It’s a big question – and the answer, we say, is yes! But of course it’s always the choice of the individual as to whether they wish to claim for compensation or not.

When it comes down to it, if you are injured in an accident that was not your fault, but the fault of another person or a company, you are normally entitled to claim for compensation. For example – if a driver drives in to the back of your car because they’ve failed to stop in time; you can claim for compensation from them. If you slip in a supermarket because of water on the aisles; you can claim for compensation. If you are injured at work because you were not provided with adequate personal protective equipment; you can claim for compensation.
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Any personal injury lawyer will tell you that a claimant has only 3 years to bring a claim to court. If it is not brought within this time, the claim is barred from being brought at court.

However, this time limit does not necessarily run from the time when the negligence claimed for actually occurred. The time actually runs from the date of the cause of the action or from the date of knowledge of the negligence, whichever is the later. In cases such as car crash claims, this distinction is not often important as those involved in the accident are usually aware of it as soon as it occurs. However, this can be a very important distinction in cases of medical negligence where you may be unaware of your doctor’s negligence for some time.
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For anyone bike enthusiasts out there, this may appeal to you! It’s a thrilling form of transport the motorbike, but thrills and dangers often go hand in hand in life. And let’s face it – motorbikes are certainly dangerous! Not so much because of the bike itself, but being out there on the roads.

Road accidents are common; they really do just happen all the time! And we at The Injury Lawyers take on increasing amounts of road accident claims on a day to day basis – although this is not just because they’re common, but through our sterling reputation! And in most cases, the injuries involved are all quite linear and common; whiplash! But the motorcyclist on the road does not enjoy the protection of being strapped in a metal box with air bags and bumpers; if a motorcyclist is injured in an accident, they are likely to suffer far more than the usual neck and back pain.

With more severe injuries comes a more complex compensation claim, with more time and resources needing to be spent on the case to make sure it is maximised. And for this reason, it is so important for victims to enlist the help of an expert independent personal injury lawyer.
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For those who have heard this story in the press recently, you will agree that it is such a tragedy. According to reports from the Mirror (source), police investigating the death of a six year old girl who was crushed by an electric gate have arrested two men on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence. 

According to the report, the two men in question, both aged 38, had been sub-contracted to work on the 750kg gate in Moss Side, Manchester. The death of the young girl comes just days before an automatic gate in South Wales killed a five year old child; another story you may be aware of in recent news. 

Enquiries in to the incident are ongoing, however the report also mentions that the developer of Faulkner Gates Ltd was fined £80,000, and ordered to pay £40,000 in costs, after a nine year old boy was crushed to death by an electric gate in Dorset. 
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It’s very common these days for people to go on holiday to get away from it all and take a nice break. What most people don’t expect is for their holiday to turn into a nightmare! If you have had an accident whilst on holiday, that wasn’t your fault, you may wish to think about placing a claim.

A lot of people might not consider the possibilities of placing a claim and sometimes the claims can be a little trickier than normal due to the different law’s that are in place in other countries. However, if you have been on holiday as part of a package deal, it may in fact be easier than you think. For example, if you have had an accident in your hotel or apartment such as slipping on a wet floor or injuring yourself on an unsafe object where no warning signs were in place to alert you of the dangers then the claim would be placed against the package provider.
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According to a latest report from the BBC (source) the recent National Patient Safety Agency figures indicate that women are not being checked for pregnancy before ongoing surgery. The figures reported show that there have been 42 serious incidents between 2003 and 2009 as a result of surgery on a patient where the surgeons were unaware that the patient was pregnant. Three of these reported incidents sadly culminated in miscarriage. 

Under national guidelines, medical practitioners must always check with the patient whether there is a chance that she may be pregnant before she undergoes surgery, and particularly if that surgery is to the abdomen or the pelvis.

Surgery in the early stages of pregnancy is very risky to the developing foetus and therefore it is vitally important that the surgeon is aware of any early pregnancy. If the surgeon is aware of the patient’s pregnancy then they may be able to make some changes to their plans to limit any risks to the patient or the foetus. The surgery may be delayed or they may be able to change the type of procedure or the anesthetic used to make the surgery less risky.
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A mistake made by The Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham has the cost the life of an innocent lady when they told Jane, 30, that she was “suffering from a migraine”. Jane Harrop was admitted to hospital after suffering very badly from severe head and neck pains; two days later Jane died of a rare brain virus.

This is a very tragic matter which should have been dealt with more efficiently by the NHS doctors. Jane was simply “dosed up on morphine and left to die in a corner” her husband reported. Her husband said that “doctors failed again and again to spot the fatal virus that was killing her and did not transfer her to a specialist brain ward at a nearby hospital because no beds were available”. Jane was given morphine by nurses and left in a bed where nurses “put bars around to stop her climbing out”. This is horrendous treatment for a patient to have to endure. The hospital is now placing an investigation to look into the circumstances of Jane Harrop’s death.
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People fall over all the time, it’s more common for the elderly to trip and they aren’t as responsive as they once may have been. Sometime the falls happen because the person in question looses balance etc. but sometime the falls can happen as a result of someone else’s negligence.

Many people are unaware that if you have an accident on a public road or footpath and the accident has happened because of a defect in the road then you may potentially have a valuable claim for compensation.

The council are required to maintain public footpaths and public highways, if this hasn’t happened then the council may be negligent.
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An accident at work can happen more frequently than many of us realise and people need to be aware of the dangers surrounding them.

Particularly employees who work for manufacturing companies with large machinery, as they are more susceptible to injury. A prime example of this is one gentleman who recently lost 4 of his fingers according to “The Claim Connection Website”.

The incident tells us that the gentleman in question was working with a colleague on some machinery which was used to cut plastic. The plastic became jammed in the machine and the gentleman thought his colleague had switched off the machine so he put his hand inside to free the piece of plastic and the guillotine cutter came down and severed four of his fingers.
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Cases of stress in the workplace are on the rise every year and it is becoming a costly problem for all businesses. Studies have shown that approximately 1 in 3 of all workers experience high level of stress and a quarter of all workers state that their job is the main cause of stress in their lives. The latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive show that absences from work cost the economy over £12 billion and of this it is estimated that stress related illness and absence now costs in the region of £5-7 billion.

So, what is workplace stress and what can you do about it? The Definition of workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. If you have suffered extreme stress as a result of your job then you may be able to claim compensation however, proving such claims is notoriously difficult as the evidential burden on anyone making a claim is extremely high. Another of the main problems in making a claim for stress is proving foreseeability and you need to ask the question: is it reasonable to suggest that the employer could have foreseen the injury?
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