compensation settlement

skyecon

the accident was 19 feb 08.

SolicitorMidlands

Essentially:-

Head - 2 weeks
Neck - 4-6 weeks
Back and Chest - 4 months
Psychological symptoms - 6-9 months

I am concerned that you have not sought counselling for your psychological symptoms and the Defendant is likely to view this as a "well, it can't be that bad if she didn't go to counselling" case.

Based on the guidlines, I would value your claim for general damage in the region of 1,500 - 1,800. Without looking at other similar cases I am really guessing and going on gut instinct more than anything else. I hope Crazy Jamie will be alone in a minute to advise on the value too.

What type of expert examined you, i.e. GP, Orthopaedic?

skyecon

He was an independent gp.

She has had some heart problems since the accident and these started about 2-3 months after but cannot be fully diagnosed as fully linked ot the accident but these are ongoing and she will need some sort of beta blocker to keep it under control. The specialist has said the accident maybe a factor but due to the difference in time it maybe difficult to tie the two together.

i think we're grasping at straws now but it maybe worth mentioning

SolicitorMidlands

Did the expert recommend you be examined by an alternative expert who can comment on the heart problems?

Crazy_Jamie

Apologies for not replying to this sooner. Didn't have chance to look at this over the weekend.

SolicitorMidlands wrote: »

I am concerned that you have not sought counselling for your psychological symptoms and the Defendant is likely to view this as a "well, it can't be that bad if she didn't go to counselling" case.

I agree with this. It also opens up a potential argument of lack of mitigation if she does relapse, which obviously she hopefully won't. Nothing can do be done about this at the moment though, so it is not worth worrying about.

SolicitorMidlands wrote:

Based on the guidlines, I would value your claim for general damage in the region of 1,500 - 1,800. Without looking at other similar cases I am really guessing and going on gut instinct more than anything else. I hope Crazy Jamie will be alone in a minute to advise on the value too.

My range for general damages came out slightly higher at around the £1,700 - £1,900 mark. Close enough to show that we're thinking on the same lines. Though like SM I'm not entirely comfortable with the valuation because I don't have any information regarding how bad the symptoms were. I'm going off the assumption of moderate symptoms early swiftly moving on to relatively minor symptoms in all areas, which is what your other posts tend to suggest. I haven't looked at comparable cases either, though admittedly to do that I would normally want to see the entire report so that I can more accurately compare symptoms as well as recovery periods. What I'm getting at is that you should not take these valuations as gospel. Due to the limited information that we're going off there could easily be information that we're missing here that changes that valuation.

Is that £2,000 offer inclusive of £800 for special damages (i.e. are they offering £1,200 for general damages)?

rabster74

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

Apologies for not replying to this sooner. Didn't have chance to look at this over the weekend.
I agree with this. It also opens up a potential argument of lack of mitigation if she does relapse, which obviously she hopefully won't. Nothing can do be done about this at the moment though, so it is not worth worrying about.
My range for general damages came out slightly higher at around the £1,700 - £1,900 mark. Close enough to show that we're thinking on the same lines. Though like SM I'm not entirely comfortable with the valuation because I don't have any information regarding how bad the symptoms were. I'm going off the assumption of moderate symptoms early swiftly moving on to relatively minor symptoms in all areas, which is what your other posts tend to suggest. I haven't looked at comparable cases either, though admittedly to do that I would normally want to see the entire report so that I can more accurately compare symptoms as well as recovery periods. What I'm getting at is that you should not take these valuations as gospel. Due to the limited information that we're going off there could easily be information that we're missing here that changes that valuation.

Is that £2,000 offer inclusive of £800 for special damages (i.e. are they offering £1,200 for general damages)?

From an insurance agents point of view I think £1500-1600 for gens and £800 on specials (depending that these can be supported) would be about right.

Crazy_Jamie

rabster74 wrote: »

From an insurance agents point of view I think £1500-1600 for gens and £800 on specials (depending that these can be supported) would be about right.

To be honest the thing that pushed it up for me was the lumbar spine injury. The whiplash is quite straightforward, but four months is a decent amount of time for a lumbar spine injury that (reading into the medical report) seemed to affect mobility slightly. As such £1,500 felt too low to me. That said, you are an insurance agent and therefore I imagine that you deal in Defendant work exclusively, making it not the greatest surprise that your valuation came out slightly lower

SolicitorMidlands

....and I value quite cautiously anyway! Although at least we are in the same bracket.

Crazy_Jamie

We are, though as I said above I am still not comfortable with the valuation because there is potentially more here that we don't know about. The suggestion that the lumbar spine injury affected mobility, as well as the OPs statement that his wife didn't fully return to work for six months makes me apprehensive about this. I just have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that this injury could actually be worth more than even my valuation, though I suppose with limited information over the internet such doubts are always going to exist.

skyecon

Thanks for all the advice the £2000 was including the £800 damages we are trying for a bit more but as shes pregnant the stress of going to court for what could be just a moral victory and a couple of hundred extra i think we'll take whatever is offered now. I have learnt not to use the insurance company solicitors where possible and try and talk to someone first before agreeing for them to take on your case but hopefully i'm never in this situation again. Thanks again