Archives

With our claims line ringing off the hook with people wanting our expert legal representation and quality claims advice, we are often asked what I call one of the big questions when it comes to personal injury claiming: will I win my claim?

In the majority of cases it’s not so easy to answer this question with a straightforward Yes or No. What we can normally say to you is that we are either confident that we can win your claim, confident there is a chance of winning the claim, or not so confident at all. If we take a claim on a No Win, No Fee basis that means we are confident there is a chance of success. I’ll explain how it works to give you the best insight I can:
Read More

One of my all time favourite things is that moment when I come home from work on a Friday night, crack open a bottle of beer, and collapse in to my lovely leather sofa to wind down from a hard week at work helping you guys fight for your rights to make a claim for compensation. It’s always great to sit down, and most of us probably spend a heck of a lot of time sat down in chairs at work and in everyday life. It’s a huge part of living when you think about it.

However, life is not so bliss when you’re sat in a chair and end up injured through no fault of your own. We do see a fair few chair accident compensation claims, which commonly arise from one of the following:
Read More

You normally think that you’re pretty safe as a pedestrian walking along the pavement. After all, the pavement is the designated route for you to safely navigate around. We all know that crossing roads can be dangerous, so aside from the occasional cyclist who chooses to ignore the rules of the road and cycle on the pavement, most of us expect to walk along pavements trouble free.

However, even on a pavement there are dangers of being hit by a car. The most common circumstance is when you’re walking past a driveway or an entranceway to premises. You can normally spot them as the curb will drop down to allow vehicles to pass freely along the section of the pavement.

The Highway Code puts a duty on both road users to take extra care and look out for pedestrians, and equally for pedestrians to be aware of road users. As a pedestrian, you should treat the driveway or entrance as you would any junction or crossing. Look both ways and only cross when it is safe to do so. This is the best course of action to take for the sake of your own health and safety.
Read More

Being hit by a falling object is more something you see on a traditional English slapstick comedy – but it does happen in the real world. There is a duty in certain circumstances which means you may have a claim for personal injury compensation if you are unfortunate enough to be hit by a falling object.

When you’re out and about and a fixture or fitting from a building falls on you, there is a duty on whoever owns or is responsible for that building to compensate you if there is blame on their part. Acts of God as they are often referred to in injury law, like the one that took my chimney off in the earthquakes a few years ago in Hull that got me my 15 minutes of fame as I was interviewed by the BBC about the whole saga, are not so easy to claim for. That, or perhaps a lightning bolt or a tornado or something similar that causes something to fall and hit you is not necessarily the fault of the person who owns or is responsible for the building. There’s not a great deal anyone can really do to control the weather! By the way, in case you were wondering, I wasn’t hit by the chimney – hence why I’m alive today writing this blog!
Read More

Obviously as a firm of specialist injury lawyers, this question is asked of us a lot. Our specialist team is here to make sure that this question can be answered as best as we can answer it. Unfortunately it’s not so easy to judge whether you have a claim or not unless you give us a bell on our free claims helpline (0800 634 75 75) and let us assess your potential claim.

However, what I can tell you is this: if you have been injured and the blame is with someone else, you may have a claim. For example, you are hit by another vehicle who perhaps went in to the back of you, or pulled out of a side road in to your vehicle. If you weren’t at fault and they were, you may have a claim.

If you injure your back at work because your employer hasn’t given you enough assistance with manual handling activities, and hasn’t properly trained you or risk assessed your manual handling tasks, you should be able to make a work accident claim from their insurers. Employers have a legal duty to have employer’s liability insurance in place that covers their employees when they are injured through no fault of their own.
Read More

If you buy a product in England / Wales, you should be covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act that legislates that all products provided to a person must be as described, of an expected quality, fit for purpose, and should not cause you harm.

So, the huge question is – what happens if you are injured as a result of a poor product? If a product injures you due to it being defective or having some form of underlying issue, you may be covered under the act. You must prove though that the product is defective. If you are injured because a banana pops out of its skin whilst you’re peeling it, and unfortunately it hits you in the face, I’d say that’s not really a defect but an unfortunate turn of events…

However, if you buy a new toaster, you put your bread in as instructed, and it blows up, I’d say there was a potential issue. Or perhaps if you bought a new chair, sat down on it for the first time and it collapsed, there could be an underlying defect or it may not have been manufactured correctly.
Read More

If you are injured on a bus, you may be entitled to claim for compensation for any injuries and losses sustained– dependant on the circumstances.

First things first! If there was a collision, you should have a successful claim. Ultimately there is normally always someone at fault for a collision, whether it’s the bus driver or another road user, so you normally can make a claim with relative ease as there should be someone at fault.

The big question that may well be edging off your lips is – “what if there was no collision? Can I still make a claim?” This is where it can all boil down to why you have been injured.
Read More

If you have lost earnings due to an accident through no fault of our own, you can include a claim for loss of earnings as part of the compensation claim you’re making. The claim itself comes in to two parts commonly: General Damages and Special Damages. The latter is what lost earnings is covered under.

The general principle in law is that anything you have reasonably lost or reasonably paid out for as a result of an accident or injury is something you should be able to clam back for as part of a case. As long, the reason for the loss, is attributable to the accident or the injuries, and as long as it’s reasonable, there shouldn’t be any reason why we can’t claim it back.

What’s reasonable? Good question…

It’s common to send you to a medical expert as part of the claim, as they will produce a report that is used to help us value your claim on the injury side of things. The expert should also comment on the reasonableness of any time off work that has resulted in the lost earnings. As an example – if you’re staying off work because you can’t lift anything at work due to a bad back injury you are suffering from  and you work in a warehouse lifting heavy  boxes all day, I’d say that’s reasonable, and I’d like to think any right minded GP or medical expert would agree.
Read More

We know that there is a lot of competition in the personal injury world – with each firm looking the same as the next, it can be hard to chose who to go with. However, when you dig beneath the surface, law firms can be VERY different from one another. Here at the Injury Lawyers we have strove to ensure that we stand out from the rest.

Unlike some companies out there, we are an actual law firm. We are not a claims company, advice helpline, or some sort of agent. We can give you legal advice right from your initial call and it is us that actually deal with your case if you instruct us to. The advice we give you from the beginning is therefore real legal advice regarding your potential claim. We do not pass your details around, so there are no middlemen taking cuts from your claim.

Unfortunately, many companies do involve themselves in this practice and this can affect how your claim is run. If the firm pays £1,000 (the going rate) to a middleman for your details, this takes away funds from the fees allocated to run your case and therefore it is very likely that they cannot provide the great service we do and cannot fight as hard for a higher payout. Essentially they’ve squandered a load of their budget on paying a middleman – the referral fees are not recoverable from the other side.
Read More

Commonly, we’re looking at two potential viewpoints on this one – you’re a pedestrian who is hit by a vehicle with a driver that is too cowardly to stick around and do the right thing to help you out; or you are in an accident due to a pedestrian causing you to have an accident.

If you are the pedestrian then there is still the chance to make a claim. Make sure that the matter is reported to the policy straight away and make sure you have medical attention straight away as well. By straight away I’d suggest within 24 – 48 hours. If the police track down whoever decided to leave you injured and unaided at the scene of the accident, we can pursue the claim against them. But if we never find them, there is another way.

The Motor Insurers Bureau was set up as a not for profit organisation with an agreement with the government to investigate and pay out for untraced or uninsured drivers. As long as the matter has been duly reported as I said above, they should be able to pay out for the claim. The level of compensation awards is the same as pursuing an insurer; the major difference is that it can take longer to settle a claim as its difficult to hold a not for profit organisation to any legal deadlines for responses. They work to considerable backlogs, but hey – be grateful there is a way of making a claim!
Read More