Personal Injury after car accident

ceri123

I was involved in an accident before xmas, third party fault, my old car was a write off. Got new car, all that side of things sorted, except my injuries are persisting quite badly even over 2 months on, despite it being just a rear impact by a smaller car at traffic lights.

I was with M&S insurance, fully comp and they've assigned my claim to Minster Law. I've just sort of gone with the flow, and gone to doctor's and physio appointments they've instructed to. Their doctor gave me a 2 minute appointment in which he fired questions at me about basic back pain symptoms but didn't give me a chance to really say a lot and ushered me out. They seem to have ignored the details of damaged baby car seat (my baby son was in the car at the time), mobile phone etc and mileage to and from appointments (I've had to treck quite some distance to several physio/doctors appointments that they've arranged) etc etc, and have ignored some of the symptoms I've got - severe migraines, postnatal depression that I believe (and doctor believes) was triggered by the accident, and my injuries causing me to be unable to lift or interact much with my baby son, and seem to be saying that I'm lucky because I was on maternity leave until a few weeks ago therefore had no lost earnings. The report I've just received is really disappointing as it fails to address so much. Plus they have said that my injuries can't be that bad if I'm able to go to work - never mind the fact that I am so loyal to the company/role (plus fear my job would be conveniently on the line if I went off sick) and need the money (can't wait for settlement to reclaim lost earnings), not to mention that I sit in the toilets in tears in agony, spend the day dosed up on strong painkillers, and have to have lifts to and from work because it hurts too much to drive blah blah.

Just wondered if I have the option of changing to an alternative personal injury specialist? And whether this would be wise anyway? Obviously I will now discuss my concerns with Minster Law and see what they say. I haven't signed anything to say I agree to stick with them etc etc, but presume that by going along to all appointments etc that they've instructed me to, I'm in effect "instructing" them as my legal representation? I just worry that they don't have my best interests - one letter they sent me stated something about the fact that they are a large company acting on behalf of several insurers and what happens in the event that they represent both me and the third party. Third party insurers were Admiral, another major insurer - don't know whether that's more likely to mean there'll be a conflict of interests?

Hope someone can advise. Thanks.

bosseyed

Ugh, Minster Law. They're terrible, or they were for us anyway - they may be awesome for you though. All I can say is keep plugging away, keep ringing them and writing to them with everything thats wrong and eventually everything will get done.

My wife was in a similar situation, she was a passenger in a friends car and a lorry driver on his mobile phone plowed into the back of them. My wife had severe whiplash, had to leave her job as it involved manual handling which she just couldn't do anymore, and started getting migraines and severe shoulder pain, which she'd never had before and which continues to this day.

She was assigned to Minster Law via her friends insurance to claim for loss of earnings and personal injury - without wanting to depress you too much, even though the third party admitted liability within a couple of months of the accident its taken nearly 4 years for my wife to finally get everything oweing to her, with Minster Law seemingly unable to get even the basic facts right throughout the case and seemingly unable to keep up to date with what was going on, or to advise in a timely fashion the status of the case.

I'm afraid I'm not particuarly up on the whether you can switch representation easily - I'd assume you can, but having got this far with Minster Law, and done all their independant health assessments etc it may be easier to stay the course with them. I might not be a speedy resolution to the issue, but you'll get there eventually as long as you continuously remind them that you're there.

Good luck.