Accidents at Work – Fall From a Height

A fall from a height can occur in many different types of situations and in many different professions. You may think that just because a receptionist falls from a chair whilst changing a light bulb, or a librarian falls from ladders putting a book on a shelf, that these types of accident cannot be claimed for. This thought process may be due to thinking that it is only in the obvious types of careers such as builders, roofers, or scaffolders where height is a normal, daily part of their job that claims regarding falling from a height can be successfully made.

This, however, is not the case; it may be true that these types of claims are more common in the careers mentioned above – but anyone in any career can possibly claim compensation for a fall from a height which caused them injury and was not their fault.

Employers have a duty to protect their employees from any risks to their Health and Safety as far as is reasonably possible. They must adhere to strict Health and Safety Regulations, and particularly, in the case of this blog, the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The topic of this blog need not be on the ins and outs of this legislation.  However, what can be taken from it is that employers should plan a working at height situation carefully – it should be properly supervised and the correct equipment for the job provided. This equipment must also be properly maintained and stored with the users of it trained in how to utilise the equipment correctly.
Read More

Private Investigations for Claim Victims?

I read an interesting story in the Daily Mail today.  It involves a man named Mark Noble who was forced to become a wheelchair user after sustaining severe injuries in a Road Traffic Accident back in 2003, and obtained compensation in the sum of £3.4million, only for the other side to try and reclaim some £2million of the compensation they paid out. 

It is reported that Direct Line insurance company had paid Mr Noble £3.4million to compensate him for his injuries, then proceeded to keep a close eye on him and when they saw that he had been able to regain some of the movement in his legs again and then took him to court to try and recover some of the compensation they paid out.  However, the Judge in this case dismissed Direct Line’s attempt to regain their monies.  Instead the judge stated that ‘Mr Noble was determined to walk unaided.  He did not dishonestly conceal from the court or the expert witnesses his then trust state of disability, or dishonestly emphasise his disability.’

The Daily Mail reports that Direct Line insurance had hired a few private investigators to monitor Mr Noble’s movements in the hope of demonstrating that he had exaggerated his injuries and therefore should not be entitled to all of the compensation he was awarded.  It was said that a neighbour had tipped them off that Mr Noble was able to walk again.  Indeed, Direct Line’s private investigators did find that Mr Noble could walk, use power drills, lift weight and drive a vehicle.  Mr Noble had been awarded the vast sum of over £3million not only to compensate him for his injuries but also the loss of earnings he suffered as a result of being unable to carry on with his job and for the loss of enjoyment stemming from his inability to play rugby.  However, the judge in this case found that the fact that Mr Noble had regained some of his lost movement was down to his sheer will power to get back to his previous state; not because he had faked or exaggerated his injuries.  As his wife said: ‘The reason he is able to walk now is because he worked really, really hard – through sheet bloody-mindedness – to get where he is today’.
Read More

A Guide to Claiming For Your Whiplash Injury

Whiplash is a highly unpleasant and frustrating injury to suffer from. It can make a person unable to complete or enjoy their normal daily tasks, such as going to work, socialising, or completing housework. Because the injury is not as plain to see as a broken leg or a laceration, some can write it off as being minor and think that it is nothing to worry about. This is simply not the case – and absolutely the opposite of what we believe here at The Injury Lawyers.

At The Injury Lawyers we have a great deal of experience with whiplash sufferers – we hear about their injuries and the debilitating effect it is having on their life, and we are able to easily help them out. So we have nothing but the utmost respect and sympathies to whiplash sufferers. You may say sympathy is no good – I want action and assistance with bringing my claim against the person/people responsible for my injury. This is exactly what we at The Injury Lawyers are able to assist with as well.

At The Injury Lawyers we are not only able to deal with your claim for compensation, but we may also be able to arrange private treatment for your injuries; this means you may not have to wait on the NHS waiting lists. This treatment could range from physiotherapy to osteopathy. For many whiplash sufferers the treatment side of things can be equally as important as the compensation side, as many sufferers simply want their life to return to normal as quickly as possible.
Read More

Do I Have a Claim for Compensation?

There seems to be an increase in the exposure of personal injury claiming. This may be due to the increased amount of advertising we see regarding personal injury claiming on the television and radio. This increased exposure serves to make people more aware of their rights when it comes to claiming for personal injury, as well as what compensation they may be entitled to claim.

In saying the above however, at The Injury Lawyers one of the first questions potential clients ask after they have informed us of their accident circumstances is – ‘have I got a claim?’.

At The Injury Lawyers we give free claim assessments – so whether are answer is positive or negative, you do not have to pay a thing; so you have nothing to lose in trying and gaining a little advice. If we advise we are unable to take on your claim, we may still be able to give advice about what other options you have – we always like to help where we can.
Read More

Road Accident Claims

Now I can hazard a guess that most of us will complain at some point about the busy, chaotic state of the roads. We seem to be always in a traffic jam whether it’s going to work (which is probably expected when it is rush hour), taking the children to school, or doing the shopping (not so expected).

With this increase in traffic on the roads it is no surprise that road traffic accidents can easily occur.

Road traffic accidents can come about in many ways; they are most common at traffic meeting places such as roundabouts and junctions. It is no coincidence that when you hear traffic updates on the radio that it mostly seems to be at a motorway junction or a crossroad. Areas such as motorway junctions can be a particularly dangerous place whereby accidents occur frequently. It may be due to traffic merging incorrectly and drivers not checking their mirrors or drivers realising at the last moment that they need to exit the motorway at a particular junction, and desperately trying to get across the motorway in order to do so – thus causing panic and a possible collision.
Read More

How a Snail Changed the Face of Product Liability Claiming

Now you may look at the above blog title and think: “what is she talking about?” Well, in answer to that – I am talking about a landmark case which changed the face of product liability claiming.

The case I refer to is Donoghue v Stevenson and was heard in 1932. The facts of the case are quite simple – Mrs Donoghue was out with a friend and went into a cafe for a drink. Her friend bought her drink – ginger beer – and they both sat down.  Mrs Donoghue then proceeded to drink her ginger beer until she realised there was the remains of a snail at the bottom of the bottle.

Now, you may think – why is this a landmark case? Well, as a result of the incident Mrs Donghue suffered gastro – enteritis and nervous shock as a result of the contaminated drink. As a result Mrs Donoghue claimed compensation from the manufacturers of the product with whom she had no explicit contract (she did not have a contract with the retailer either as she did not buy the drink herself).
Read More

No Win, No Fee

If you instruct The Injury Lawyers to deal with your claim for compensation we guarantee that you will receive 100% of your compensation – not a penny less! We do not charge our legal services to our clients, making it a free of charge service for our clients; this is why you get to keep 100% of any compensatory award you receive.  So how come we provide our services for at no costs to our clients? Simple – if we win your case we are able to recover our costs from the other side.  So, we get our work paid for by the Defendant, which includes any other costs, such as medical reports and court fees, all paid for by the other side.  We operate on what we have uniquely defined as a ‘genuine no win, no fee agreement’. 

That is, our Conditional Fee Agreement (the technical name for our No Win No Fee contract with you) explicitly states that we cannot attempt to recover any of our costs from you if we fail to recover them from the other side.  There is simply only one circumstance where we would seek to recover ours costs from you; that is, if a few months or maybe years down the line you decided you no longer wanted to go ahead with your claim.  We feel this is fair, as I am sure you would agree, because after all in those circumstances we would have done considerable work for you.  We really do have a genuine no win, no fee agreement with all of our clients. Most law firms operate the same policy – but not all law firms will restrict their fees to whatever they recover like we do.

Most other law firms only state in their agreement with you that they will seek to recover their costs from the other side – which in reality means that, yes, they will try and get their costs from the other side so as not to charge you, but, should they not recover all of these costs, they could in fact look to you to pay the outstanding balance.  For The Injury Lawyers this is unpalatable.  We acknowledge that your compensation is just that: it is YOUR compensation.  We therefore believe that you should keep all of it.  If we were to take some of it away, this would under compensate you.  You are awarded compensation to put yourself back in the position you would have been in had your accident not have occurred.  If we then take some of your compensation to pay for our services, then this is to serve so as not to put you back in the position you would have been in had the accident not have occurred.  The Injury Lawyers therefore state in their agreement with their clients that they CANNOT recover their fees from you.
Read More

Motorbike Accidents

Vehicles such as motorbikes, bicycles, and mopeds have particular vulnerability on the roads, in that, in the event of an accident, there is far less protection for the rider. Due to the fact that they can be harder to see on the roads by drivers of other vehicles, road traffic accidents can also be more likely. The awareness of the vulnerability and increased road traffic accident statistics for the above named vehicles is heightened by campaigns such as Think Bike!, which I am sure many readers of this article have seen on car stickers or by the side of the road.

Now, accidents involving these types of vehicles happen most prevalently at traffic meeting places, such as junctions and roundabouts. It is a sad fact that many drivers just don’t see vehicles such as motorbikes coming down the road before they pull out – such is the television advertisement which tells us to look, look, and look again to ensure we treble check before we commit to pulling out of a junction. Accidents involving motorbikes, bicycles and mopeds can also be due to a defective road surface, adverse weather conditions, or debris in the road.

Statistics state that it is males around the age of 30-39 who are most likely to ride motorbikes. It is highly likely that this sector of society maybe the main bread winner for a family and are coming up to the peak of their career. This is why it is advisable to seek advice from a specialist personal injury solicitor as soon as possible after the accident, as a good lawyer will then be able to make applications for interim payments sooner before the claim has concluded. Interim payments are payments which can be paid to a claimant who may be suffering financial hardship due to their accident before the conclusion of their case.
Read More

Whiplash Claims Advice

Whiplash can be an extremely painful and frustrating injury to live with. Many clients upon approaching the team at The Injury Lawyers report a whiplash injury; most commonly as a result of a road traffic accident. Road traffic accidents tend to be on the increase – this can be due to a number of factors such as the increasing amount of traffic on the road or the fact that people’s lives seem to be getting busier all the time and they may not be paying the necessary care and attention to the road.

Whiplash is caused by a sudden jolt to the head which causes the neck to move beyond its normal range of movement. Therefore, the injury may not solely be caused by road traffic accidents, but also from accidents such as a fall.

The symptoms of whiplash tend to become apparent between 12-24 hours after the accident and then can continue to increase in severity. So you may think you have come out of an accident unharmed, then unfortunately realise that this is not the case some time afterwards. Many people may think whiplash is solely an injury to the neck – yes, it can cause tenderness, pain, swelling and/or stiffness in the neck – but the term whiplash can also encorporate injury symptoms such as headaches and further pain radiating down through the shoulders and even down the back and arms.
Read More

Tripping Claims

Tripping over can be seen as a minor mistake which may, if you are with friends, be the cause of much laughter. Now, in the event this trip is not your fault and is brought about by the negligence of another, with this negligence causing you to not only fall but to injure yourself in the process, it is not a joke, and it could be the basis of a claim for personal injury.

Many clients have to come to The Injury Lawyers after having suffered the unfortunate injustice of tripping over due to another’s negligence. These clients may have suffered serious injuries such as fractures, lacerations to areas such as the head, or perhaps concussion.

Trips can happen in all sorts of places – for example they may happen whilst walking down the street and there may be a defect on the walkway which causes you to trip. It may happen whilst shopping in a supermarket as an item has been negligently left on the floor of an aisle, or the trip may even take place at work. Whatever the location, if the trip was not your fault and has caused you injury, you may have a claim for compensation.
Read More