Help needed regarding a car accident claim.

kelly81_2

Hi I was involved in a car accident last year (feb) I was stopped turning right, indicators on and I was hit from behind by a white van he was travelling at approx 50mph, I went to the hospital nothing was broken (thankfully) to cut a long story short I ended up leaving my job (as a bank manager) because I am now terrified to drive I have been diagnosed with PTSD, I have ongoing back injurys the medical report said that I have early degenitive changes but they would not have been bought on for 20 years without the accident. I take medication daily I was out of work sick for 3 months and when I did return I had to leave my job due to being unable to drive.
My family suffered financial hardship and we ended up moving in with my sister I did get an intern payment which enabled me and my family to rent a new property, we have had to move to London due to me not driving and the transport in London.
My questions are My solicitor seems to be dragging her feet on the claim she takes ages to do anything and we are still chasing my previous employer for pay related questions they overpayed me whilst I was out and reclaimed the money but refuse to put it in writing., I dont want to start another case to get them to give us the info but my solicitor doesnt seem to do anything she has not chased them in months and when I asked her today she said she will write them a stroppy letter if I want her to but there isnt much more she can do! I have asked her for an estimate time frame to know when the claim will be settled and she said maybe 6-12 months more (she told me this 4 months ago also and at the start of the claim 13 months ago) and I have asked what kind of figure I am looking at again she refuses to give me a figure even a ball part, she said that the claim has been handed over to the large claim department but still has no idea of an amount
. I have been told that I can claim loss of earnings for up to 20 years how is this worked out? At my new Job I get £5500 less a year will it be the £5500 x 20?
What can I do to speed up the claim? I have been advised to get treatment for the PTSD and I have my first appt Monday comming up but I dont know how long that will be for will I have to wait untill the treatment is settled to be able to get the claim settled? If I am cured at the end does the claim for PTSD go away? I want to be able to travel in a car without crying when I see an accident. Does anyone have a relistic figure I should accept?
Thanks for any help given.

veggiecar

Try and forget about the money side of things...it will work itself out, but it will probably take years before anything happens.
The most important thing, IMHO, is to get treatment to get your life back to "normal".
If the other party has admitted liability for the accident, this should be a fairly simple process, for your solicitor, to set up to get you treated quickly, at no cost to you.
Concentrate on pushing for treatment, everything else will come as a bonus. If you set a figure in your head, and don't get it, you are only likely to suffer further stress.
Best of luck.

SolicitorMidlands

Crazy Jamie will respond to this post too I hope.

Unfortunately, without seeing the medical report I cannot advise fully.

However, I will deal with some of the points you have raised:-

1. LOSS OF EARNINGS:- It is not as simple as the difference between your earnings for 20 years. What job are you doing at the moment? There are a lot of factors to take into account when calculating a future loss of earnings claim and this includes your age, qualifications, job security, pay etc.

2. SPEED OF CLAIM:- Unfortunately, claims which are worth a significant sum of money often take longer to settle. This is because Defendants usually want to get their own medical evidence. Do you know whether the Defendant has had sight of your medical report and/or indicated they wish to rely on their own evidence? This would involve you going to another expert instructed on behalf of the Defendant and being examined. A report would be prepared and it is highly likely that expert will be of a different opinion, 99.9% of the time less favourable than the expert your firm of solicitors have instructed.

If you are having treatment for PTSD, it may not be in your interests to settle your claim at this juncture. You do not know whether the treatment is going to be beneficial. Your symptoms may resolve after the treatment, but equally, they may not. If you settle your claim before you conclude treatment and your symptoms do not resolve, you will be unable to return for any further damages arising out of the accident.

If you recover following treatment the claim does not "go away". You would still be compensated for the period of pain and suffering. However, I must stress that you have a duty to mitigate your loss and this includes getting treatment at the earliest opportunity.

This is perhaps one of the reasons why your solicitor is unable to advise on the value of your claim.

However, I would imagine she could give you a rough estimate based on the JSB guidelines for your main injury.

3. WAYS TO SPEED THINGS UP:- If you are unhappy with your solicitor I would recommend putting your concerns in writing and asking for a response from the fee earner's supervisor.

4. YOUR PREVIOUS EMPLOYER:- Your solicitor can issue an application for your earnings information in the county court. It is called a disclosure application. You could mention this to her and ask why she is not thinking of doing this.

I hope the above helps.

kelly81_2

Thank you for your replys.

I was a premier Manager for a high street bank earning £22,850 PA I now am working in a sales role office based (no commision) £17500 PA, I am 27 years old.

My solicitor has sent my medical reports (one from the back injury and the other for the PTSD report) to the insurance comapny Royal Sun alliance and they have raised a few questions but as of yet have not asked for me to see there own Dr. My solicitor said that she was expecting them to raise the questions that thye have (I dont know what they are yet she is mailing it to me) and she said that the medical reports answer most of the questions, My solicitor just seems soooo slow in doing things I have to call her to ask questions it feels like she forgets about my claim untill I call and then once I am off the phone she puts it back in a black hole.

I just want a guide line of a time frame and amount but it just feels that it is never going to end.

Crazy_Jamie

kelly81 wrote: »

My solicitor has sent my medical reports (one from the back injury and the other for the PTSD report) to the insurance comapny Royal Sun alliance and they have raised a few questions but as of yet have not asked for me to see there own Dr. My solicitor said that she was expecting them to raise the questions that thye have (I dont know what they are yet she is mailing it to me) and she said that the medical reports answer most of the questions, My solicitor just seems soooo slow in doing things I have to call her to ask questions it feels like she forgets about my claim untill I call and then once I am off the phone she puts it back in a black hole.

I just want a guide line of a time frame and amount but it just feels that it is never going to end.

Ah. This poses a problem. Whilst ordinarily I would be more than happy to advise you on this, I'm not going to be able to because of a very real possibility that there would be a conflict of interest if I did. Suffice to say that chances are the firm that I work for is on the other side in this case. Sorry.

SolicitorMidlands

No chance mine is!

Crazy_Jamie

SolicitorMidlands wrote: »

No chance mine is!

Haha, quite. Honestly I never imagined I would cross a conflict of interest situation on the internet. Small world indeed.

SolicitorMidlands

We aren't on any panels but I couldn't advise on matters against the police in view of my last firm.

Very small world!!