Archives
Had an Accident? Who Should You Call?
Well preferably us! But here is a quick guide about what you should look for when you want to make a claim for personal injury compensation:
No Win, No Fee
If your claim is strong enough, a good lawyer will offer you a No Win, No Fee agreement. In principle this should do exactly what it says on the tin; if the case doesn’t win, you don’t pay your lawyers’ fees. However, make sure you read through any paperwork you receive thoroughly as there are some unscrupulous lawyers out there who may want to sting you with hidden fees. Usually it’s due to being referred through claims companies or insurers. But a good law firm like us can tell you that it really is true what we say – if your case doesn’t win, you don’t pay the fees!
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As you can imagine, injuries that occur from a motorcycle accident can be quite severe. Having merely a helmet and leathers on does not offer much protection for riders in the event of an accident which means that, sadly, these types of accidents are often fatal.
Injuries commonly include significant soft tissue injuries, broken bones, internal damage and head injuries. Obviously recovering from these injuries can take some time and have a significant effect on your life. It is likely that you wish to make a claim for compensation.
With suffering from these types of injuries there can be a lot of rehabilitation treatment to go through in order to aid your recovery. From physiotherapy treatment, chiropractic treatment, scans and possibly counselling or therapy if the accident has affected you psychologically, these treatments are all available on the NHS but it is likely that you would have to wait for the treatment.
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Whiplash Payouts and Which Companies to Use
There are undoubtedly A LOT of personal injury solicitors out there that help with road traffic accidents and whiplash injuries. However, it is important that you choose the right one to help run your claim since, unfortunately, there are some out there that may present themselves as something they are not.
Whiplash is the injury primarily to the neck and is most commonly caused by the action of being jolted forwards and backwards quickly. This distorts the muscles in your neck and can consequently lead to long term problems in this area such as reduced movement and constant pain and discomfort. Settlements for whiplash injuries can differ with regards to the “grade” of the injury you have sustained. The JSB guidelines (for more information on these see the JSB guidelines blog) separate whiplash injuries into three main categories: minor, moderate and severe- with understandably the last being valued at the highest amount.
I mention these different categories as this links directly to being prudent when deciding on a solicitor to pursue your claim as it is important you are classed as the right one and receiving the right settlement.
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Had a Fall? Make Sure You Get 100% Compensation!
A fall can occur in many different ways. So how can we ensure when you have suffered injury from a fall that you get not only 100% of your compensation, but also the best amount of compensation?
Slipping and Falling
When you have fallen after slipping on something, you can of course sustain serious injuries. These types of cases are commonly covered by the Occupier’s Liability Act when they occur inside a public place. Under this, owners of premises are required to take reasonable steps to prevent this type of accident occurring. So for example; if you fall on some spilt liquid in a supermarket, the supermarket would have to prove that they have taken reasonable steps to prevent this from happening. This usually comes in the form of an inspection regime that can be proven through a signed sheet of paper confirming when the area has been cleaned last.
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Can you get whiplash by hitting a pothole?
First of all, whiplash is an injury to the neck which is caused by the soft tissue in the neck being stretched and strained after a sudden jolt or movement. It is not just confined to the neck, it can affect the shoulders, back, arms and hands and most of the time can result in headaches.
Therefore, if you are travelling in a vehicle which has unluckily driven into/over a pot hole (and let’s face it, some of them at the moment are large enough to get stuck in), then the jolting movement of the vehicle can jolt your body and more importantly your neck.
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Holes in the Ground Manhole Cover Claims
The whole purpose of manhole covers is to allow access to something below the ground but also to keep the area safe when access is not required. Basically, it stops there being a big hole in the middle of the street, which of course is not going to end well if you walk in to it!
However, some manhole covers can be extremely old and as many are made from metal, over the years, they have rusted and become unstable and consequently lead to serious injuries.
There are three main types of accidents that are caused by manhole covers:
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If I Make A Personal Injury Claim Will I Go To Court?
This is something that always seems to worry people when they are considering making a claim – as understandably many people do not like the thought of being put in front of a judge with someone firing questions at them (like you see on the many court dramas on T.V). However, in the majority of civil claims they never get as far as going to court, so there really is no reason that this should deter you from pursuing a claim.
The civil procedure rules – the rules that govern personal injury claims – are specifically designed to stop the need to go to court. They do this through a number of ways with the main one being what is called a Part 36 offer. I will not go into much detail here about these, but they are a good example to show how the rules are designed to deter people from going to court.
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Personal Injury Compensation Payout on a Knee Injury – National Average for Knee Injury Payouts
Injuring your knee is usually very painful. As an area of the body that’s prone to injury, you can get anything ranging from some straightforward muscular swelling like a pulled muscle or a stretched ligament to the agony of a torn or ruptured ligament leaving you unable to walk properly for a long time, and even needing surgery.
The problem is that it is too easy to twist your knee to such an extent where you end up rupturing ligaments and needing reconstructive surgery.
A torn ligament may not be so bad, and can be repaired surgically but may be prone to tearing again and will leave you in a lot of pain for some time – but if the whole ligament ruptures, you will likely need a hamstring or patella graft (or similar) where pieces of the hamstring or patellar tendon are taken and fitted in the place of the ruptured ligament (hence the term ‘reconstruction’)
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Pedestrian Crossing Road Accident Law
As a pedestrian, a motor vehicle is a dangerous piece of machinery. The consequences are often devastating when a pedestrian and a vehicle come together in an accident.
Placing fault for an accident involving a pedestrian and a vehicle often depends on the individual circumstances. The main questions to be asked would be what was the speed of the vehicle? When or how quickly did the pedestrian step into the road? And was the driver aware of their surroundings?
Even though a pedestrian could step out suddenly, not giving the vehicle time to react, the law is very pedestrian friendly. With that I mean that the law seems to be built around placing the blame or most of it, on the motorist.
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How Contributory Negligence is Determined
Contributory negligence can be explained by a hypothetical scenario. Say Joe Bloggs sustained an accident at work whereby he caught his hand in machinery which should have been turned off but the off switch had jammed. Say it came to light that Joe Bloggs forgot to put down the safety screen which was company practice even if the machinery was turned off.
Joe Bloggs may still be able to recover compensation but in this scenario it is likely that the Defendant (i.e. the employer) would allege an amount of contributory negligence as it was Joe Bloggs who failed to put down the safety screen.
It could still be argued that it was not a safe system of work and that the machinery or the off switch was defective causing the accident. The Defendant may argue that Joe Bloggs was partly at fault for his own accident. Contributory negligence is often dealt with in terms of a percentage. The Defendant may argue that Joe Bloggs is 90% at fault for the accident whereas Joe Bloggs himself may suggest that his actions or failure to put down the safety screen meant he was 20% at fault for the accident. You can see that it all depends on the circumstances of the particular case.
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