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As a firm of specialist personal injury lawyers with years of claims experience under our belt, we’re more than used to dealing with insurers, and we’re more than used to the fact that they aren’t always the easiest of people to work with! Thankfully there are protocols in place where we can impose deadlines on insurers to respond to claims within appropriate timeframes.

For example, when a letter of claim is submitted to a Defendant in a common accident at work, occupiers case (like in a supermarket or shop), claim due to defects on the highways, or product claims for example, the other side has 21 days to acknowledge the letter of claim under the pre-action protocol for personal injury. Once it has been passed to whoever will be dealing with the case, usually an insurer, they have three months to investigate a claim. So, generally speaking, the other side has just under four months in theory to respond with a decision as to whether they will pay you out for the claim or not.

Some may respond quickly, leaving you knowing whether the other side intends to defend the claim at an earlier stage; whilst some may well take the entire timeframe just to come back to us. Some may not respond at all – in this case we can issue an application for pre action disclosure against them to force them to respond with the power of a court order. This unfortunately will add time to the claim, but at least it’s something we can do to force a response in the event they fail to respond. An application, if successful, is costly for insurers; so it’s within their interests to respond in time!
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The only way to value a claim for personal injury compensation is by getting examined by an appropriate expert who then produces a medico-legal report, that is in turn used by a fully qualified personal injury lawyer who will review the evidence and value the claim based on the correct legal guidelines.

On top of that, if you have suffered any loss of earnings, or medical expenses, travel expenses, care and assistance from friends and family etc, these can be added in as well.
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People are often worried about returning to work when they’re suffering from whiplash. It normally comes down to one of three things:

1. You’re worried you can’t work because of the pain and will lose out on earnings.
2. You’re worried that you can work, but the pain will be uncomfortable.
3. You’re worried about not being able to claim because you are able to work.

In law, you have a duty to mitigate your loss. You also have a duty to follow medical advice to make sure you don’t worsen your symptoms. So it’s best to seek medical advice and find out whether your doctor feels you are able to work or not. If not, then you should probably follow their advice and stay away from work. Any earnings you lose out on can be recovered as part of the claim in most circumstances.

If you can work, or you’re in the category of people who must work to make ends meet, then you can still make a claim. The other side isn’t necessarily going to raise the argument that you can’t be in any pain because you are able to work. Whiplash didn’t stop me from working, and they haven’t raised it with me. Yes, I was in pain; but it wasn’t pain enough to warrant loads of time off work and then claiming lost earnings fees from the other side. If you can work, and you’re medically fit to do so, you shouldn’t worry about it affecting the claim.
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When the claim is settled and the only thing that’s left is for the cheque to be received, cashed, and spent, a lot of people get anxious and want to know how long it will take for the cheque to get from the insurers and in to their hands. The problem is that it can be hard to say.

We normally put insurers or solicitors to a deadline of around 14 – 21 days to get the cheque to us from the day they confirm the settlement amount, but all sorts of things can go wrong. The cheque itself may not be too easy to track.

It will normally have to be raised by the insurers or whoever is dealing with matters on the opponent’s side, sent out to your solicitors, and then sent to you. How long it takes the accounts department for the other side to raise a cheque is anyone’s guess. How long it takes the royal mail to get it to us and then for us to get it to you is again, difficult to predict. Second class doesn’t always get to its destination in time, and first class doesn’t always mean next day delivery.
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You’re doing 40mph on a country road (which is at the limit) and it’s dark (so you can’t see the road properly) when you hear a huge smash as your wheel dips in to an “impossible to notice” pothole hiding in the road; one with enough depth to do some serious damage to your car! You immediately feel the car isn’t right, so you pull over and discover you’ve suffered a blowout from the tyre being slashed by hitting the pothole at force.

What’s worse, is you cannot change the tyre yourself because the last time you had a service, the nice men at the garage used their automated tools to put the wheel nuts back on! Not only that, but it isn’t easy to change a tyre in the dark and you have breakdown cover for a good reason. So, you call your breakdown recovery service to come out and change the tyre for you, only to be told there’s a longer than normal call-out time for them to get to you because of how busy they seem to be.

Half an hour later after the time they were meant to arrive, you give them a call only to be told it will be another hour. Repeat the last step and then some, and you’ve got a three and a half hour wait on your hands!
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When your claim is settled, and you know your cheque is on the way, stay patient! We know you want the money as quickly as possible, and you probably already have your eye on a few things you want to buy once the cheque has cleared, but there are still processes involved.

When the claim is settled, we will normally request the cheque within 14 – 21 days of the acceptance to pay the agreed amount. However, there are a number of things to consider:
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Symptoms of whiplash can range from straight-forward pain in the neck, back & shoulders to pins and needles and serious mobility problems. Whiplash is actually more complicated than most people think; unless you have suffered it yourself, you won’t really know what I am talking about.

Whiplash is common in car accidents. The impact that causes you to jolt back and forth, or sideways, results in the ligaments and tendons in the neck, shoulders, and back being stretched beyond their normal range of movement. This is the mechanics of how the injury is caused. The pain and stiffness will normally take 12 – 48 hours to make itself known. Many people feel absolutely fine immediately after an accident, only to wake up the next day in agony.

You may have limited mobility – i.e. you might struggle to move your neck and back as well as you could before. You may also suffer from headaches or pins and needles in the arms. Sometimes you may even feel sick, dizzy, or suffer from a stint of vertigo.

The best thing to do is see your GP or pop down to a walk in centre to get a formal diagnosis in your medical records. Other than advise you to take anti-inflammatory medication and pain killers, as well as doing a few simple neck exercises, there isn’t a great deal that can be done right at the start.
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Accidents on roundabouts are very common – we take on a lot of compensation claims due to road accidents occurring on or on the approach to a roundabout. The usual circumstances are…

• Being hit in the rear on the approach to a roundabout
• Someone pulling out in front of you whilst you are already established on the roundabout
• Someone changing lanes on a roundabout and causing an accident (normally when people realise they are in the wrong lane for turning off at the last minute)

We have some simple rules that we follow whilst out on the road – keeping a safe distance, taking care on the approach to a roundabout for slowing traffic, only joining a roundabout when it is safe to do so, and not changing lanes without due care and attention; but I think people either panic or don’t concentrate enough so accidents that are easily avoidable end up occurring!
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Knee injuries – sometimes they can be like Marmite in the fact that you either get away with a minor strain or you end up needing surgery! The knee joint and the surrounding area is a complex structure of ligaments, muscle, cartilage and bone that can easily be pulled, torn, or worse of all, ruptured.

If you’re lucky enough to pull or strain something, you’re probably facing a few weeks or months of pain and possible limping, but overall you should be fine. If you tear something, it may require surgery; if you rupture something, you’ll pretty much defiantly be on the operating table and facing 8 or so weeks none weight baring and consequently needing months of physiotherapy to rebuild the strength of your leg and knee joint.

That’s why it is important to get the right lawyer for a claim for compensation. The brackets for awards can vary considerably given the huge difference between a comparatively simple strain and needing reconstructive surgery following a ligament rupture. The knock on effect from that is probably a great deal of time off work with possible lost earnings, needing a lot of care and assistance from family and friends (which can be claimed back at an hourly rate for the carer as part of a case), and a lot of misery and boredom!
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Will my claim go to court? How long will my claim take? Will I win my claim? All common questions…

Sometimes people find themselves asking these questions; particularly if you feel your claim has been going on for longer than it should. However, the length of the claim can vary significantly depending on a few common factors:

The quality of the injury lawyer you have.

1. The severity and length of your suffering.
2. The laziness of the other side.
3. Whether the other side is defending the claim or not.
4. You!

How Good is Your Injury Lawyer?
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