MERCEDES LITIGATION SUMMARY
Charles Lyndon is a boutique litigation firm based in London. We have particular expertise in financial services, environmental (including non-native invasive species), consumer protection, transport, telecommunications, sports and entertainment.
Mercedes NOx Emissions Group Litigation
Explanation of the Terms and Conditions – in Plain English
We understand that the sign-up documents are lengthy and include a lot of legal terms but these are important documents and it’s important that you read and are happy with them. However, we thought it might be helpful to try and explain some of the key terms in plain English to help you understand them.
Everyone who wishes to become a claimant must agree to the same documents. These are:
- the Engagement Letter (“EL”);
- the Terms of Business;
- the Damages-Based Agreement (“DBA”); and
- the Litigation Management Agreement (“LMA”).
By agreeing signing the EL, you agree to these documents. This means that you agree to Charles Lyndon acting on your behalf in the Mercedes NOx Emissions Group Litigation, this includes Charles Lyndon entering into settlement negotiations with the opponent(s) and issuing proceedings against the opponent(s), if necessary. If proceedings are issued, your claim will be run as a group claim which means that many claimants will claim together at the same time collectively which results in a substantial cost saving for you and increases your chances of a settlement.
You are signing a form of ‘no-win, no-fee agreement’. This means that if we’re not successful in winning compensation for you, you won’t have to pay us anything as long as you keep to the terms of the agreement i.e. you don’t make a fraudulent claim.
If you do win, some of our charges, and the fees of the experts and barristers involved in the case, will be paid by the opponent(s) and some by you which will be paid out of your compensation. If we can’t settle the case at the early stages, we may require funding to fund the cost of litigation and insurance to protect you from being required to pay the opponent(s)’ costs. If this is necessary, we will let you know that we are taking out an adverse costs insurance policy (to protect you from paying the opponent(s) costs, and you may have to pay the costs of this from your compensation.
In the end, no matter what, our fee will not exceed 30% plus VAT of the total compensation (if you win £10,000 then we will not take more than £3,000 plus VAT) for our fees. You may receive more if we recover more of our costs from the opponent(s). If the case succeeds, we’ll give you a full breakdown, so you understand exactly what we have charged.
For example:
| Damages recovered | £10,000 |
| 30% plus VAT of damages recovered | £3,600 |
| Charles Lyndon and Counsel’s Fees paid or payable by opponent(s) | £1,000 |
| DBA Payment (being 30% plus VAT of damages minus Charles Lyndon and Counsel’s Fees paid or payable by opponent(s)) | £2,600 |
| Expenses (not including counsel’s fees) | £1,000 |
| Expenses paid or payable by the opponent(s) | £750 |
| Money received by Charles Lyndon | £4,600 (£2,600 DBA Payment, £1,000 fees recovered from the opponent(s) and £1,000 expenses) |
| Money received by you | £7,150 (71.5% of damages), being damages recovered (£10,000) less the DBA Payment (£2,600) and less the expenses not paid or payable by opponent(s) (£250) |
To allow us to get compensation for you, we need your help. We’re taking a risk in taking the case on a no win, no fee basis and do not get paid for our time unless we are successful. At various stages we may need to email you to ask for further information to help the case. If you don’t cooperate with us (for example, if you don’t answer emails and cannot be contacted) then we will no longer be able to act for you and we have the right to charge you for our costs, barristers’ fees and expenses up to this point under the agreement.
Because of the large number of claimants, a claimant steering committee will be appointed to work on your behalf and take day to day decisions about the case on your behalf. The committee’s duties will include overseeing the legal team, directing how the case should be run, and making settlement decisions on your behalf.
If you decide to terminate your agreement with us or bring a claim against the opponent(s) yourself, you will have to refund us our costs, barristers’ fees and expenses incurred up to that point.
Legal proceedings can be expensive but because we’re intending to group together claimants, we can bring the claims in a cost-effective way. This means we will never need to ask you for any money up front and you will not be out of pocket – and if you win, our fees and other costs will be met by the money you get from opponent(s). As said above, we will ensure you receive at least 70% (before VAT) of the compensation.
As lawyers, we are obliged to keep client information confidential this includes the facts of your case and any other personal information that you provide. In some instances, we may have to share your details and circumstances with the claimant steering committee, litigation funder and other third parties in order to manage the claim and negotiate on your behalf.
You can withdraw from the claim within the first 14 days starting the day after you enter into this agreement with no charge. However, we believe that we will be able to successfully claim compensation for you, it is ‘no win, no fee’ and we will not charge you more than 30% plus VAT of your compensation.
Lets Talk…
If you have any questions about a specific case we are working on or want to know more about who we are and what we do, then speak to our team. We will get back to you as soon as possible.