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Whiplash – ignore the rumours that the press love to spread, which is largely fuelled by the insurance industry who don’t want you to make a whiplash claim for a road traffic accident.

Why don’’t they want you to claim? Simple – it helps them to make even higher profits when people don’t pursue a whiplash claim when they are perfectly entitled to do so.

Insurance is there to cover you, which is why Ms W approached our expert road accident team here at The Injury Lawyers for help with her claim.

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Have you suffered an accident resulting in injuries which would not have occurred “but for” the fault of someone else? If you have, you may have a claim; but what happens if you are partially at fault for the accident or have done something that has contributed to making your injuries worse?

Here is a little insight in to how it can affect your claim if someone else is at fault, but you are partially to blame in some way as well.

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Crossing a road is part of everyday life. We are all well aware of the dangers – whether it be as a driver looking out for pedestrians or as a pedestrian trying to safely cross to the other side of the road. Zebra crossings are in place to assist pedestrians in crossing the road. On busy roads, it would be very difficult without some kind of crossing in place to get to the other side. It would be very dangerous without some kind of crossing. Of course there are duties upon both drivers and pedestrians when it comes to zebra crossings. Liability can often be split depending on the circumstances of the individual case.

Pedestrians should wait for cars to stop in both directions before stepping out into the road. Other factors to consider include the speed of the vehicle, whether the pedestrian had waited for it to be safe before stepping out into the road etc. Especially in this type of claim, witnesses could be crucial.

The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations 1997 prescribe an absolute duty for the driver to stop if anyone is on the crossing. Therefore even if the pedestrian ran out into the road it can be difficult for a driver to escape liability all together. Hence in some situations it leads to a split in liability whereby the driver and the passenger are both to blame to some extent.
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The answer to the above question is yes, you may still make a claim for compensation for the injuries you sustained however, there may be a deduction in the amount you are awarded.

There are several things that will be taken into consideration when a judge is determining what compensation you should receive for injuries sustained following an accident whereby you were a passenger in a vehicle which was being driven by a person under the influence of alcohol..

There are certain factors which will be looked at when considering whether a deduction should be made;
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This will all depend on the facts of your case, however, in the vast majority of cases this is not necessary. In fact most cases (the massive majority) settle without Court Proceedings ever being issued.

Even where proceedings are necessary, we find that it may well be that once solicitors are instructed to defend the claim that they take a view that they do not have a strong enough defence to the claim and therefore advise the Defendant that they should immediately settle the injury claim before further costs are clocked up; thus even where proceedings are issued we find most of these cases then settle shortly thereafter.

It is simply not in the Defendant’s interests to run a case to a final hearing, especially if they do not feel they have very good prospects of successfully defending the claim.

If you are injured on property owned or occupied by another person (e.g. at Tesco or at the Pub etc) then your claim is covered by The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and the 1984.

The occupiers liability Act 1957 sets out duties for the occupier to ensure that an authorised visitor will be safe for the purpose of which he has been invited there for.
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Contributory negligence is when the other party (the ‘Defendant’ in law speak) admits that they are at fault for your accident and will pay you compensation but want to pay you less as they feel you are partly at fault for the accident. For example, if they successfully allege that you are 20% at fault for the accident then the other party will pay you 20% less than the value of your claim.
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ANTHONY BURTON v GUY FRANCIS KINGSBURY (2007)

[2007] EWHC 2091 (QB)

QBD (Flaux J) 13/9/2007

DAMAGES – PERSONAL INJURY

FUTURE LOSS : GENERAL DAMAGES : MEASURE OF DAMAGES : MULTIPLIERS : PARAPLEGIA : PERIODICAL PAYMENTS : ASSESSMENT OF AWARD FOLLOWING ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT : APPROPRIATE MULTIPLIER : JSB GUIDELINES : OGDEN TABLES

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