Injury claims videos
Good Morning, John here again.
We believe that our website and our messages for clients and future clients should never stand still. We are always looking to take the next step to keep it all fresh and to get our honest and forthright messages out to clients who might otherwise fall in the laps of the many dodgy injury compensation claims cowboys. For instance, our website has a “skin” so that it can be read sensibly and easily from smartphones and we are into the social media too, both extra steps that we hope get our genuine messages and merits heard.
Because of this need to keep moving forward, we are taking the exciting step of creating videos, both for our website and to post on youtube, about what we do – genuine and respectable injury compensation claims - who we are and how we can help you.
Our website already has loads of helpful content about compensation and injury claims, like how to claim, how it all works, what to expect etc. In addition to that we know that some people would like to see us in person (even if it is on screen at first) and learn more directly from us. The photos on our website are all well and good, but seeing and hearing us in action is going to be better. We also know that some people actually prefer to browse and search through video sources like youtube instead of the usual surfing through google and similar search engines. Most people like to see and hear the person they are considering trusting with something potentially very important for them and we recognise that need to “see the whites of their eyes”. The videos are not a substitute for us meeting clients face to face, they are more like a taster of what we are like, so that you can see if you like and trust us.
So, each of us will be whisked off to a secret filming location in the next few weeks. Lorraine is going first and then it’s my turn a couple of days later. The idea is for us to address the most commonly asked questions about injury compensation claims from our clients and to explain the basics of how claims work.
We know that the injury compensation “industry” has some seriously murky and disreputable operators and so we want our pure message to get through. We are long qualified and deeply experienced injury compensation Solicitors. We have already helped thousands of injured people and we hope to help many more in the future. We are just as turned off as everyone else by the disreputable cowboys and “claims farmers” who seem to advertise constantly on TV and radio. Almost all of them are just middle men who sell you and your claim on to a disinterested lawyer you have never heard of, like a commodity.
We are straightforward and honest people with no gimmicks or “hard sell” techniques and that is what we hope to get over in our videos. They are going to be unscripted and natural, or at least as natural as we can manage in what will be unusual circumstances for us! We want clients to know and trust us.
We hope to have the videos up and running in the next 2 months, so watch this space. If the film making process is interesting and worth posting about I might put something in one of my next couple of blogs.
If you need help, advice or just a chat now, click the button below, or better still call us on 0800 0612463. Ask for John or Lorraine. Read our testimonials first on this website if you want reassurance and a feel for what we are about.
Bye for now.
Sporting risks and injuries and the law
Afternoon all.
Sporting risks and injuries are in the headlines a lot at the moment. The tragic outcome of the Grand National for the horses if not, thankfully, for the jockeys and the horrible case of the injury caused to Leicester Tigers rugby player Rob Hawkins by Northampton player Calum Clark are shocking recent examples of what can happen when things go wrong in sport.
This coming weekend there is concern for many over the outcome of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Will it all go off okay and will everyone emerge safe and well, never mind the huge wider human rights concerns for the local people?
Injury compensation law is often tangled up uncomfortably in events like these and can have an impact on sport at amateur levels too.
Taking my three examples there are some interesting points to consider.
The Grand National (and jump racing generally) is faced with a serious problem. The race, and let’s face it all other jump racing, is risky. So is playing rugby, motorcycling, skiing and just about every other sporting pursuit as well. Society and the law both recognise that with sporting risks come thrills, rewards and so on. Trying to eradicate EVERY risk is not desirable. Imagine making rugby a non-contact sport – safer but dull as ditch water.
The Grand National has to balance the thrill and the spectacle of the attraction with the level of risk it presents. Put brutally simply, even the most partisan of commentators and race supporters would recognise that it cannot be justifiable for 2 horses to die every year in the race and for jockeys too to face high risks of serious injury or worse. I’m sure they were praying for an exciting race where every horse and rider came out unscathed, but they didn’t get that.
The law approaches these scenarios by accepting that the human competitors at least go into it with their eyes open and can weigh up and choose whether to take the risk. The horses have no such choice, but their owners do on their behalf. Metaphorically speaking, the rule of thumb is that “once you cross the white line” and enter the arena or field of play you consent to the normal rough and tumble inherent in the sport. For example, I broke my arm playing rugby and it was nobodies’ fault; it was an accident that was part of the game and I did not and could not sue anyone.
If a jockey were to be seriously injured in next year’s Grand National then I think it is extremely unlikely that they could sue the organisers or the horse owner for compensation. However, the more instances and precedents there are for bad falls, the more that position might be eroded. I’m sure the organisers will think hard about this and try to take every possible step and precaution to increase safety levels year on year.
The second example is markedly different. Calum Clark, an England rugby squad member as recently as this January and former England Under 20′s captain, snapped Rob Hawkins’ elbow backwards after the whistle had gone and off the ball. He did it on live TV and was caught on camera doing so. It looked very, very bad, malicious even, and Hawkins was pinned and defenceless at the time.
Clark’s been given a 64 week playing ban, commuted to 32 weeks, presumably for mitigation given at his hearing. Hawkins suffered multiple fractures and has undergone reconstructive surgery. The poor lad could be finished at rugby, his professional career.
In my opinion this example went way beyond the ordinary rough and tumble. Put it this way, if Mr. Hawkins gave me a call about it I think I’d tell him that I believe he has a good chance of succeeding in a claim against Clark and/or his employer. The case is strengthened greatly by the shocking and detailed footage, the serious disciplinary evidence seen and the ultimate finding and sentence. If this happened off a sports field, say on a high street on a Saturday night, I’d expect police to be involved.
Really nasty instances like this happen in amateur sport too and so it is possible to claim in those circumstances too. They can be tough to prove because there is usually no footage of the events and witness evidence can be conflicting. Nevertheless, if something seriously amiss has happened I’d say speak to a lawyer. If there’s an injury and it’s tantamount to an assault, or there is something else unsatisfactory like defective equipment, inept and unsafe refereeing or holes in a pitch then alarm bells should ring and I’d call a lawyer.
Finally I hope we all wish the F1 folk and the people of Bahrain a safe weekend, whatever the politics and issues are. I’m sure some of the concerns raised by the teams will have related to the safety of their staff. Mr Ecclestone is not daft and will have tried to sort out risk assessments and security advice. I hope nothing goes amiss, but if it does there might be all sorts of ramifications.
Sport and the law make a complicated mix. If you’ve been hurt then it’s possible you might have a claim, so feel free to call me and talk it through or contact me through this button:
Bye for now
Cycling safely
Now that spring is officially here many of us are turning our thoughts to enjoying the sunshine and getting that cycle out from the shadows of the garage!
As always there is a balance to be struck between enjoying the outdoors and staying safe and accident free! Cycling carries with it many benefits – it is good for general health and wellbeing, is great exercise and is fun to do! As the warmer weather continues the increasing number of cyclists on the roads becomes more noticeable. If you take a moment to observe these it is not difficult to pick up on the “Do’s” and “Dont’s” of safe cycling. Here are a few I have noticed:
DO
Keep your cycle in good working order. If possible have it regularly serviced to make sure it is in good condition – remember that your bike is the only thing that separates you from the road!
Wear good quality reflective clothing so you can be seen by other road users
Wear a good quality cycling helmet. Buy the best you can afford – if you come off your cycle at any time you will be glad that you did!
Carry an essential tool and repair kit
If cycling on main roads, keep to the left and cycle in single file
Be aware of other road users particularly at junctions, traffic lights and on country roads
DON’T
Use a cycle if you have any doubts about it’s condition – unsatisfactory brakes or steering can have serious implications
Assume that other road users can see you. Often motorists are not looking for cyclists – make your presence known with bright reflective clothing
Set off on a journey (however short) unprepared for a change in weather, something going wrong with your cycle or an accident
Cycle on pavements – you will be liable if you injure a pedestrian
The list of what we should and shouldn’t do is endless and it is important not to think of cycling as an activity that is fraught with danger. But roads ARE busy places and in following a few basic rules you can make sure that you enjoy all the benefits of cycling whilst staying safe at the same time.
It is worth remembering that to enjoy cycling you do not HAVE to use main roads. There are a number of websites and publications available where off road routes are highlighted. These could be dedicated cycling paths or just quiet country roads away from the main traffic routes. You sometimes find free leaflets in your local cycle shop giving traffic free routes in your local area. These are worth investigating if cycling on main roads is not for you.
Happy Cycling. x
Lorraine
Ambulance chasers and claims farmers
Hello again, John here.
Ambulance chasers and claims farmers are terms that most people had never heard of on this side of the pond, at least perhaps not until the last 10 years or so.
Now we’ve all heard of them. We associate them with the murky world of slightly disreputable, perhaps even dishonest, claim making. Those claims are usually for injury compensation and are often encouraged by sharp lawyers or, in truth more often by unqualified marketing folk dressed up as lawyers who just sell claim details on. From what I can find out, the expressions existed as commonly used terms in America long before we had heard of them.
Why is that?
In America there used to be at least two very big differences in how legal claims were run.
First of all, there was no ban on lawyers advertising for clients. In the land of opportunity they have been used to dodgy TV ads from lawyers, or people pretending to be lawyers and selling work on, for generations. Over here, we had a rather quaint ban on all of that until relatively recently. It was felt that lawyers were a profession, like doctors, and so they had “clients” who found the lawyer by word of mouth or by recommendation and not through “beastly advertising”. They were very much “clients” and not “customers” or, worse still, “punters”.
Secondly, US lawyers have been paid by results for generations. They invented no win no fee, so the hungry (or is that greedy) lawyer really, really wanted to win at all costs. We didn’t have that either until relatively recently. Over here, if you were rich enough you paid your lawyer, whether or not you won. If you were poor, we had legal aid.
So what’s changed and why do we now have to put up with these odious ambulance chasers and claims farmers invading our television screens and sending us nuisance texts?
Firstly, the advertising ban was removed. It was regarded as anti-competitive and so it went. The net result was a free for all and, very soon, the advent of the cheesy adverts that have increased in frequency. It also meant that non-lawyers like the real ambulance chasers and claims farmers spotted an opportunity. Lawyers aren’t great at promoting or marketing themselves. As a group we are generally a dull, staid bunch and so non-lawyer marketing types started to run rings round us. This meant that there was an unintended consequence; claims farmers pretended to be lawyers, hooked and took peoples’ details for claims and then sold them on to the lawyers. The claims farmers and ambulance chasers were and are pointless and unnecessary “middle men”.
Secondly, legal aid went. It was withdrawn for injury claims. The Governments (both Conservative and Labour had a part in this) worried that removing legal aid meant ordinary folk were unable to claim because they didn’t have the money to pay a lawyer. They solved that by introducing payment by results; no win, no fee. If it was a decent claim the lawyer would take it on at no risk to the claimant.
So we have sleepwalked into the current situation that from my point of view here inside “the trade” is pretty disastrous as an outcome.
We now have a distasteful frenzy of sometimes made up claims whipped up by middle men claims farmers and ambulance chasers who hook folk in, sell them to lawyers and scarper. Lost in the midst of this is the quiet majority of good, honest people with genuine claims who have been genuinely wronged and are entitled to seek justice. How on earth do they navigate the chaotic claims battlefield that is left?
My firm view is that individuals ought to go back to what worked in the past and what they trust.
How? Try this:
- Refuse to use a middle man (ask them if they personally are a Solicitor)
- Don’t rely on or trust adverts – be proactive, not reactive
- Go with someone you know if you are lucky enough to know a good Solicitor, otherwise get a personal recommendation from someone you trust
- If you don’t know a Solicitor and no-one can recommend one, do some research and go to someone with high ideals, who will treat you as an individual and has high standards (like us)
As we keep saying, over 70% of our clients have come to us because they know and like us or because they have been recommended to us by someone they trust. It’s old fashioned in some ways, but it works.
In a line, use someone normal who you can trust!
All the best for now,
John
The cost of making a claim
Just about everyone who has ever thought about making a claim for damages for injuries and losses as a result of an accident will have heard the phrase “No Win No Fee”. In fact if you watch the advertisements on TV you will see this repeated several time an hour!
Whenever I meet a new client however, this form of “funding” a claim still carries a certain amount of mystery to it and the question I am often asked is “Is it REALLY No Win No Fee? Is there a catch to this?”
The simple answer to this is that the work we do really IS No Win No Fee and there is NO catch! It used to be the case that claims for compensation for injuries could be pursued by using Legal Aid (subject to financial quailification). That kind of support has long since disappeared for the vast majority of cases and in its’ wake came the No Win No Fee system. This recognises that in order to have access to justice injured people need a system whereby they can bring a claim and be safe in the knowledge that they are not going to face a large solicitors bill for work done on their behalf. This assurance on costs is at the very heart of the No Win No Fee system.
When a solicitor first discusses a new claim he/she assesses the prospects of that case succeeding. Some cases are easy to assess whilst others are not. You may have come across the term “Success Fee”. This is a percentage that a solicitor adds to the No Win No Fee agreement to reflect the degree of risk being taken in running a case. In short, a solicitor will get paid a little better on the successful cases to effectively “absorb” the loss on cases that are unsuccesful. It works – it allows injured people who could not afford to use a solicitor the chance to still make a claim without having to worry about how they will pay for it.
There are moves afoot at the moment to change this system and as and when those changes take effect I will let you know how they will affect you but for now the No Win No Fee system is alive and kicking!
You should be aware that No Win No Fee agreements are not universally applied in the same way. If you have had an accident and are thinking of bringing a claim for your injuries and losses then first make sure exactly what you are agreeing to. Some firms do not charge anything if you are unsuccesful but then charge you a fee (or take a percentage of your damages) if you win. Also check if you are expected to pay any fees for medical reports, notes etc. And ask how you will be protected against having to pay the OTHER SIDE’S costs if you lose. In summary you need to ask all the right questions to make sure that you really understand how your case is being funded. If in doubt ASK. A good firm will be happy to address and deal with any concerns you have and confirm to you in writing to give you the reassurance you need.
At Ibbotson Brady we have been dealing with cases on a No Win No Fee basis for 0ver 12 years. This is how the vast majority of our cases are funded. If you have any questions give me a call and I will happily go through it with you.
Lorraine
Accident at work caused by a work mate
Good afternoon and hello again.
We often receive calls from people who have been hurt at work because of something a work colleague has done, or has done badly. These injured people are sometimes worried by the fact that their workmate caused it. It might have been a total accident, a stupid act, sheer incompetence, lack of training or whatever.
They wonder, will it be possible to claim compensation for the injuries and losses suffered and, if so, who will meet the claim and will it get my workmate into trouble?
The short answer is yes, you can make a personal injury compensation claim and almost every time the claim would be against the employer and not the workmate.
Whether the workmate will be in trouble with the employer isn’t always so easy to predict, but if they are in trouble then that is probably the case whether or not a compensation claim is made. Employment contracts and the general law of employment will govern whether the workmate is in trouble, but if any action is taken against them then the employer would need to follow a fair and transparent process, like a formal disciplinary code.
The injured person themselves shouldn’t feel that they have dropped a colleague in it and can have some comfort from the fact that the law does protect them pretty well in the workplace.
The employer, in whatever field of work, always has loads of duties and responsibilities to protect and safeguard their staff. There are wide general rules and laws that protect every kind of employee in any job and there are also many job specific ones that are aimed at particular industries and pursuits.
You will appreciate that the safety concerns of an employer who employs people on, say, an oil rig will have very different concerns to someone employing people in a warehouse. Both employers will have to follow a raft of general safe employment rules and a load of industry specific ones too.
Another factor that helps to safeguard employees is that, like driving on the roads, insurance is compulsory for anyone or any company who employs anyone. This means first of all that employers are paying a premium for this insurance and so it is in their interests to be a good and safe employer, and also the insurer will to a certain extent help to “force” a safe working culture on the employer either by “carrot or stick”. The “carrot” approach is represented by reduced, or at least modest premiums for caring and safety conscious employers, and the “stick” is represented by big excesses to pay and large premium hikes for employers with poor safety records and culture.
Injury claims arising from accidents in the work place can seem very complicated, but you can see that individuals have a lot of protections and rights, so claims will very often succeed. Because it is the employer who has and accepts those responsibilities you don’t need to feel bad about getting a colleague into trouble either.
If you’ve had an accident at work, or anywhere, give me or Lorraine a call or email, or use the free case evaluation button below. We’ll talk it through with you for free.
Bye for now,
John
Uninsured drivers
I have noticed over the last few months that there has been an increase in the number of cases I have dealt with where the driver of the responsible vehicle does not have valid insurance in place.
Sometimes it is the case that the driver has simply not purchased motor insurance at all or sometimes it is the case that insurance HAS been purchased but is not effective for some reason (for example the person driving the vehicle is not entitled to drive under the policy, or information was not disclosed when the policy was put in place which leads the insurers to void the policy).
It is a legal requirement that anybody who is driving a vehicle on the road must have insurance in place to cover them at least against a claim for injury to another person or damage to their car or property.
A question that is often asked of me is whether in the absence of motor insurance that means that a claim by another person for injuries or losses cannot proceed. The simple answer is that this is not the case. You may have heard of the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB)- an organisation that exists to handle claims arising from a road traffic accident where the driver is uninsured for whatever reason. In cases where the responsible driver has no insurance or has defective insurance the claim is directed to the MIB. Sometimes they handle it themselves and other times it is dealt with by an insurer on their behalf.
There are a number of hurdles and hoops that need to be overcome in making a claim through the MIB but your solicitor can deal with those for you. After that you are entitled to claim just as you would if there was insurance in place. This means that you can claim for your pain and suffering from your injuries, any loss of earnings you have sustained because of the accident and any other losses such as medical treatment or expenses due to the accident.
When a claim is completed through the MIB they will ask you to sign a form of Assignment which then enables them to pursue the uninsured driver for recovery of the money they have paid out to you. The MIB then take whatever steps they can to recover their outlays and you have no further involvement. But other than that your claim proceeds exactly as it would do if the driver had been insured.
So if you should find yourself in the position where you are involved in an accident with an uninsured driver there is little to worry about. Simply contact a solicitor who is experienced in such cases and you will be in safe hands.
As always, if you have any questions about making a claim just give me or John a call. we are always happy to discuss matters with you and advise you on what steps you can take to pursue a claim.
Not impressed with your current injury Solicitors?
It’s bad enough getting injured in an accident that was someone’s fault and having to claim, so don’t add insult to injury by putting up with Solicitors who don’t fight hard enough in that compensation claim or who provide shoddy service.
We hear a lot about bad service from disgruntled clients who frequently switch to us. It’s particularly common when the poor injured person has called up one of the many dreaded TV “ambulance chaser” firms. Most of those firms are just marketing companies who simply sell your name and number to a law firm, along with many others in bulk. They charge the law firm a fat fee for hooking you, move on to the next call and forget about you.
The next problem with this is that the law firm has spent a fortune on buying yours and all of those other names and numbers and so they gear themselves up to deal with that “bulk work” by dealing with you like cattle.
They often have large teams of “claims handlers” who aren’t even fully qualified lawyers. Clients find that they often cannot speak to the same person twice, they get sent meaningless standard letters and endless questionnaires and they are left feeling like they are doing all of the work. The law firms are often based hundreds of miles away and have no empathy for you. It’s a production line and you are a commodity not a person.
That is all just plain wrong and nobody should be expected to put up with it. It’s poor customer service and often it’s poor legal service.
We don’t pay middle men or “ambulance chasers”. Over 70% of our work comes from recommendation and reputation and that is because we have genuine relationships with our clients. We meet as many of our clients face to face as we can. Those that we can’t meet we spend plenty of time talking to and we make sure that they have the same person to speak to and the same point of contact throughout their claim.
Surprisingly, it’s not just the TV “ambulance chasers” that can direct you towards poor service, other organisations that you would expect to be on your side often do so too. We have seen Trade Unions, people’s own insurers and membership organisations (all of whom you would expect you could trust) sell their members who have injury claims to the highest bidding law firm, again in bulk.
You are not a product or a commodity and you shouldn’t accept service that treats you like one.
Best advice is don’t go near a firm like that in the first place, but if you already have done don’t put up with it. It is usually possible to switch to someone who can do a better job. Seek personal recommendations, or at least find someone who will give a personal touch. Speak to someone like us, suss us out, see if you like and trust us. People come back to us and recommend us all of the time.
Give us a call, or click the case evaluation button below.
When medical treatment goes wrong…
First, Happy New Year! It doesn’t seem THAT long since we were heralding the start of 2011 and here we are at 2012 already!
Over the Christmas and New Year holidays I have been looking at the area of Clinical Negligence and thinking about the impact on the lives of people who are affected when treatment does not go according to plan.
At some point in our lives most of us will require medical tretament of some sort. This might just be in the form of visiting the GP or attending hospital or having to stay as an inpatient. Whatever medical advice you seek the fact is that you are entitled to receive competent advice and treatment. On many occasions medical advisors get this right and you receive the treatment you need. On other occasions however the treatment may be inadequate and this can have consequences both in terms of the effect upon your health and also financially. If this happens then you are entitled to make a claim to compensate you for the consequential damage you have suffered.
To pursue a claim you will have to show that the treatment you received was below that which you were entitled to expect of a reasonably competent medical practitioner. Effectively you will argue that the medical practitioner was “negligent”.
Negligence on the part 0f a medical practitioner can arise in a number of ways. In so far as GPs are concerned this can be in the form of failing to diagnose a health problem at all or there being a delay in diagnosing a problem which can have consequences. GPs also have a duty to ensure that the medication prescribed for you is reasonable. If you consider that your GP has failed in any of these areas with you and as result your health or finances have suffered then you may be able to pursue a claim.
Doctors and Consultants at hospitals also have a duty to provide an adequate standard of care. In some cases a failure in this is obvious – for example you go into hospital and during surgery a sugrical tool or swab is left inside you or the hospital mistakenly treat the wrong limb! But negligence is not restricted to these “obvious” areas and if you feel that following treatment at hospital you are unexpectedly in a worse condition than before you went in then it s worth chatting this through with a solicitor – you may have a claim against the hospital.
A growing area of complaint I have seen recently is in relation to the care provided on the wards. Just like any other professional, ward staff have a duty to provide a competent and reasonable level of care. If the treatment you receive falls below that standard and as a result you take longer to recover than expected or you develop other health problems you didn’t previously have, then again you may have a claim against the hospital.
The effects of inadequate tretament can be far reaching and if you think you have received substandard treatment whilst being treated by a medical practitioner then it is worthwhile seeking a legal opinion on whether you have a possible claim against them. Not every instance of poor care will amount to “negligence” but it is certainly worthwhile asking a solicitor to consider this for you.
I am more than happy to discuss any matters with you and give you some guidance on what you may be able to do.
Faulty and dangerous Christmas presents
Good morning. All that fuss and Christmas fun and it’s all over for another year. I hope you all had a great and accident free Christmas.
As the seasons change and regular annual events take place we do find that we receive enquiries about accident claims that match up with those seasons and events. With winter generally there are those accidents that you might expect, like car collisions caused by wet or icy roads and perhaps driver errors due to driving more in the dark. There are also more nasty slips and trips for the same reasons. The really snowy and icy conditions of the last two winters have certainly been tough for drivers and pedestrians alike. Thankfully, this winter has been much kinder, although who can tell what the rest of the winter will be like?
Around Christmas time we receive injury compensation enquiries about accidents caused by all of those normal winter scenarios, but there is one type of claim that is also very specific to Christmas time and that is where injuries are caused by faulty and/or dangerous goods. The most high profile of these are the ones that involve toys and injuries to children. These cases are pretty rare now because of the well established and policed consumer protection laws and regulations, but any faulty product can be an accident risk.
We have had many varied cases involving faulty goods over the years and these are known collectively as product liability claims. If you look you will see that we have devoted a whole page of our website to those claims under the “Causes of Injury” tab. I won’t repeat it all here, but you will see that these cases have their own foibles.
Modern developments in consumer habits have also given fresh challenges to bringing claims like these. For example, where goods have been bought second hand, say from ebay or gumtree or even a car boot sale, does the purchaser still have the same rights against the original manufacturer or importer if the product is faulty? The answer to that is not simple.
If you have been injured by a faulty product then these factors might be important. For now, keep the product and packaging and all proof of purchase and seek some legal advice on your rights. You can call our free phone or just click on our free case evaluation button below and provide us with a few details. There is no obligation, we will talk it through with you and consider what your rights and options are.
That’s me finished for now, but 2012 looks like being an interesting year, what with the Olympics and the Jubilee to look forward to.
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