Often at the outset of a claim people will want to know how much compensation they are likely to receive. Solicitors can sometimes give very basic and straightforward estimates but at the outset you should be aware that it is impossible to value a claim with any accuracy.

Any value given is simply an estimate which cannot be relied upon. If you understand how claims are valued then you will realise why Solicitors cannot give accurate valuations at the outset.

So how are personal injury claims valued?
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For many reasons I imagine – but all generally revolving around one thing – legal expenses insurance (hereafter referred to as LEI)! For actual law firms like us, there is nothing more disheartening than when clients are taken in by this system and ultimately potentially deceived. LEI is a straight forward system but benefits usually only two groups of people – the insurers and solicitors!

Legal expenses insurance involves your insurers (like your car insurers) SELLING your details across to a solicitor who will then use a percentage of their costs to pay for your details in the first place. For example: a solicitor may pay your insurers £1,000.00 for your details which is then taken away from the amount of funds they have to run your case. The next question of course though is how does this make your claim go slower?

Less funds =  less phone calls, letters and less work being done on the case. Importantly – less fighting for the highest payout and therefore LESS compensation for you!
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This is indeed a very important but tricky question. It is often best explained in the form of a scenario. Say for example you are in your local supermarket stocking up on those essential goods and you are unfortunate enough to slip on a wet floor.

Now, if there is a clearly visible wet floor sign in place which you should have seen, then it could be difficult to claim compensation for any injuries that you sustained. However, every case is unique and studied on its own facts. Say for example a wet floor sign was erected and was clearly visible but you failed to notice it because you were looking down at your mobile phone as you were walking. In this situation a Court would probably say that the store took all necessary precautions to warn you of the hazard and therefore there was no potentially negligence.
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This is a common question and one that has a pretty straight forward answer. However, there isn’t a fixed time period and the reason for this will hopefully become apparent below…

Of course, the first thing that happens after your medical appointment is that a medical report is compiled and sent across to the solicitor. Your solicitor should chase this if it is taking longer than usual, but there can be delays at this point simply because the third party is not as speedy as we would hope them to be.

So the first bit of advice would be to take this into account and not be chasing a medical report the day after an appointment.  In the same way, once your solicitor discloses the medical report to the other side and invites offers, we will chase for a response but one cannot control another’s actions.
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In today’s vast market it can be difficult to find a Solicitor who you can trust to run your claim. There are so many choices as there are so many personal injury law firms.

From my experience, most firms are run in different ways and have varying structures. We have procedures in place to put us ahead of other personal injury law firms. We have to keep ahead of other law firms to allow us to represent as many clients as we can! Here we have a motto that the clients (i.e. you) are the lifeblood of our organisation.

Without clients and claims we would not be here. This is why we put clients at the forefront of our minds throughout the case. We endeavour to make sure our clients are kept regularly updated as to the progress of their claim.
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The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations govern the standards required by all workplaces to ensure optimum health and safety in the workplace. Accidents at work are unfortunately more common than people think! They can occur in a variety of ways, depending on the type of work someone does and the area which they are based in. This article will mainly focus on office spaces.

Under the regulations a workplace is defined as “any premises or part of premises which are not domestic premises are made available to any person as a place of work“. The regulations also cover the means of getting to and from the designated area, for example: rooms, lobbies corridors and staircases.
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Starting any claim can be a daunting prospect for many people; but, there always seems to be more reluctance and fear surrounding accidents at work as many worry it will affect either their current employment or their employment in the future. Hopefully this blog will put some minds at ease. If you have been injured through no fault of your own in the workplace, your injuries may be extremely debilitating and lead to losses that you just can’t afford.

Making a claim may well be the only option to take…

Pursing an accident at work claim should NOT affect your employment status as the law does protect you for making a claim. In most cases, if the company is quite large, employers may encourage people to do get a lawyer and make a claim. This is because all employers are required to take out insurance to cover just this type of thing, and many big companies will have been sued several times over. The majority of the time it is not that person you work with everyday that will be pursued, as most places just pass the letter of claim across to their insurers and it is them that deals with the entire process.
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Overtaking a vehicle can be pretty daunting even when you follow the Highway Code; however the number of accidents involving overtaking vehicles is significant.

The most common type of accident occurs when a vehicle is overtaking another and the vehicle being overtook attempts to perform a u-turn or make a right turn. Unfortunately, liability for these types of accidents are not always straight forward and each case is assessed on its individual circumstances. Most of the time it will need to be determined as to whether each party has made their intentions known to other road users and positioned their vehicles correctly.

It is very useful to obtain the details of any witnesses in any accident but in these types of circumstances, it can be an essential piece of evidence with regards to supporting allegations as to what signals were used or not used. Otherwise, it is often your word against the other party’s.
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Special Damages is something that can be recovered as part of a claim for personal injury compensation.

A claim normally comes in to two parts – General and Special Damages. General Damages covers the injury itself – the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused by them. Special Damages is for losses and out of pocket expenses caused as a direct result of the accident or your injuries.

Lost Earnings
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When clients approach us about making a whiplash claim, the most common question asked is usually “How much am I likely to get?” However, if you are still suffering with your injury it is very difficult to calculate how much you would be entitled to receive without obtaining accurate medical evidence.

Therefore, here at The Injury Lawyers, we obtain medical evidence on all cases so that we can accurately determine the amount of compensation you are entitled to.

You will attend an examination with a medical expert and they will provide us with a report which details your injuries and the time you are likely to be suffering for. This is called the prognosis and is what your injury claim will be valued on.
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