personal injury claims??

Josuk

Has any one had any experience or got any knowlege of personal injury claims?

There is so much jargon No win No fee? but still have costs? leagal insurance?

I don't want to be scammed whe I have a genuine claim??

trafalgar_2

Hi Josuk,welcome to the site:)


I'm moving your post to the Health Board Josuk where it should get responses.

Ted_Hutchinson

Josuk wrote:

Has any one had any experience or got any knowlege of personal injury claims?

There is so much jargon No win No fee? but still have costs? leagal insurance?

I don't want to be scammed whe I have a genuine claim??

I have no personal experience of these claims but am aware of the impact such compensation would have on any welfare benefits you may receive as a result of the accident. You will find the details here
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/cru/
and it is fair to say that if you received DWP benefits resulting from the injury unless you have a lawyer who is aware of ways to avoid the powers of the Compensation Recovery Unit any money you receive will first compensate the lawyer, then the CRU and you may find there is nothing in left in the pot for yourself or so little as to provide scant compensation for the stress involved in claiming.

mini

hi

I had acar accident years ago, before the no win no fee brigade arrived, first I went with solicitor from insurance company, he was useless, based far away so I couldn't travel to him & never reurned calls, moved to a solicitor nearer where I lived & was able to go in for updates, sign consent forms etc. Like I said it wasn't no win no fee & I had to pay for consultants reports & photocopying of my medical notes! came to about £300 which I claimed back.

HTH

mini

comeonthetic

Josuk,

I recently applied for compensation for an assault on myself throught this site.

https://www.cica.gov.uk

I applied in January, and received a reply a few weeks ago saying my case was being investigated. Obviously I do not know the ins and outs of your case, but it may be of benefit to you as it is government funded and is therefor free. The application is quite long and I think it helps if the incident was reported to the Police at the earliest opportunity and you fully collaborated with their enquiries.

tic.

frugal_dougal_3

If the accident happened at your place of work your union should be able to help you with your claim.

It is very important to complete an entry in the accident book and to ensure it is reported to DSS as an industrial accident (if this applies).

Josuk

Thanks for alll your advice......
I fell on loose pavement/tarmac whilst on a training run for the great north run and badly sprained my ankle after an Xray and a long wait I was told it was a severe sprain and I had damaged most of the ligaments in my ankle. I was told I needed to start walking on it within 3 days and stop using crutches. After a week I was still in alot of pain so I went back to A& E and they re xrayed and found a fracture.......So they put me in a knee to ankle cast. I missed a week of work and now I am having to get taxis or lifts to work and back which is already driving me insain. I am a very active person and feel really fed up. I don't know whether putting a claim in is worth all the hassle??
I don't know anything about claiming? I have contacted one company online and they aound very professional I just don't know what loop holes to look for?

Any advice welcome

Jos

mini

hi again,

I am not an expert but from what I've heard about such claims a photo of the path you fell on with a tape measure/ruler to show size helps apparently.

I was wondering with your further info whether you'll be needing physio? You jogged my memory I had physio twice a week for months, it was billed to my solicitors account to be paid when claim settled, I would have thought that would be less likely with an internet company. May be worth looking in your local paper for adverts for solicitors & ringing one for initial info/free first appointment.

Are you keeping a record of all expenses such as taxis, hospital car parking etc?

Wishing you a speedy recovery


mini

Josuk

Yep keeping up with the expenses particularly the taxis!!

Thanks

j

Bossyboots

Where liability is not an issue, any legal fees incurred are recovered by your solicitor as well as compensation. You therefore get the full amount of your compo. There was a long running case the upshot of which was that the insurance premium for no win no fee has become recoverable as part of your expenses. You need to see a solicitor for an assessment of your case.

I do know however that it is incredibly difficult claiming against local authority's for this sort of thing. They have to have been negligent in the first place and that is going to be hard to establish. It is not reasonable for a council to know every single fault on every single path or road in their area. If it can be shown that they knew or ought to have known there was a problem you will be onto something. I suspect however their insurers will say it was not reasonable for them to have known.

You could just send a letter to them saying you hold them responsible and intend claiming damages. You will almost certainly get a letter from their insurers denying liability at which point you will need to seek proper advice.

One word of caution. Not only should you get out there and measure and photograph where you tripped, but you should do so before alerting the local authority to your claim. As soon as they know they will send someone out to put it right, thus removing your evidence.