Archives
Car Accident – Hit in the back
If another driver hits you in the back, you have an almost guaranteed claim for personal injury compensation.
For another driver to hit you in the rear, they must have either (or a combination of) been driving too fast, not leaving a safe enough distance between them and you, or not concentrating on the road ahead etc. Unless you slammed your brakes on for no good reason, the other driver should be at fault.
Whether you’re stationary in a line of traffic or at the edge of a roundabout and you have been hit, or whether you were driving along and the other driver has simply gone in to the back of you, it is likely you will end up suffering with a whiplash injury.
Slipped on a ramp – advice from The Injury Lawyers
For some reason, a lot of ramps can often get very slippery in wet weather, and you’d think they’d have really good grip on them given that a sloped surface could be even more of a hazard if it’s slippery.
If you are the victim of a slip on a ramp, can you make a claim for personal injury compensation? I’ll split this one in to two sections – one for accidents at work, and one for general ones when out and about.
Slipped on petrol in a petrol station – advice from The Injury Lawyers
Petrol stations can be obvious hazards due to petrol being spilled and splashed on to the floor. Over time, even the smallest of puddles could accumulate in to a larger puddle of petrol that’s capable of being a slip hazard. Given petrol is generally clear, it’s not easy to spot spillages on the ground.
So what happens of you slip over because of spilled petrol and you end up with an injury as a result? Can you claim for personal injury compensation?
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A lot of people are keen to know how much compensation they may be entitled to after having an accident – and when it comes to whiplash accident victims, people are often very keen to know what the average whiplash settlement figures are.
So what is the average whiplash settlement for a personal injury compensation claim?
Firstly I need to let you know how the system works – as there is a lot to consider. The whole value of the claim is based on the following things:
- The length and severity of your suffering
- The extent it has had an impact on you – some people are affected more (for example more active people may be unable to enjoy exercise and as such have had a bigger impact than someone who perhaps doesn’t exercise)
- Your losses – like lost earnings from time off work, medication expenses, general medical and treatment expenses, and any other financial losses or expenses on your part
Tripped on raised paving caused by tree roots? Advice from The Injury Lawyers
To give you the insight as to whether you have a potentially winning claim if this has happened to you, I need to explain in brief how the law works:
The Highways Act 1980 puts a duty on local councils and highways authorities to take all reasonable steps to prevent a defect on the highway becoming a hazard. So to do this, they must employ a system of inspection and maintenance to review roads and paths for defects that have formed. These can be potholes, broken kerbs, or anything that could cause a tripping hazard.
A reasonable system of inspection should take in to account how busy the area is. So a city centre road may be inspected every one to three months, and a country road could be every 12 months. So if they can prove that they have a system that is reasonable, they’ve kept to it, and that the defect that caused your injury must have arisen in between inspection periods, they can very easily defend your claim.
Put your foot through some flooring? Advice from The Injury Lawyers
You’re walking along and your foot suddenly goes through the floor – stopping you in your tracks and causing an injury – what can you do about it?
Well you may have a claim for personal injury compensation if this has happened to you. We would defiantly be able to look in to a claim on a No Win, No Fee basis; no one expects their foot to just go through a floor.
Injuries caused can be widespread – whether you twist your knee or ankle because your still moving forward when your foot falls through, or whether your foot is badly bruised and grazed from the friction of falling in, this kind of thing should never happen. If it happens in a public place or a place of work, there may be a claim against those is in control of the premises / the employer.
Slips and trips on a broken piece of wall or a fixture / fitting – Advice from The Injury Lawyers
The Occupiers Liability Act is an important piece of health and safety legislation that puts a duty on those who are in control of a premises to take all reasonable steps to avoid visitors being injured. So keeping the place maintained is an important thing to do – allowing a place to fall in to disrepair and become a hazard would leave the owners of such a place liable to compensate any injured victims.
Some examples of slips and trips caused like this could be:
- From a piece of concrete or wall or roof coming off and causing a trip of slip hazard due to poor maintenance.
- Slip on a broken piece or section of fallen off tiling – these specifically can be very slippery.
- Injury caused by a piece of defective chair or table or other fixture that has broken off through ill repair.
So what happens if you are the victim of such an accident? Can you make a claim for personal injury compensation?
Slipped on Loose Ground, Paving Slabs, Cobblestones or Broken Concrete
When injured in the street, most people are the victim of a trip or fall accident caused by defective paving or potholes. But slipping accidents can be equally as dangerous, caused by the same sorts of defects.
You could slip on the edge of a pothole, or slip on broken and crumbled concrete around a defect. A loose paving slab or cobble stone could move and cause you to slip.
The law is generally the same; as long as the defect was the cause of the injury, you may have a valid slip, tip or fall injury claim for compensation. In fact, slipping accidents can sometimes be worse if you twist your knee or your back. You could easily cause serious ligament damage even if you don’t end up falling to the ground.
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Contributory Negligence Explained
Have you been injured in an accident and the defendant’s insurer has accused you of contributory negligence? As if your accident and injuries weren’t painful and difficult enough to come to terms with, someone accusing you of being partly liable for your accident and injuries can understandably be devastating.
What is classed as contributory negligence?
This is quite common in road traffic accidents, and can be things like; not wearing a seatbelt, helmet or protective leathers. In other situations such as work accidents or public or occupiers liability, this can include things like; not following instructions, signs or training given. So, for example, if you use any machinery labelled out of order, or drive down a road that is signposted as closed then unfortunately, you may be liable for contributory negligence.
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Slipped on Ice at Work Injury Claims
If you have been injured due to a slipping accident at work, you may be entitled to claim compensation. At face value, slipping on ice is rather different to slipping on a spillage at work, whether the spillage is water, tea, coffee or something else. Whilst at work and on works premises, your employer has a duty to keep you reasonably safe and free from harm. This means that if a spillage does occur it should be cleaned up as soon as practicable. Until the spillage is cleaned employees should be protected in other ways – i.e. there should be a warning sign in place to warn of the hazard (wet floor).
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