The antics insurers get up to when they want to save themselves some money can be unbelievable; and it’s even worse when people end up getting hurt! Here at The Injury Lawyers, we’ve heard it all:
- My insurers say I can’t claim because I don’t have legal expenses insurance
- My insurers say it’s a grey area for me to make a claim as a passenger in my husband’s car when he is was at fault
- My insurers told me a No Win, No Fee lawyer will charge me if I instruct them
ALL of the above is completely untrue (with the exception of the last one as I can’t speak for all lawyers out there…)
But it really gets hard to stomach when insurers do something that puts an innocent injured victim in an awful position both legally and financially. Quinn Direct, notorious for knocking on your door after an accident to try and force you to settle the claim for as little as possible, have once again hit the headlines for reasons other than their allegedly dodgy finances:
According to press sources, 44 year old Czech national Jiri Mulacek, who does not speak English, was conned in to signing away his legal and human right to claim after a serious accident at work when he was pounced upon by ruthless lawyers in his bed at hospital!
Mr Mulacek spent three months in hospital after an accident at work that resulted in him sustaining multiple leg and pelvic fractures that have left him unable to work on a building site for the rest of his life. His employers, Alpha Waste, who are now in liquidation, were insured by Quinn Insurance who seized an opportunity to save themselves tens of thousands of pounds. Whilst Mr Mulacek was lying in his hospital ward, solicitors for Quinn duped him in to settling his claim in full for £20,000.00. Mr Mulacek, who doesn’t speak English as I’ve already mentioned above, thought he was signing for an interim payment!
After a two year long battle, he sued Quinn and has now been awarded £117,000.00 in compensation in an out of court settlement. Quinn and their solicitors clearly took advantage of Mr. Mulacek and the situation he was in. They surely knew that with such serious injuries proper medical evidence would be needed to fully assess how much he was genuinely entitled to claim for. Surely they knew the potential losses he faced with being unable to work in the building trade ever again. Surely they were aware that he spoke no English. But that didn’t stop them.
It’s sad to read news like this, because it gives solicitors and compensation claiming a bad name. Many of the top insurers like Quinn behave like this, and it’s totally unacceptable. The rise in car premiums which has been confirmed to have been caused by insurers selling claims on through the referral fee system is due to be banned next year, and insurers are still trying to settle claims directly with accident victims for far less than they should be entitled to claim for.
You can just imagine Mr Mulacek lying in his hospital bed whilst some smug and underhand solicitor whose job is to save his employers (i.e. Quinn Insurance) as much money as possible dupes him in to signing what he thinks is an interim payment. You can imagine the shameless smiles on the solicitor’s faces as they trick him in to under settling his claim, whilst Mr Mulacek no doubt thought they were on his side. How do these people sleep at night? I know that’s a common saying to draw from, but how do they seriously sleep at night? I know I couldn’t personally stomach the thought of being given the task of coning a seriously injured accident victim out of tens of thousands of pounds.
Our advice is always the same – get your own lawyer! Only with a quality expert lawyer on your side can you guarantee that you will get the maximum compensation you are legally entitled to claim for. Settling with insures directly is extremely dangerous – once you’ve settled, that it; the claim is over (unless you were obviously tricked like Mr. Jiri Mulacek was).
Call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 for advice as quickly as you can.
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/insurers-quinn-directs-solicitors-con-1127751
