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BBC News reported on the 9^th May 2011 that a six year old boy had received nearly £5m in compensation after being left disabled at birth. 

It is said that Shane Barrett sustained severe brain injuries and now suffers cerebral palsy after his heart stopped beating whilst he was being born back in 2004.  The Defendant, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Trust, did not admit liability, but lawyers for Mr Barrett said that there had been ‘wholly avoidable delays’ at his birth when the midwives considered his mother’s heartbeat to be his, therefore not realising his heartbeat was abnormal, and horrific brain injuries were suffered as a result.

If you have suffered a particularly serious injury whilst you have been in hospital, it is important that from the offset you get quality personal injury lawyers on your side with years and years experience in dealing with medical negligence cases.  Such matters are often complex and require an experienced professional with knowledge in the area to deal with the claim in the right way.  At The Injury Lawyers, we have been dealing with medical negligence cases of varying severity for many years, and we are happy to discuss any potential claim you may have.  Our advice is confidential, and totally free – and does not impose any obligations upon you.  We really are a quick, free, and just an easy telephone call away.
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Over the weekend I read about the tragic story of Mr Andrew Chin who was left with severe brain injuries after a horrendous road traffic accident in June 2008.  The Daily Post reports that Mr Chin was sat in his car which was parked in a lay-by when another car collided into his rear.  As a result, Mr Chin’s head went straight into his steering wheel and his brain suffered a bleed. 

Incredibly, despite Mr Chin having only a one in ten chance of survival and spending two weeks on a life support machine, he survived.  That said, Mr Chin has since suffered severe memory loss, and requires round the clock assistance in his everyday life.  In a recent judgment at the Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Chin was awarded £3.6million in compensation.  The negligent third party driver has also since been found guilty of driving without due care and attention.

It is not for every road traffic accident that the innocent and injured party will receive such a vast sum in compensation.  In fact, in many straightforward Road Traffic Accident cases with relatively minor injuries, you are likely to receive less than £10,000 in compensation.  The reason Mr Chin was awarded such a large sum was to take in to account his need for future care.  As Mr Chin’s wife says, the accident has ‘turned our lives upside down as its robbed Andrew of his independence…He still has to have rehabilitation for his head injury and physical injuries…every day…To know we will always be looked after is a huge relief for us all.’  The compensation also took into account Mr Chin’s loss of earning.  Prior to the accident Mr Chin had been in the Territorial Army as a driver; something he will never be able to resume.
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident, and it was not your fault, or even if you consider that you are only a small part to blame, it is likely that you may be able to make a claim for compensation if you have suffered an injury.As all drivers in the United Kingdom are required to have motor insurance by law, in almost every case where you are entitled to compensation, this compensation will be provided by the negligent party’s insurers. 

So – What happens if the other side does not have insurance? Does this mean that you are left uncompensated? You are aware that if they had insurance then you would receive compensation; but it would seem because they have no insurance, that you have no where to get your compensation from.  Do not worry – It would be entirely unjust if you were to be denied compensation because the other side did not have insurance. It would be like letting them off the hook, which is something that cannot be encouraged in any instance.  This is why the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) was set up – to help compensation the victims of uninsured and untraced drivers.

The MIB was set up back in 1949, and through funding received from people’s insurance premiums (roughly £15-30 of your insurance premium goes to the MIB each year), they have been able to settle over 50,000 claims each year.  So, if you have been injured at the hands of a negligent third party driver, how do you go about making your claim for compensation?  Well, your first step should be to get in touch with a quality injury lawyer with years of experience specifically in dealing with road traffic accident claims.  They will be able to take you through the whole process – no problem at all.
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If you’ve seen any of my recent articles about whiplash, you may already know what I’m about to say.

I’ve been advising people about whiplash claims for a long time now, and signing them up to our unique Genuine No Win No Fee agreement that guarantees in black and white there are no costs for losing, and 100% compensation for winning –we cannot charge you for a successful claim!

But now, thanks to my local bus service, I can truly sympathise with all you whiplash victims out there – almost three weeks on from my bus incident, my whiplash is continuing on. The pain now is mainly in my back – it seems to ache and hurt in different places depending on whether I’m walking around, sat at my desk, or driving my car. I saw my doctor yesterday, whom checked me out, confirmed the injury, and gave me some exercises to do, and advised me to take anti-inflammatory / rheumatic pain killers on a regular basis.
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If you are reading this blog, then you may be in the later stages of your whiplash claim. This means that you have had liability admitted on your claim, and you have completed your medical examination and have to hand your medical report. So, you may now be thinking about instructing your solicitor to settle your claim and considering when you will receive your compensation.

Firstly, consider the below options:

Should I settle my claim before I have made a full recovery?
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It is a sad fact that due to the increase of traffic on the roads and the increased awareness of personal injury claiming, road traffic accident claims are on the increase.  This is one of the reasons that the Ministry of Justice has brought in a new system for road accidents after 31^st April 2010 that are between a value of £1000 and £10,000.

This new system is based around a specially designed portal on the internet which allows all correspondence between both sides of a claim to be sent electronically. This means that everything is received instantaneously, cutting out the time waiting for post to drop onto a desk. 

The old system allowed defendants nearly 4 months before requiring them to give a response as to liability (fault on a case). This is in stark contrast to that of the new system which allows 15 working days for a liability response. Liability is the crucial first hurdle to a claim; having this answered early means that your claim can progress much more quickly, and it can also relieve a lot of stress from you, the claimant. I have set out a brief outline below of the processes your claim is likely to go through with this new system.
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident that was not your fault, you may have a claim for compensation. The key phrase in this sentence is that ‘the accident was not your fault’.  Many people that have been involved in a road accident that was due to the other driver not using the necessary care and attention and was badly injured as a result, may feel the injustice of it, and also the frustration of the whole ordeal. These feelings are further amplified if the other driver either does not have insurance and / or speeds off into the distance neglecting to leave his / her details, or even to check if you are ok.

If this happens, you may think “well, how can I possibly have a claim?” – at The Injury Lawyers, we are happy to tell such claimants that they may indeed have a claim through the Motor Insurers Bureau; or MIB for short. The MIB are an organisation funded by motor insurers. The MIB have calculated that between £15 and £30 of our premiums go to funding them.  The MIB will not only consider compensation payouts for injuries, but also the cost of repairing your vehicle damages caused by the accident.

If you have been involved in such an accident where they other party is not insured, or has fled the scene, taking some actions to strengthen your claim is made all the more important. I have set out a few key actions which could be taken:
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Whiplash is one of those conditions which can get a bad press, as it is not so plain to the naked eye as a broken bone or laceration, for example. So, much of the time we are relying on the sufferers reports of the effect the injury is having on their lives and the level of pain they are in. At The Injury Lawyers, we hear day in day out of the devastating effect whiplash can have on a sufferers’ life; so we treat the condition with the utmost seriousness and respect that it deserves.

Symptoms

Whiplash is a condition which can be highly unpredictable. By this I mean that a doctor could advise that you will recover in 6 months, when one year down the line you are still in pain.  This is why it is advisable to seek the advice of a specialist injury lawyer as soon as possible. The symptoms of whiplash are wide ranging, and people can suffer from any one of the symptoms outlined below; if not all:
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I read today in the ‘Hartlepool Mail’ that Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil have been fined £120,000 and been forced to pay costs of £81,927 having pleaded guilty to breaches of health and safety regulations after a man was paralysed having been involved in an accident at work.  The horrific accident happened in Crawley back in January 2007 when an employee who was installing cable was working on a scissor lift when the trays supporting him collapsed: he fell 24ft.

As a result of the accident, the unfortunate man, who does not wish to be named, was unsurprisingly knocked unconscious and suffered paralysis from the waist downwards, as well as horrendous spinal injuries.  The Health and Safety Executive have since found that Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil failed in their duty to ensure the safety of its employees.  In particular, Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil admitted breaching section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety Act 1974.

The HSE inspector who carried out the investigation had the following to say:
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Wearing a seat belt is important for all sorts of reasons – the most important being that it minimises the harm to both you and others in a vehicle if the worst happened and you were involved in a road traffic accident. By not wearing a seat belt, you are also falling foul of the law – and as a consequence you could be pulled over by the Police and suffer serious consequences.

In consideration of the above, it is rare that we have clients here at The Injury Lawyers who were not wearing a seat belt when they were involved in a road traffic accident. However, in saying this, there is always a small minority of people which may continue to flout the law and neglect to belt up.

The consequences of not wearing a seat belt can go further then what is discussed above. If you were not wearing a seat belt whilst in a vehicle involved in a road traffic accident, and you are making a personal injury claim as a result, whatever compensation you are entitled to may be reduced by up to 25% – for large compensation payouts this can add up to a lot of money lost.  The reason for this reduction is a term known in the legal world as contributory negligence – i.e. by not wearing your seatbelt, you may have increased the severity of your own injuries.
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