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If you decide to claim after being involved in a road traffic accident, you must be aware of something called Third Party Capture. This is basically steps taken by the insurance company to settle your claim directly with you. This provides an opportunity for the insurers to make a financial gain by under settling your claim.

Here’s how it works.. If you have been involved in a road traffic accident you’ll find that you’ll be contacted by many different parties in an attempt to have a hand in your compensation claim. Even the insurance company for the person at fault may contact you to try and persuade you to make a claim directly through them. The third parties insurance company will tell you that it will be in your interests to make a claim with them. They will tell you that; your claim will be settled in a short amount of time, perhaps a matter of weeks. You could have your compensation in your bank account almost immediately.
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Road traffic accidents – there pretty straightforward when it comes to claiming compensation for them. In fact they are the most clear-cut claims for injury there can be. The reason is that in a road traffic accident the blame is usually quite easy to establish. And there are many ways a road user can be liable for compensation through negligent driving. One of the more regular driving offences that can lead to accidents is speeding :

Speed limits are there for a very good reason – to save lives! Speed limits are set for roads according to the type of road in question. For example most city roads and populated areas (I’m sure you already know!) have 30mph speed limits given that they are densely populated with other drivers and pedestrians. A motorway of course is set at 70mph as the intended purpose is just for motor vehicle travel between the junctions – there aren’t any pedestrians or turns and cross roads to navigate. So it’s safe to travel at a higher speed.
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It’s probably best to firstly consider how the accident has affected your life. Perhaps you have had to take time off work, in which case you may have lost out on your earnings. You might have needed to be cared for in the period of time it took for you to recover. In all of these cases it would be most advisable to get the help of a specialist injury lawyer. But, who do you chose?

The best help you can get is from an independent firm of solicitors that have not paid a referral fee for your claim. Always go direct to real Injury Lawyers and not “middlemen” and that way you will know that your claim hasn’t been bought by the highest bidding Law firm from claims resellers (middlemen). Make sure you then look around and choose a company that is dedicated to its clients and to achieving the best result for you.

In a lot of Road Traffic Accidents, Legal Expense Insurance will probably crop up. Your Insurance Company will tell you that they will pay for all your legal fees when pursuing your claim and that they will refer you to one of their own expert solicitors – sounds quite reasonable on the surface, and it may even seem as though they are saving you a lot of time and hassle.
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Medical negligence – by definition this is generally when a medical expert or attendant makes an error that is detrimental to the patient being treated. It can range from anything to a simple miss-diagnosis leading to incorrect medication being prescribed, to an error made during surgery. And on occasions medical negligence can have severe consequences; even fatal…

So here’s an example of medical negligence in its worst element. Fortunately not fatal, but leaving the patient with horrific (if that’s the correct word to describe it) and permanent consequences…

According to sources from the BBC (source), a surgeon has been struck off the register after he removed a patient’s testicle by mistake!  Being male, this really doesn’t bare thinking about and is an absolute tragedy of a story to be honest.
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Criminal injuries; they differ slightly to that of the majority of accident claims. In most accident claims, the compensation is pursued and recovered from an insurance policy covering the person or the company at fault for the accident – for example the insurers of the driver responsible for a car accident, or the insurers for a company in an employer’s liability case!

So what happens if the case one of criminal assault? The assailant is unlikely to have any insurance to claim from, or adequate assets to fund a claim and foot the legal fees. The claim is therefore brought with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority – a government body responsible for investigating and paying out to the victims of criminal attacks.

Here’s an example from sources at the Daily Mail (source), involving the story of the gentleman left blinded by a teenage girl hitting him in the face with her stilettos!
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You may have seen my recent post on the pot hole that resulted in the tragic death of a British serviceman – and you may yourself be aware that the increase in pot holes in the last few months is causing a nightmare on our roads! Well, it appears one man in his quest to avert such tragedy occurring again has been shunned aside by pedantic police, claiming the sign he erected to warn drivers of pot holes was instead a dangerous distraction… (source).

Fifty-nine year old Kent plumber Ted Relf has since criticised authorities for requesting that he remove the home-made sign following an alleged complaint that it was a distraction to drivers rather than a well placed warning of the dangers the road was hiding. Mr Relf has stated that he erected the sign in frustration at the lack of adequate maintenance for the road, stating “Making people aware of the potholes is a serious issue. It’s just stupid to think that someone would complain about a sign.” Local police have agreed with his contention that potholes themselves are a distraction.
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Cerebral Palsy is a collective term for muscle impairment disorders which are consequential to damage caused to the brains motor ‘area’.

Cerebral Palsy most commonly begins during pregnancy and it is often the case that you will not know your child has the condition until months, even years, after the birth. There are several causes and the majority of the time they cannot be prevented no matter how careful you are during pregnancy. You can take precautions by ensuring that you watch the level of alcohol and cigarettes consumed during the pregnancy.

However, there are a small percentage of cases which have been caused by clinical or medical negligence;
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One of the more overlooked ways to make an injury claim stems from if you have been a victim of violent crime and sustained serious injuries. On first glance it’s easy to think that such an accident would be entirely a matter for the Police, however you are entitled to bring a claim for compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), which is a public body set up to compensate innocent victims of crime for their injuries.  

Here’s four easy steps as to how you can claim:
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We have all experienced food poisoning at some point in our lives but it often clears after 24 hours and we never really think much more about it. What if you experience a severe bout of food poisoning? Can you claim for it? What are the symptoms of food poisoning?

Food poisoning is caused by bacteria, toxins or viruses which have contaminated food or drink which you in turn consume.

Whilst most people will recover from symptoms within a few days, more serious strains such as salmonella can lead to hospitalisation and in worse case scenarios, death.
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The number of people sent to hospital due to injuries suffered from dog attacks in Wales has risen by 60% over the last decade.

According to the BBC, the figures, collated from NHS data indicate that on average every day somebody is hospitalised because of a dog attack.

The number of incidents has risen from 234 in 1999/2000 to 373 in the year ending March 2009.
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