It is understandable why many people turn to their car insurance when they have had an accident – after all, isn’t their help what we pay all that money for? However, when it comes to personal injury claims it is always best to instruct your own personal injury specialist to ensure you are getting the best help possible. When you involve your car insurance in organising legal help for a personal injury claim, all they simply do is refer your case across to a panel of their solicitors. This seems a bizarre way of doing things when you think about it – for example: would you trust someone to go and buy your house for you without you viewing the house beforehand and making sure it was the best one for your needs?

When you put your claim through your insurance this is essentially what you are doing – allowing somebody else to guess what type of solicitor is best for you. To make the system even worse, the solicitor they chose will normally pay them a referral fee which will take money away from the budget they have to run your case. In reality, it makes sense for the insurers to pass your case to whichever firm on their panel pays the most for your claim! This system of referral fees is becoming illegal this April – showing just how wrong it really is.

So how does this system actually link to how much your pay out will be for a whiplash claim? Surely, this is just a business being a business and doesn’t affect you?
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It’s fairly safe to say that in this modern age of consumerism and convenience shopping that we all have a local supermarket and whether you enjoy your weekly shop or have to be dragged down the aisles kicking and screaming they are pretty much unavoidable.

But what if your shopping trip is more than mundane? What if something terrible should happen and you get injured whilst in the supermarket? What happens then?

Well like most occupiers of premises, supermarkets have responsibilities to the people that enter and use them. This means that if you are in the middle of your shopping trip and have an accident which causes you an injury then you could have a claim.

You might wonder what the worst thing that could possibly happen is. Well, the most common type of accidents in supermarkets are slips and trips but that’s not to say that other dangers don’t await you. Unseen liquids leaking on to the floor, uncovered stands for displays sticking out in to aisles and even the humble grape has been the downfall of the casual shopper.
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Tripping up is something that can happen almost anywhere, even if sometimes it may be a trip over our own feet rather than over a dangerously placed object. Most claims for tripping up arise out of trips out and about in a public place. Most trips occur outside in the high street and are caused by raised paving slabs, uncovered manholes, potholes etc…

If you trip and sustain injury in a public place then a claim would be made against the owner of the land in question. In terms of public places, the owner of the land would ordinarily be the local council. With private property such as in a shop or on a shop forecourt, the shop itself would be liable. This is because the owners of the land in question are under a duty to keep the land reasonably safe.

If you trip and sustain injury at work then you may be entitled to bring a claim against your employer. This may differ in circumstances where you are a contractor working on another company’s premises for example.  In such a scenario a claim would most likely be brought against the company who owned the premises in which you were working. As with all tripping claims the court will look at various facts such as whether there was any warning of the danger, what precautions were taken, how long was the hazard left unattended etc…
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Most people would agree that the industrial work place can be a fairly dangerous place to be and that everything possible should be done to keep people who work in this type of environment as safe as possible. One way in which this is done is through the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), this is any equipment (including clothing) that should be worn or used by a person at work to protect them against risks to his health and safety.

If you work in an environment where there are risks to your health and safety then your employer will usually need to provide you with some form of PPE, in fact there are regulations in place that make it a legal requirement for them to provide this type of protection to their employees. These regulations are called The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. While many people may see Regulations as another layer of red-tape to add to what should be good old-fashioned common sense it should be a comfort to know that as an employee you have a legal right to be provided with PPE while at work.
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Being hit by a falling object is more something you see on a traditional English slapstick comedy – but it does happen in the real world. There is a duty in certain circumstances which means you may have a claim for personal injury compensation if you are unfortunate enough to be hit by a falling object.

When you’re out and about and a fixture or fitting from a building falls on you, there is a duty on whoever owns or is responsible for that building to compensate you if there is blame on their part. Acts of God as they are often referred to in injury law, like the one that took my chimney off in the earthquakes a few years ago in Hull that got me my 15 minutes of fame as I was interviewed by the BBC about the whole saga, are not so easy to claim for. That, or perhaps a lightning bolt or a tornado or something similar that causes something to fall and hit you is not necessarily the fault of the person who owns or is responsible for the building. There’s not a great deal anyone can really do to control the weather! By the way, in case you were wondering, I wasn’t hit by the chimney – hence why I’m alive today writing this blog!
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Pre-medical offers are what they say on the tin! – Offers made before medical evidence has been gathered and reviewed. In most cases such offers should be treated with caution and should only be considered if you have the advice of a personal injury specialist as the majority of the time you may run the risk of under-settling your claim.

Compensation is based on the severity of your injuries and how long these will affect your everyday life. Therefore, it is a main and pinnacle part of any claim to gather accurate medical evidence using a medico-legal report from a proper expert. This expert has a duty to the Court which ensures that they are an impartial party in the claim. In the report compiled by this expert there are often key bits of information that affect the value of your claim, which include:

1. A prognosis period – which predicts how long your injury will affect you.
2. Any treatment you may require.
3. Effects on your ability to work.
4. Effects on the your daily routine and daily living.

Based on all the above and of course any consequential losses you have occurred, a valuation of your claim will be established and consequently any offers of settlement will be based on such evidence.
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Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is a progressive condition which can manifest itself in many ways. The overriding general symptom of a RSI is pain and discomfort. The pain would ordinarily be in the area affected. It is also common to experience tingling, numbness and swelling in the affected area.

An RSI is an injury primarily caused by carrying out repetitive tasks and forceful actions. It is often associated with tasks such as working on computers, driving, sleeping awkwardly and lifting heavy items.

In most cases, especially if the RSI is in the early stages, it can be treated by rest, exercise and massages. If the RSI develops then surgery may be required.

It is said that, over recent years, the number of compensation claims against employers for repetitive strain injuries sustained by employees whilst at work has increased significantly. This is perhaps due to professions in which workers have to complete repetitive motions over long periods of time. Of course, more and more workers use computers these days and tasks become more streamlined. This can increase the likelihood of a repetitive strain injury.
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The most common road traffic accident claims we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers is when a vehicle has been hit in the rear by another vehicle.

A vehicle is often stationary or slowing down when the driver behind fails to react to this and just drives straight into the rear of your vehicle. Fault for this type of accident is pretty straight forward – after all, you do not have control of the vehicle behind do you?

The Highway Code says that a driver must “Drive at a speed which will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear: You should leave enough space between you and the vehicle in front so that you can pull up safely if it suddenly slows down and stops.”

This is simple and pretty self explanatory and to be honest – common sense – so why do we have so many rear end shunt traffic accidents such as this?
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With personal injury claims you can recover compensation for General Damages for the pain and suffering and you can also recover Special Damages for any losses incurred as a result of the accident.

An example of Special Damage is loss of earnings.

Say for example you sustain injury, whether it be at work or in a road traffic accident, and as a result of your injuries you may have to take time off work and subsequently you may have lost earnings. As part of a Special Damages claim you can try and recover the lost earnings. As with most aspects of Special Damages you should obtain wage slips as you’ll have to prove those earnings lost due to your injury.
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In a personal injury claim you can be given general guidelines as to the likely compensation you are entitled to receive. However, the amount of compensation is accurately calculated upon the receipt of medical evidence in respect of your accident related injuries.

Whiplash is probably one of the easiest to assess – but the specific amount to be placed on your injuries will depend on several aspects.

The Judicial Studies Board, who provide guidelines to your legal representatives, have set out the following in order to help us assess your claim for compensation and the value of it. The assessment of compensation for your injuries will consider the following:

• The seriousness of your injuries and whether you have suffered any broken bones, any disfigurement or any physical or mental impairment
• Whether you are likely to make a full recovery or whether you are likely to suffer any long term affects/side effects.
• Whether you have experienced any loss of earnings/income or are likely to experience any loss of earnings in the future as a result of the accident
• The level of pain you have suffered or are still suffering
• How your day to day living has been affected by the injuries

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