Why is My Insurance Claim Taking so Long?

For many reasons I imagine – but all generally revolving around one thing – legal expenses insurance (hereafter referred to as LEI)! For actual law firms like us, there is nothing more disheartening than when clients are taken in by this system and ultimately potentially deceived. LEI is a straight forward system but benefits usually only two groups of people – the insurers and solicitors!

Legal expenses insurance involves your insurers (like your car insurers) SELLING your details across to a solicitor who will then use a percentage of their costs to pay for your details in the first place. For example: a solicitor may pay your insurers £1,000.00 for your details which is then taken away from the amount of funds they have to run your case. The next question of course though is how does this make your claim go slower?

Less funds =  less phone calls, letters and less work being done on the case. Importantly – less fighting for the highest payout and therefore LESS compensation for you!
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After a Medical Appointment, how long before I get an offer?

This is a common question and one that has a pretty straight forward answer. However, there isn’t a fixed time period and the reason for this will hopefully become apparent below…

Of course, the first thing that happens after your medical appointment is that a medical report is compiled and sent across to the solicitor. Your solicitor should chase this if it is taking longer than usual, but there can be delays at this point simply because the third party is not as speedy as we would hope them to be.

So the first bit of advice would be to take this into account and not be chasing a medical report the day after an appointment.  In the same way, once your solicitor discloses the medical report to the other side and invites offers, we will chase for a response but one cannot control another’s actions.
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Accidents at office workstations advice

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations govern the standards required by all workplaces to ensure optimum health and safety in the workplace. Accidents at work are unfortunately more common than people think! They can occur in a variety of ways, depending on the type of work someone does and the area which they are based in. This article will mainly focus on office spaces.

Under the regulations a workplace is defined as “any premises or part of premises which are not domestic premises are made available to any person as a place of work“. The regulations also cover the means of getting to and from the designated area, for example: rooms, lobbies corridors and staircases.
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Accident at Work Claims – What to Expect on the Initial Call

Starting any claim can be a daunting prospect for many people; but, there always seems to be more reluctance and fear surrounding accidents at work as many worry it will affect either their current employment or their employment in the future. Hopefully this blog will put some minds at ease. If you have been injured through no fault of your own in the workplace, your injuries may be extremely debilitating and lead to losses that you just can’t afford.

Making a claim may well be the only option to take…

Pursing an accident at work claim should NOT affect your employment status as the law does protect you for making a claim. In most cases, if the company is quite large, employers may encourage people to do get a lawyer and make a claim. This is because all employers are required to take out insurance to cover just this type of thing, and many big companies will have been sued several times over. The majority of the time it is not that person you work with everyday that will be pursued, as most places just pass the letter of claim across to their insurers and it is them that deals with the entire process.
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U-Turn Overtaking Compensation Claims

Overtaking a vehicle can be pretty daunting even when you follow the Highway Code; however the number of accidents involving overtaking vehicles is significant.

The most common type of accident occurs when a vehicle is overtaking another and the vehicle being overtook attempts to perform a u-turn or make a right turn. Unfortunately, liability for these types of accidents are not always straight forward and each case is assessed on its individual circumstances. Most of the time it will need to be determined as to whether each party has made their intentions known to other road users and positioned their vehicles correctly.

It is very useful to obtain the details of any witnesses in any accident but in these types of circumstances, it can be an essential piece of evidence with regards to supporting allegations as to what signals were used or not used. Otherwise, it is often your word against the other party’s.
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Whiplash Claim Payouts

When clients approach us about making a whiplash claim, the most common question asked is usually “How much am I likely to get?” However, if you are still suffering with your injury it is very difficult to calculate how much you would be entitled to receive without obtaining accurate medical evidence.

Therefore, here at The Injury Lawyers, we obtain medical evidence on all cases so that we can accurately determine the amount of compensation you are entitled to.

You will attend an examination with a medical expert and they will provide us with a report which details your injuries and the time you are likely to be suffering for. This is called the prognosis and is what your injury claim will be valued on.
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Children and Reckless Driving

This is something that we will all be familiar with due to this sort of topic being highlighted on TV. Reckless driving incidents are unfortunately becoming a daily occurrence with the most common victims being children and the outcome is often devastating.

I am sure you all remember the horrid accident in Leeds involving 10 year old Sabah Saleem who was crossing a road with her 3 year old brother Rayhan Saleem when they were run over in the middle of the road by a speeding vehicle, which, unbelievably, did not stop at the scene and sped away leaving both children for dead in the middle of the road.

Brave Sabah actually took the brunt of the impact in order to protect her little brother and therefore was in a more serious condition that her brother – however luckily they both recovered well.
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Compensation for a neck injury aggravated by a car accident

Neck injuries caused by a car accident can be quite severe – but can you make a claim for compensation when you already had a neck injury which the accident has made worse? Well the answer is yes. To be honest, the number of clients we already have which are suffering from some sort of pre-existing injury or condition is significantly high.

The key to a successful compensation claim when a previous neck injury has been aggravated by an accident which wasn’t your fault is medical evidence. Here at The Injury Lawyers, we would arrange for you to be examined by an independent medical expert, the type of expert will depend on the type of injury and also the type of pre-existing injury or condition you are suffering from.
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What is Reasonable When Claiming?

“Reasonable” is one of those words that gets thrown around A LOT in personal injury claims and it can be quite confusing.

This blog focuses primarily on what is considered “reasonable” in regards to any losses you have incurred as a result of an accident, as this is the primary area where reasonable will be applied when it comes to considering things for a claim.

These types of losses are often referred to as “special damages” and can include things such as:
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Motorcycle Injury

As you can imagine, injuries that occur from a motorcycle accident can be quite severe. Having merely a helmet and leathers on does not offer much protection for riders in the event of an accident which means that, sadly, these types of accidents are often fatal.

Injuries commonly include significant soft tissue injuries, broken bones, internal damage and head injuries. Obviously recovering from these injuries can take some time and have a significant effect on your life. It is likely that you wish to make a claim for compensation.

With suffering from these types of injuries there can be a lot of rehabilitation treatment to go through in order to aid your recovery. From physiotherapy treatment, chiropractic treatment, scans and possibly counselling or therapy if the accident has affected you psychologically, these treatments are all available on the NHS but it is likely that you would have to wait for the treatment.
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