I read today of the terrible story of an Alan Underwood who sadly died having been involved in an accident at work.  On March 17th 2008, Mr Underwood, who was a driving instructor in Northampton, was killed when a lorry, driven by one his pupils, hit him.  The Northampton Chronicle & Echo reports that Mr Underwood was giving a driving lesson and was testing his pupil’s braking skills when the accident happened.  The Northampton Chronicle & Echo suggests that Mr Underwood had instructed his pupil to go around some cones and then come to an emergency stop.  However, his pupil failed to stop and Mr Underwood was subsequently hit and killed by the lorry.

At the High Court in London, it was heard that Mr Underwood’s pupil’s foot had become stuck underneath the brake, and therefore she could not stop.  As such, the family of Mr Underwood was awarded £180,000 in compensation.  It was held that Mr Underwood’s employers were liable for the accident.  However, and interestingly, Mr Underwood’s family only received 70% of the compensation.  The compensation Mr Underwood’s family was due would have been £250,000, but the judge held that Mr Underwood was 30% liable for the accident.  In other words, there was a judgment of contributory negligence.  Here, the judge held that Mr Underwood had been stood in front of the lorry in ‘misconceived faith’ that his pupil would be able to bring the lorry to a halt.  As such he was partly responsible for the accident because he did not allow himself enough time to get out of the way and avoid a collision.

Contributory negligence is a term that we frequently come across here at The Injury Lawyers.  If the other side believe that you are in some way partly to blame for your injuries, they will allege contributory negligence.  They will try to settle for less than a full amount of the compensation you would be entitled to should you not have been partly responsible for your accident.  It is therefore of vital importance that if an insurance company tries to settle a claim with you, and in doing so alleges contributory negligence, that you seek the advice of a quality personal injury lawyer.  They will be able to advise you as to whether you should be held partly responsible for your accident and your subsequent injuries.  If you do not seek the advice of a specialist injury lawyer, you may end up getting less compensation than you deserve!

If you’ve had an accident that wasn’t your fault, the only way is to claim with a proper No Win No Fee lawyer on board. No Win No Fee is a common term nowadays, and most people have a general idea as to what it’s all about.

However, of the countless cases we accept on a daily basis, offering our unique and Genuine No Win No Fee agreement, the questions claimers want to know are normally always the same:  “so, what am I liable to pay for?”.

Well, the answer is actually dependant on the No Win No Fee agreement you enter in to – they can vary dramatically from firm to firm. So, here’s a guide on how it all works, based on our Genuine No Win No Fee, to give you the info you need, and to prepare you to ask the right questions to your prospective lawyer:
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Our backs are probably the most important part of our body. Without them, we couldn’t do anything. The strain your back goes through on a day to day basis can be immense – so injuring this vital part of the human body can leave you in agony – and there are several ways you can injure your back at work, going about your daily business, or from having a fall.

Back Injury Symptoms

Well, it’s quite easy to diagnose back pain! Not so easy to find out the root cause; but if your back hurts, aches, feels tight, inflamed, has reduced movement, or you are suffering from chronic bouts of back problems, we suggest you see your GP immediately.

Back Injuries from Falls

• A fall from a trip or slip can leave you with severe back pain. If you land on your back, then you’ll know about it! But even twisting as you fall can stretch the muscles and leave you in pain.
• If you fall fast, you can even end up with whiplash. Whiplash is normally caused by the sudden jolting your neck – whiplash pain can easily radiate down in to your shoulders and your back.
• If you fell through no fault of your own, you can make a claim for compensation. Whether you tripped over a raised paving slab, stumbled on a gap in the kerb, or slipped on a wet floor with no warning signs present, you should always speak to an expert injury lawyer and find out about your right to claim.

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BBC News reports that a family has been awarded compensation after becoming seriously ill whilst on holiday.  It is said that the Palin family, who hail from the West Midlands, were hit by outbreaks of salmonella and cryptosporidium – in other words sickness and diarrhoea – at their hotel in Majorca in 2003.  As a result, the Palin’s dream holiday was ruined.  They could not leave their hotel room and this meant they could not do those usual holiday activities like going to the beach or going on one of the many excursions on offer.  As Mrs Palin said herself, ‘We have no happy memories of what was supposed to be, at the time, a dream holiday.’

It would seem that the Palin’s were not the only ones to have their holiday ruined either.  BBC News states that there were another 10 victims from the West Midlands, and that in the end 49 people that caught the bug whilst at their hotel in Majorca were also able to obtain compensation.  At the Birmingham County Court it was held that Thomson, the tour operator for the holiday, was liable for their customers becoming sick.  It was said that Thomson had breached the duty of care they owed their customers by failing to warn them of the bout of sickness that was going through the hotel.  It would also appear that this is the first time that a tour operator has been found liable for the illnesses of its customers.

If you have been ill whilst on holiday abroad you may be entitled to compensation.  Just because you were not back home in the United Kingdom when you sustained an illness does not mean that you are unable to claim compensation.  A claim can be made against your tour operator back home.  It is necessary to establish whether the tour operator breached their duty of care.  Currently tour operators must do all they can to ensure the health and safety of their customers.  If there is an outbreak of illness at your hotel, your tour operator must ensure that you are aware of this and give you advice about the outbreak.  That said, simply because you have fallen ill whilst on holiday, does not necessarily guarantee that you are entitled to compensation.  If it is considered that the tour operator did everything it could to ensure the health and safety of its customers, then you may not be able to make a claim for compensation.  After all, illnesses are a fact of life, and sometimes, despite all we do to contain them, we are still affected by them.  It is important that if you have suffered an illness whilst on holiday, you get free legal advice from a professional injury lawyer.  They will be able to assess whether you have a claim for compensation and set you on your way to getting the compensation you may deserve.

The Letter of Claim is an essential part of your personal injury claim.  It is the first significant piece of correspondence between your lawyers and the Defendant, and lets the Defendant know, by way of writing, of your accident and the injuries you have suffered.  It is therefore of vital importance in order to get the ball rolling on your claim that the Letter of Claim contains sufficient and clear information about your claim.  It means that the Defendant can start their investigations of the claim and then come back to your lawyers with their position on liability as soon as possible.

Your Letter of Claim must contain ‘a clear summary of the facts on which the claim is based with an indication of the nature of any injuries suffered…’  In other words, the Letter of Claim must tell the Defendant exactly what your accident was, and the injuries you have subsequently sustained.  We at The Injury Lawyers are experts in the field of personal injury claims and always produce a thorough Letter of Claim on your behalf.  Producing the Letter of Claim is a task that does not take long in itself, especially when it is being created by a lawyer with years and years of experience.  However, there is nothing like a helping hand.  We can only produce your Letter of Claim when we have all the clear facts of your case.  The more you can help us establish the facts of your case at the earliest opportunity, the quicker we can get your Letter of Claim produced sooner.  And in the end that means that you are likely to receive the compensation you may be entitled to faster!  So, what can you do to help?  Here are a couple of examples:

• If you have tripped on a piece of defective pathway, we need to know the exact location of this piece of pathway.  The name of the street on which you tripped is always a good start.  But it is even more helpful if you can tell us where on the street the piece of defective pathway is.  For example, is the defect ‘directly outside the gate of 12 Baker Street’ or ‘right next to the manhole which is adjacent to the phone box outside the Golden Lion pub’?  Alternatively, both photographs and Google maps marked with an ‘X’ are great ways of demonstrating where an accident took place.

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Making a claim for compensation where you have been involved in a relatively straightforward road traffic accident is an uncomplicated and fast process.  The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents deals with personal injuries sustained from road traffic accidents on or after the 30^th April 2010 which are valued at less than £10,000.  In most cases, your road traffic accident will be worth less than £10,000, and so the procedure I am about to outline will be applicable to your case.

The Pre-Action Protocol is designed to settle claims speedily and without the need for court proceedings.  As such, it sets out several simple steps which allow for you to be compensated fast.

Firstly, a Claims Notification Form (‘CNF’) must be filled out and submitted to the other side’s insurers.  This is done online at The Injury Lawyers specially created portal and records your details and your accident details.  Don’t worry if this sounds daunting, our specially trained personal injury lawyers are always on hand should you have any questions, and we will always review your CNF before it is submitted to ensure everything is okay!  Once this is submitted the other side’s insurers, they must acknowledge receipt of the CNF the day after they receive it.  They are then entitled to a period of 15 days in which to come back to you with their position on liability.  This could be an admission, or denial of liability, or it could be an allegation of contributory negligence.  By contributory negligence, we mean that they are suggesting you are in some way partly at fault for your injuries – for instance, if you were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, the other side may suggest you made your injuries worse by failing to help protect yourself.
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At The Injury Lawyers, we truly believe that each and every one of our clients should keep 100% of their compensation, not 75%, not 99%, but 100% of your compensation. After all, it is YOUR compensation. You are awarded compensation to place you in the position you would have been had your accident not occurred, and you had not been injured. 

If we were to take a percentage, even a tiny percentage of your compensation, that would mean that you had not been fully compensated for your injury.  You would not have been placed in the position you would have been in had the accident not occurred and you had not been injured. 
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Despite it being illegal to drive a motor vehicle without suitable insurance, it is quite apparent here at The Injury Lawyers that some people consider it okay to drive uninsured.  This is the case even though the vast majority of people know that it is an offence to drive without insurance.  Interestingly, though I imagine not everyone is aware of this fact, in 2011 it will also be against the law to own a motor vehicle without appropriate insurance unless this motor vehicle is certified as ‘off road’.  However, regardless of these laws, people do drive uninsured, and unfortunately some of these uninsured drivers end up causing accidents.  In fact, each year 23,000 people are injured and 160 people are killed by uninsured drivers.

So, what happens if you are involved in a road traffic accident where the other person is uninsured?  Normally the other persons insurance would compensate you, but in this scenario, it may be that the other person with no insurance has inadequate funds to compensate you. If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and have sustained an injury through no fault of your own, you are entitled to compensation – so what happens where the person who caused your accident has no insurance and no money to compensate you?  You are of course entitled to compensation – but on this occasion, does this right disappear?

The simple answer is – You are still entitled to compensation.  You will be compensated through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (the MIB).  The MIB was set up in 1946 to compensate the victims of negligent untraced or uninsured motorists.  By way of the Road Traffic Act 1988, every motor insurance company must help fund the MIB.  In other words, part of your motor insurance premium goes towards the running of the MIB.  It is estimated that roughly £15-30 of your insurance premium goes towards the cost of running the MIB.  So, if you have sustained a personal injury as a result of a road traffic accident in which the other side is uninsured, you can still make a claim for compensation.  It is also worth noting that this claim for compensation can include any property of yours which has been damaged as a result of the road traffic accident.  In 2008, 64,000 claims for compensation were settled by the MIB.
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It was interesting to read in the Hartlepool Mail that Hartlepool Borough Council are to ‘vigorously defend’ themselves against unnecessary or fraudulent claims for compensation where individuals have been injured as a result of an accident involving a pothole.  It comes at the time of year when the worst of the weather would seem to have ended, and the snow has finally disappeared.  However, this is also to reveal the often extensive damage caused by the weather to our footpaths and roads which are badly affected by freezing conditions.  Here at The Injury Lawyers, we know only too well of the perils of the pothole – and this year has been no different.

According to the Hartlepool Mail, Hartlepool Borough Council have paid around £4,500 in compensation in regards to 23 pothole related claims over the last two years – which is literally nothing compared to most injury claims.  In order to combat these claims, Hartlepool Borough Council have said that they would like to resurface all affected roads and paths.  However, with the current economic climate, and with the cost of carrying out such work estimated to be around the £20million mark, the Council has instead had to settle for undertaking repairs on the potholes where these potholes have come to their attention – something that has so far cost them £300.000.  The Council have brought together a special team to combat the potholes.  Working five days a week, this team is responsible for the repair of potholes within 24 hours where the pothole is approximately 3cm deep and a metre long, whilst other potholes are to be fixed within 28 days.

The Hartlepool Mail reports that Hartlepool Borough Council have so far defended themselves against 37 claims.  A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesperson has stated that ‘Each claim is examined in detail on its particular circumstances and all claims are thoroughly investigated to confirm their authenticity’.  However, despite the fact that it would appear that not every pothole claim can be successful, and that there have been some fraudulent claims, it is important to understand that if you have suffered a personal injury as a result of an accident involving a pothole, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation.  Each case should be judged on its own merits.
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This weekend I read an article about a delivery driver who received half a million pounds in compensation after he fell from his van.  The York Press reported that Colin White was carrying out furniture deliveries in York in 2005 when the accident happened.  Colin, along with a colleague, had been provided with a ‘tail lift’, a device for lowering items from the back of a van, by their employers.  However, neither of them had been trained how to use it, but nevertheless they were expected to know how to use the device, and indeed were told to use it.  Subsequently, when unloading furniture, Colin stepped back onto the tail lift which, to his detriment, had been moved, causing him to fall backwards and hit his neck.  Colin suffered temporary paralysis and is now in constant pain.  Colin was also told he will never work again and his wife has had to give up her job in order to care for him.

Because Colin suffered a personal injury through no fault of his own, Colin is entitled to compensation.  In this case, Colin received £500,000 to cover the pain and suffering caused by his injuries – a direct result of his accident – and also to cover the future loss of earnings he has suffered as a result of being declared unfit to work ever again.  If you have similarly been involved in an accident whilst at work, and subsequently sustained injury and loss, you may also be entitled to compensation.  It is important that you seek the advice of a specialist injury lawyer who can tell you instantly whether you have a claim or not.

Colin, who now has to use a walking stick, a wheelchair, and a mobility scooter, has said ‘What happened to me could have been prevented if my colleague and I had been giving training in how to use the equipment provided.’  And he is exactly right!  The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to make sure their employees go through full and thorough training for all aspects of their role.  Employers are required to clearly demonstrate to their employees the dangers they may face at work and how to go about their job role in a safe way.  They are also required to provide certain equipment and clothing to aid employees and make the workplace safer.
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