

We must:

Always act in your best interests, subject to our duty to the court;

Explain to you the risks and benefits of taking legal action;

Give you our best advice about whether to accept any offer of settlement;

Give you the best information possible about the likely costs of your claim for compensation.

Your responsibilities

You must:

Give us instructions that allow us to do our work properly.

Not ask us to work in an improper or unreasonable way.

Not deliberately mislead us.

Co-operate with us.

 

Dealing with costs if you win

Normally you can claim our charges, disbursements and VAT from your opponent, and if we or your opponent cannot agree the amount, the Court will decide how much you can recover.

 

You are liable to pay our charges, disbursements and VAT, but our charge to you is limited in any event to whatever costs, disbursements and VAT we can recover from the Lender on your behalf, plus:

 

a)����������� 40% plus VAT of the compensation and interest we are due to send you and

You agree to pay into a designated account any cheque or payment received by you from your opponent and made payable to you.� Out of that money you agree to let us take our Overall Charge, which you will hold in trust for us. You take the rest.

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We are allowed to keep any interest your opponent pays in relation to our charges.

If your opponent fails to pay

If your opponent does not pay any damages or charges owed to you, we have the right to take recovery action in your name to enforce a judgment, order or agreement. The charges of this action become part of the charges.

Payment for advocacy

The cost of advocacy and any other work by us, or by any solicitor agent on our behalf forms part of our charges. We shall discuss with you the identity of any barrister instructed, and the arrangements made for payment.

Barristers who have a Conditional Fee Agreement with us

If you win, you are normally entitled to recover their fee from your opponent. The barrister's success fee is shown in the separate Conditional Fee Agreement we make with the barrister. We will discuss the barrister�s success fee with you before we instruct him or her. If you lose, you pay the barrister nothing.

Barristers who do not have a Conditional Fee Agreement with us

If you win, then you will normally be entitled to recover all or part of their fee from your opponent. If you lose, then you do not have to pay their fee.

What happens when this agreement ends before your claim for damages ends?

Paying us if you end this agreement

You can end the agreement at any time. We then have the right to decide whether you must:

Immediately pay our Overall Charge and our disbursements including barristers� fees or

Pay our Overall Charge including barristers� fees if you go on to win your claim.

 

(b) Paying us if we end this agreement

We can end this agreement if you do not keep to your responsibilities. We then have the right to decide whether you must:

Immediately pay our Overall Charge including barristers� fees when we ask for them; or

Pay our Overall Charge including barristers� fees if you go on to win your claim.

 

We can end this agreement if we believe you are unlikely to win. If this happens, you will not have to pay us anything including the barristers� fees.

We can end this agreement if you reject our opinion about making a settlement with your opponent. You must then:

Pay our Overall Charge, including barristers� fees;

 

If you ask us to get a second opinion from a specialist solicitor or barrister outside our firm, we will do so. You pay the cost of a second opinion.

We can end this agreement if you become insolvent by reason of bankruptcy, entering into a voluntary arrangement or howsoever.� You must then pay our Overall Charge.

(c) Death

This agreement automatically ends if you die before your claim is concluded. We will be entitled to recover our charges up to the date of your death from your estate.

If your personal representatives wish to continue your claim, we may offer them a new Conditional Fee Agreement, as long as they agree to pay our charges from the beginning of the agreement with you.

What happens after this agreement ends?

After this agreement ends, we may apply to have our name removed from the record of any court proceedings in which we are acting unless you have another form of funding and ask us to work for you.

We have the right to preserve our lien unless another solicitor working for you undertakes to pay us what we are owed if you win.

 

Explanation of words used

 

Advocacy

Appearing for you at court hearings.

 

Charges

Our charges for the legal work we do on your claim for compensation.

 

Claim

Your demand for compensation whether or not court proceedings are issued.

 

Counterclaim

A claim that your opponent makes against you in response to your claim.

 

Compensation

Money that you win whether by a court decision or settlement.

 

Our disbursements

Payments we make on your behalf including but not limited to court fees, expert fees, travelling expenses, barrister�s fees.

 

Interim damages

Money that a court says your opponent must pay or your opponent agrees to pay while waiting for a settlement or the court's final decision.

 

Interim hearing

A court hearing that is not final.

 

Lender

������� ����The company that lent you money under a Consumer Credit Agreement

Lien

Our right to keep all papers, documents, money or other property held on your behalf until all money due to us is paid. A lien may be applied after this agreement ends.

 

Lose

The court has dismissed your claim or you have stopped it on our advice.

 

Part 36 offers or payments

An offer to settle your claim made in accordance with Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules.

 

Trial

The final contested hearing or the contested hearing of any issue to be tried separately and a reference to a claim concluding at trial includes a claim settled after the trial has commenced or a judgment.

 

Win

Your claim for compensation is finally decided in your favour, whether by a court decision or an agreement to pay you compensation or in any way that you derive benefit from pursuing the claim.

 

'Finally' means that your opponent:

Is not allowed to appeal against the court decision; or

Has not appealed in time; or

Has lost any appeal.

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