Motorways can be dangerous places – for the obvious reasons that there are speeding cars in three separate lanes. You tend to get a lot of ‘idiot drivers‘ as well who take the law in to their own hands when it comes to speed, and have no recollection of that magical little switch on the side of the steering wheel that sends out signals to other drivers that you are indicating to change lanes!

So we as expert personal injury lawyers end up taking on a lot of claims for compensation caused by motorway accidents. The absolute classic one is the situation when traffic slows down quickly. Apparently the car behind always ends up braking just that little bit harder than the one in front; so you end up with a line of cars all braking more than each other until the vehicles further at the back are slamming on to the extent that one of them may fail to stop.
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Well, actually its 110% compensation for you! I’ll explain how that works:

April 2013 saw the biggest shake-up to the personal injury claiming world in its entire history. For a long time now we have been able to recover all of our legal fees directly from the other side, meaning you keep all 100% of your payout. Sadly the government in their infinite wisdom decided to change the rules…

The rule changes mean that we are no longer allowed to recover a success fee or ATE (After The Event) insurance premium as part of the fees from the opponent. The success fee is a fee that reflects the risk of the case, as we ultimately take on many claims on a No Win, No Fee and do not get paid as the other side can successfully defend them. The ATE is there to protect you from having to pay your own disbursements if you can’t recover them or your opponents costs.
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On April 1^st 2013, there was a huge shake-up of the personal injury claiming system that has left almost all victims facing up to 25% of their compensation being taken by their solicitor for a claim from 1^st April onwards. The government decided that lawyers should no longer be able to recover all of their fees from the other side, meaning that lawyers now need to charge clients for certain fees.

The reason why I mentioned 25% is because that is the cap that the government has placed on the charges – i.e. lawyers can’t charge anymore than 25% of a person’s compensation to cover these now unrecoverable fees. The 25% charge must be inclusive of VAT and can only be from damages for personal injury and past financial losses and be net of DWP CRU deductions.

In addition that 25% relates only to the success fee. There is no restriction on the amount they can charge in respect of basic charges.  According to our research so far, most law firms have settled at simply charging the flat rate of 25%.

But we here at The Injury Lawyers dare to be different! As we always have done!
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Ladders can be naturally dangerous pieces of equipment. It’s therefore important to use the right ladders for the right job, and it’s important to make sure that ladders are well maintained and replaced when necessary. At work, this duty is directly the responsibility of your employer.
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A UK review of cosmetic procedures has labelled dermal fillers a “cosmetic crisis waiting to happen” according to sources from the BBC. They are regulated at the same level as toothbrushes and there are considerable fears that dermal filler procedures could cause lasting damage to patients.

With the PIP scandal still fresh in our minds as thousands of women are still battling clinics and credit providers for compensation after being fitted with poor standard implants filled with industrial grade silicon, we’re all aware that the whole cosmetic surgery industry is poorly regulated.

It seems that the companies administering these treatments are putting profits over patients, with procedures like dermal fillers and Botox readily available on the high street and as simple to access as nipping to your hairdressers for highlights. Reviews have indicated that there are no checks on surgeons and ‘buy one get one free’ kinds of special offers are rife on the high street.
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There is a duty on your employer under the workplace regulations to make sure that all traffic routes in the workplace are free from hazards. Loose cables are an obvious hazard and they should never be allowed to accumulate onto work traffic routes. Common sense dictates that they should be tidied using ties or placed in an area whereby they are not going to cause a tripping hazard.

So if you are at work and you are injured due to tripping over cables, do you have a claim for compensation?

Well as I said earlier, there is a duty on your employers to make sure traffic routes are free from hazards. But whether you have a claim could depend on how the cables have been allowed to become a hazard.
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Dermabrasion is a treatment used to help repair and refinish the top layers of the skin. This is done through a method of controlled surgical scraping. The purpose of the treatment is to soften the edges of surface irregularities which can give the skin a smoother appearance. Dermabrasion is most commonly used to improve the look of facial skin left scarred by accidents or previous surgery. It can also be used to remove pre-cancerous growths. Dermabrasion can be used on small areas of skin or on the entire face. A dermabrasion can be undertaken as a lone procedure or it can be done in conjunction with other procedures such as a facelift, scar removal etc.

This is of course classed as a cosmetic procedure in most instances. The treatment (a dermabrasion) can cause a lot of bleeding and this can lead to scarring or pigment changes. The healing process can be a number of months. There are risks with any surgery but if you can prove that your cosmetic surgeon was negligent and that this negligence caused you an injury, then you are likely to be able to make a compensation claim.
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In case you’re not aware, insurers don’t want to pay you out! In fact, they’ll stop at nothing to try and either prevent a payout or limit a payout as much as possible. That’s why we injury lawyers are needed to make sure that the justice you are entitled to is fair. Dealing with an insurer for a claim directly is therefore a massive no no.

So if you’re wondering why an insurer may not pay you compensation, or wondering whether they will believe your claim, here is a little advice about the way insurers think and what reasons they may use to try and stop you from receiving compensation.

Firstly, if there is evidence that could be used in their favour to try and defend a claim, they will rely upon it. Even if it is weak they may still rely upon it because a lot of courts nowadays are more in the favour of Defendants than Claimants. That’s a bold statement, but it is my personal opinion. Also, most people don’t want to go to court. Whilst most cases are settled outside of court, we can never guarantee whether you may need to attend or not. Insurers can use the fact that you may be shy or nervous about court action to their advantage. If you don’t look credible in court, the Judge is likely to side with your opponent.
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It helps to go to your doctor or a hospital / walk in centre after an accident. If you have been speaking to some personal injury lawyers, they may well have advised you to go and have some form of medical attention ASAP if you haven’t already. It can help your lawyer during the process of pursuing your claim for compensation.

Here’s why: the value of your claim is based on the severity and longevity of your pain, suffering, and loss of amenity. This is known as General Damages. On top of that you are entitled to claim for losses and expenses, known as Special Damages. For this article, we will stick to General Damages.

The way we value your claim is to instruct a suitable medical expert to see you for an appointment and produce a report that we then use to value your claim. This report is going to form as the basis for how much your claim for General Damages will be worth. It is therefore very important!
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For most of us, it’s in our genes to love a good shop every now and then; women more so than men. On a busy Saturday afternoon, the last thing we want to happen is to be injured when we’re out shopping and supposedly having a good time. So when you are injured in an accident in a shop, can you make a claim for compensation?

Firstly, injuries from shop accident claims can often be fairly serious. Most shops have hard floors, so landing on them can easily result in breaking bones. Whether you have a claim or not all boils down to the circumstances and the important piece of legislation that you can claim under for these sorts of accidents – known as the Occupiers Liability Act.

This Act states that the occupier of a premises has a duty of care to anyone one visiting the premises. This duty of care means that they need to make sure you are safe when using the premises in which they are in control of. So if you are injured, making a successful claim is about proving that this duty of care has been breached.
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