Council admitting liability

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arsenalboy
arsenalboy Posts: 449 Forumite
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in Insurance & life assurance
last Sept my wife tripped on a badly maintained pavement. She fractured her nose and wrist as well as other injuries. She was immediately taken to A&E and spent 5 hours there, not because of long waits, but because of xrays and the volume of people she saw.

We reported it to the Council within 24 hours and within 48 hours whole sections of the pavement had been repaired.

The Council asked us to fill forms in at the time and we have just received a letter from them.
The letter states that they accept full liability and wish to "pay appropriate compensation". They are now calling for hospital records which will bear out injuries sustained.

What do we do?

As liability has been admitted we do not need a solicitor but how do I know what "appropriate" compensation should be?

I have searched the internet but all you get are scores of solicitors who operate on no win no fee.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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  • ~Beanie~
    ~Beanie~ Posts: 3,043 Forumite
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    Send them the information they are requesting and wait to see what they offer you? That would be my first step.
    :p
  • tasticz
    tasticz Posts: 764 Forumite
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    You can provide the council with the medical report. They will use that to value the claim.

    If you don't engage a solicitor you will need to be happy with the amount they offer you. You don't know how they valued ypur injuries and they are probably not acting in your best interest. You need to be realistic with the numbers though.

    If you are not confident then engage a solicitor. You can even haggle the percentage with the solicitor as liability has already been admitted.

    Engaging a solitor doesn't mean you will get more money than what the council offers you. It just means you will have someone acting on your behalf for a fee and they may fight to get the best payout possible.
  • arsenalboy
    arsenalboy Posts: 449 Forumite
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    ~Beanie~ wrote: »
    Send them the information they are requesting and wait to see what they offer you? That would be my first step.

    Yes that is what I am doing but I haven't got a clue as to what is considered "reasonable" and am therefore doing my research in advance.
  • BooJewels
    BooJewels Posts: 2,908 Forumite
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    Do you have legal cover included in your household insurance? Mine does include personal injury and has a 24 hour advice line.

    Even if they don't act for you, their advice line could at least allow you to have a chat with a lawyer and there will be recognised scales of compensation per injury, so they could give you an idea of what might be fair etc.
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,559 Forumite
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    arsenalboy wrote: »
    Yes that is what I am doing but I haven't got a clue as to what is considered "reasonable" and am therefore doing my research in advance.

    Some rough guidelines -
    https://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/legal-help/injury-compensation-amounts
  • arsenalboy
    arsenalboy Posts: 449 Forumite
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    BooJewels wrote: »
    Do you have legal cover included in your household insurance? Mine does include personal injury and has a 24 hour advice line.

    Even if they don't act for you, their advice line could at least allow you to have a chat with a lawyer and there will be recognised scales of compensation per injury, so they could give you an idea of what might be fair etc.

    thanks for the suggestion I think I have helpline cover!
  • arsenalboy
    arsenalboy Posts: 449 Forumite
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    Mojisola wrote: »
    Some rough guidelines -
    https://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/legal-help/injury-compensation-amounts

    Thanks that is helpful.
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