As a firm of lawyers who deal only with claims for personal injury compensation, we actually specialise in serious injury claims with payouts that run in to millions of pounds. If there is one thing that is always a certainty in high value compensation claims, it’s that insurers will do ANYTHING to limit or stop a payout. Their interests of course are to protect their shareholders profits and keep costs down.

But you have to really question the lack of humanity when you hear a story like this one; bearing in mind that insurance is there to cover people for claims. According to sources from the Daily Mail, Churchill are going to appeal a decision finding their policy holder 100% at fault for an accident with a payout estimated to be in the millions. The problem though is the circumstances of the accident, and their argument for the appeal…

Churchill are saying that now brain damaged 16 year old Bethany Probert, who was 13 at the time of the accident when she was hit on a dark country road by a speeding motorist, should have been wearing a high visibility jacket. They are actually suggesting that a 13 year old should know to wear a high visibility jacket on the basis that she rides horses and therefore knows to wear one when out on a horse on the roads.
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Vicarious liability for a work accident compensation claim essentially means that you have been injured due to the negligence of a colleague. If you are injured due to the negligence of a colleague, in UK law, your employer is vicariously can be found liable which means they have the duty (normally through their insurers) to compensate you. So for example : if your co-worker, let’s call him “Jim”, runs in to you whilst driving a forklift truck because he wasn’t looking where he was going, fear not; you don’t have to sue “Jim” personally! In this situation, the claim can be brought against your employer.

Employers Liability Insurance covers vicarious liability claims.

Claims that fall within the realm of vicarious liability usually have pretty high success rates. Here are a few examples of cases where your employer can be vicariously liable (aside from the forklift one above):
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Over the last couple of weeks we have seen adverse weather conditions all over the UK with snow turning into rain resulting in more flooding which the majority of us experienced before Christmas.

As a road user you may have noticed the affect of the weather on the road conditions. With extreme weather conditions the road surface becomes damaged and potholes start to appear.

The issue of potholes is a problem for both vehicle users and pedestrians and whether you drive over a pothole and it causes damage to your vehicle and potential whiplash, or whether as a pedestrian you trip and fall.

Under the section 41A Highways Act 1980 the highways authorities are under a duty to maintain the highways at a public expense and to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice.
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I would say that 95% of the accident claims we see which involve a roundabout are caused by people who are in the wrong lane or are changing lanes. The Highway Code stipulates that you should take note and act on all the information available to you when approaching a roundabout. This includes traffic signs, traffic lights and lane markings which direct you into the correct lane. Therefore you should be checking the lane markings and signage to ensure you are positioned correctly for your exit.

Motorists which stay in the left hand lane and proceed all the way round the island in this lane until they reach the exit travel across roundabout exits – which other vehicles are attempting to exit at that point in the correct lane. Liability unfortunately is not always clear cut as often the parties involved will argue that they were positioned correctly on the roundabout.
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The duty of a bus driver to their passengers is the same as any other driver to their passengers – they have a responsibility to ensure that passengers are not injured due to any negligence on their behalf.

The most common accidents on buses are caused by the driver performing an emergency stop or braking harshly. Passengers are generally thrown around on the bus as a result of this and this can cause personal injury.

However this does not necessarily mean there is fault with the driver of the bus. An emergency stop is just that, stopping due to an emergency.

In the case of Wooler v London Transport Board the claimant was injured when the bus driver performed an emergency stop when the lorry in front stopped due to a pedestrian stepping out into the road. It was eventually held that the bus driver was not at fault for the claimant’s injuries as the bus was obviously following the lorry at a safe distance as it managed to stop without colliding with it.
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To people who do not work in law, contributory negligence may be a challenging term to explain. Basically contributory negligence is an element of blame or fault. It is probably best explained by use of examples. Contributory negligence is important as it can greatly affect the compensation that you are entitled to.

The example I will use is actually for a work accident claim situation; but commonly this is something that is applied to motorcyclists or cyclists who do not wear a helmet. Essentially the same rule of thumb below can apply to motorcyclists / cyclists not wearing a helmet as well.

Say you are injured in an accident at work whereby a piece of metal falls from a ledge and hits you on the head. It is later discovered that this piece of metal should not have been left where it was. It should not have been left in a position whereby it could fall and injure and employee. However at the time of the accident you were not wearing your safety hat that had been provided by your employer, despite being in an area where it is compulsory to wear the safety hat. In this situation, you may be entitled to recover compensation but it is likely that you will be partly at fault (partly contributory negligent).
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With our claims line ringing off the hook with people wanting our expert legal representation and quality claims advice, we are often asked what I call one of the big questions when it comes to personal injury claiming: will I win my claim?

In the majority of cases it’s not so easy to answer this question with a straightforward Yes or No. What we can normally say to you is that we are either confident that we can win your claim, confident there is a chance of winning the claim, or not so confident at all. If we take a claim on a No Win, No Fee basis that means we are confident there is a chance of success. I’ll explain how it works to give you the best insight I can:
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One of my all time favourite things is that moment when I come home from work on a Friday night, crack open a bottle of beer, and collapse in to my lovely leather sofa to wind down from a hard week at work helping you guys fight for your rights to make a claim for compensation. It’s always great to sit down, and most of us probably spend a heck of a lot of time sat down in chairs at work and in everyday life. It’s a huge part of living when you think about it.

However, life is not so bliss when you’re sat in a chair and end up injured through no fault of your own. We do see a fair few chair accident compensation claims, which commonly arise from one of the following:
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Pursuing a claim can be quite confusing and daunting for people as some companies fail to explain the process in a nice straight forward way- they prefer to speak in complicated legal jargon that many people find just plain confusing and essentially means nothing to them. Unfortunately, this also means that many people may under-settle their compensation claim either because they do not understand or to simply end things as soon as possible.

It is a sad truth that some companies like to end things as soon as possible which can actually be against the best interests of you – mainly insurance companies of third parties like to deal direct with a quick and small settlement as this is advantageous to them as it saves them money! However, under settling a claim can have unfortunate consequences -especially if your injury is serious and has long term affects.
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You normally think that you’re pretty safe as a pedestrian walking along the pavement. After all, the pavement is the designated route for you to safely navigate around. We all know that crossing roads can be dangerous, so aside from the occasional cyclist who chooses to ignore the rules of the road and cycle on the pavement, most of us expect to walk along pavements trouble free.

However, even on a pavement there are dangers of being hit by a car. The most common circumstance is when you’re walking past a driveway or an entranceway to premises. You can normally spot them as the curb will drop down to allow vehicles to pass freely along the section of the pavement.

The Highway Code puts a duty on both road users to take extra care and look out for pedestrians, and equally for pedestrians to be aware of road users. As a pedestrian, you should treat the driveway or entrance as you would any junction or crossing. Look both ways and only cross when it is safe to do so. This is the best course of action to take for the sake of your own health and safety.
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