Have you recently had an accident in a taxi? Perhaps your child has been in an accident in a Taxi? Providing the accident was in no way any fault of your own, you may have a potential claim for compensation. This is because, in the eyes of the law, the passenger(s) involved in an accident in most circumstances are completely innocent party; this should mean if you chose to go ahead and make a claim for compensation, your claim should be quite straight forward.
If you have a child under the age of eighteen, they will require a Litigation Friend to represent them for the claim; this is usually a parent or guardian who will act on behalf of the child with their best interests in mind. A person under the age of eighteen usually doesn’t have the necessary skills or abilities to deal with such circumstances, so the litigation friend is able to make the claim on their behalf. For any settlement sum that is recovered for the child, it will be stored in a trust fund held by the court until the victim reaches the age of 18.
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Claiming Compensation against a School
On occasions, incidents occur at school where a young child suffers injuries at no fault of their own. We all know what school is like – it’s a bit of a jungle on the playground – and boys will be boys, and children have their scraps and scrapes. But when does a bit of adolescent innocence turn in to a case of negligence on behalf of the school?
Well, you are probably already aware of this, but all schools have a very clear duty of care to ensure that the students are well looked after and do not come to any harm. If a child is the victim of some kind of defect in the school, perhaps a pothole in the playground or a damaged chair, then the school is obviously liable for any suffering. But what if the incident is involving another pupil; perhaps some kind of a fight or instance of bullying – is the school liable?
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Have you had an accident whilst abroad? Perhaps you are wondering what to do as the accident was caused by no fault of your own; but because you were abroad, you may think it’s difficult to do anything about it. These types of accidents can be a little harder to deal with because different rules and regulations apply to different countries.
If you are looking to perhaps make a claim for compensation as a result of an accident you have had whilst abroad, you may still be able to claim. If the holiday was booked as part of a package through a UK based agency and the accident occurred due to the negligence of a party that is related to the package, then you can claim against the package provider.
For example, if you had an accident in a hotel, for instance you tripped over something that shouldn’t have been left lying around, and the hotel was part of the package you booked, then you could potentially have a claim for compensation against the package provider.
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Claiming with Insurers for a Car Accident – Avoid it at ALL Costs!
And “cost” is pretty much the important part of it! Because if you deal with the insurers of the third party directly, it is more than likely it will end up costing you money!
So what do I mean by this? Well, in most instances, I am not implying that insurers will charge you for dealing with them directly in a claim for personal injury by way of a percentage of your damages, or invoicing you. What I mean is that if you go down the route of dealing with third party insurers directly, you are very likely to get less compensation than you are entitled to recover.
So what is this, why is this the case, and what can you do about it? It’s called Third Party Capture!
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Road Traffic Accidents involving Children
Many accidents occur each year on Britain’s roads, and it’s particularly upsetting when children are involved. The injuries can range from minor cuts and grazes to even fatalities. The majority of the time the child involved has, in no way, contributed to the accident; this means in the eyes of the law the child is considered an innocent party.
If you feel you want some form of justice or peace of mind for your child, you may wish to consider pursuing a claim for compensation. Although no financial sum will ever replace the loss or hurt you or your child may have experienced, it can provide some financial stability and compensation for the suffering endured.
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Taxi Accident Compensation Claims
Lots of people use taxis everyday – from the elderly out on shopping trips to young adults enjoying a night out. There are many accidents each year involving taxis and their passengers. It may not be apparent to many people, but if you have been involved in an accident in a taxi, it’s likely you have a claim for compensation. Just because you aren’t a relation or friend to the person driving doesn’t mean you cannot pursue a claim.
In the majority of Road Traffic Accidents, passengers involved could not have contributed in any way to the incident, which usually means claiming for compensation is very simple. In a lot of accidents involving taxis there are one or more passengers involved; again all passengers have a potential claim for compensation even if the taxi driver was at fault.
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Road accidents; they’re as common as you can get! In fact, they’re the most common type of accident when it comes to claims for personal injury! And there really are a million and one ways you can be involved in a car accident and end up with an injury:
Although common anyway, according to sources from the Telegraph (source), wider cars are a “major contributory factor” in minor accidents on rural roads. They are also reportedly an issue in urban streets where houses have been turned in to flats, causing cars to line the streets. The widening of vehicles is the result of added safety features that manufacturers have installed on their vehicles, with some models being widened by inches!
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MoD Refuse to Fund Operation for Injured War Hero Who Lost 3 Limbs in Helmand
Claiming for compensation – the idea is to put the victim in a position they were in before they had the accident. Obviously we cannot take away the injuries and the suffering – no one ever can – but we can compensate for the suffering and inconvenience with a monetary payout.
But there are certain losses that can, and should, always be recovered; or certain things that can be done to compensate the victim as much as possible. I came across a story from the Daily Mirror that can certainly fit this bill.
According to the exclusive Daily Mirror report (source), the Ministry of Defence have refused to pay for a private operation for injured war hero Mark Ormrod who lost 3 limbs in the line of duty fighting for our country. The 26 year old marine nearly died after losing both of his legs and his right arm from a Taliban landmine blast whilst on patrol in Helmand, Afghanistan, on Christmas Eve 2007.
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Paediatrician Mistakenly Removes Baby’s Bladder
A horrendous medical negligence case has recently been reported in the news, where a Consultant Paediatrician at the Manchester Children’s Hospital mistakenly removed a baby’s bladder when undertaking an operation to remove a hernia (source 1, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8546501.stm and source 2).
The seven-week year old baby, referred to as ‘Baby A’ for the purposes of the investigation, was admitted to the Manchester Children’s Hospital with a hernia problem and constipation. It was discovered that her left ovary was protruding into her stomach and surgery was therefore required.
43 year-old Consultant Paediatrician, Miss Pierina Kapur, set out to remove the inguinal hernia, an operation which would normally take only 15 minutes. In this occasion, however, it took over an hour before the surgery was completed and the abdomen closed.
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Bicycle Manufacturer Raleigh Guilty Of Fork Lift Death
Bicycle manufacturer Raleigh have pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of one of their employees, after an accident in which one of their employees was killed at work.
The 59 year old employee died at Raleigh’s Eastwood site in 2007 after he crashed a fork lift truck causing him to be flung out of the truck, where he was then crushed by girders and rubble knocked down by the impact – causing him to suffer multiple injuries, including a fractured spine and a torn aorta valve in his heart. The worker was alive at the scene when medical staff attended, and was airlifted to Queens Medical Centre hospital where he later died from his injuries.
The employee had been an experienced driver of fork lift trucks and, although there were no witnesses to the actual accident, it is understood that he was driving the truck with the forks raised, which is against company health and safety policy, and as a result hit the top of a low doorway. However, evidence submitted in Court showed that there had been 2 other previous incidents involving fork lift trucks and a health and safety expert who examined the scene concluded that there had been a foreseeable risk of the accident happening. The depot manager admitted that he had failed to anticipate the accident; however he also accused the local authority inspectors and an independent expert of failing to spot the danger.
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