Rta: Drunk driver

Geordie_Aaron

Evening all,

On the 14/03 I was rear ended on the motorway whilst at a stand still in traffic by a drunk driver doing atleast 70mph so say the police officers that attended - I was knocked unconcious instantly and woke up in the ambulance.
I was discharged some 8 hours later from hospital with a 5" gash to the rear of my head, chipped (but not cracked) skull, 3 fractured ribs and obviously lumps/bumps and bruises all over my body but still in one piece, xrays and CT scans came back fine thankfully.

Now, i got home from the hospital at 3am, wrestled and wrestled but couldn't sleep for the agony i was in with head & ribs and when i rang the insurance at 8am to report everything, i got a phonecall from their 'appointed solicitors' to deal with the 'pain and suffering' claim....they said to check my policy incase i thought they were some scammer and sure enough their name was there so i just went along with it and gave all info etc

As the days have gone by i've been very confused/forgetful because of the bang to the head, but started thinking....the insurance gave me 'free' legal cover and have now appointed a solicitor..........is this some sort of underhand money saving scheme perhaps? but thought nothing more than that....

...until this morning - the (my) solicitors have sent a letter based on ONLY my personal account IE non medical/professional information given in ONE phonecall the morning after the crash, stating i should expect somewhere between £1000 and £5000.
This really made me think - they've made this guesstimate on PURELY my information. im not a dr, they havn't seen the injuries, nor have they heard from me about my confusion/forgetfull'ness and 2nd hospital admission for another CT scan ETC ETC ETC the list goes on.....so how can they come up with this random figure?
have they been appointed by my insurer to try and settle it as quick and cheap as possible for statistical purporeses ETC?

forgive me if some of this doesnt make sense im still not 100% with the confusion and the painkillers are sending me off into my own world sometimes haha :T

so...

1. think the above is possible?
2. can i change solicitor?
3. what happens from now?

the drunk driver whom blew 3x the limit walked away from the crash (in his van) perfectly fine and has been bailed until april - police said i was really lucky to be alive as my mk3 mondeos bootlid was pushed up against the drivers seat!!!!!! seemly i was dragged out the window?! i have no idea though!?

all opinions/recommendations as to what to do more than welcome thank you :beer:

Sgt_Pepper_2

Don't settle until you have fully recovered.

ILW

The state of the driver that hit you has no bearing on pain and suffering compensation.

magpiecottage

ILW wrote: »

The state of the driver that hit you has no bearing on pain and suffering compensation.

A bit blunt even if it is true.

Sounds like the solicitor is simply writing to make contact and give an initial view. I doubt they had chance to receive any kind of medical report - the accident was Wednesday so they would only have been appointed on Thursday and written on Friday.

I doubt it is anything to worry about. Concentrate on recovering.

Crazy_Jamie

Geordie_Aaron wrote: »

1. think the above is possible?
2. can i change solicitor?
3. what happens from now?

They won't have been appointed by your insurer to settle as quickly as possible, because the cost of your injuries won't be covered on your policy; the third party's insurer will be liable for those. The solicitor will be on their approved panel of solicitors, in a process which potentially involved the solicitor paying some kind of referral fee to the insurer. That is neither here or there, though. It sounds to me like the solicitor has simple given an initial indication. I wouldn't attach too much weight to it at this point. It amounts to little more than a guess at this point. You'll need to be much further down the road in terms of your recovery before a more accurate valuation can be given, and you will also need to be examined by a medical expert. What is the name of the firm, out of interest?

To answer your other questions, yes you can change solicitor. You have no obligation to use the solicitor appointed by your insurer. The choice of legal representation is entirely yours. It sounds like this solicitor is going to be funded through your insurer, which is fine. If you decide to instruct another solicitor it should be done by way of a Conditional Fee Agreement (otherwise known as 'no win no fee').

In terms of your third question, the third party's insurer will likely already be aware of the incident, and will therefore be aware that a claim is coming. From what you've stated as to the accident circumstances it certainly doesn't sound like liability will be an issue. However, before your case can be settled you will need to be a lot further on the road to recovery. You will also need to be examined by a medical expert and s/he will need to prepare a report, which will aid the solicitors in valuing your injuries. It's difficult to give a time frame because initially it depends on how your recovery goes. Once a report has been prepared there will probably be active attempts made to settle the case, and whilst this can be a relatively quick process, there is no guarantee of this and if your solicitors and the third party insurer disagree on the valuation, the case can ultimately proceed to a trial on the issue of the valuation.

In short, the only thing you need to be concerned about right now is getting better. The rest of the process can start as and when it needs to (you have three years to issue a personal injury claim, so time is on your side).

ILW wrote:

The state of the driver that hit you has no bearing on pain and suffering compensation.

I can't see how the OP was suggesting that it does.

bouncydog1

I would also add that you should keep evidence of every single penny that you incur as a result of your accident - if you need to take a taxi to the Dr. then do so and get a receipt.

Individuals will think this is ridiculous but it can take (and is probably likely to) some time before you are 100% again and you will only be able to claim for out of pocket expenses that you are able to prove you paid.

As CJ states, the most important thing is for you to concentrate on getting better - your insurers will sort out your side of things if you are fully comp - but the out of pocket expenses will form part of your claim against the third party which the solicitor is dealing with. It is far too early to be thinking about what the ultimate settlement figure is likely to be, because everybody progresses in a different way. It is likely to take many months until you are fully healed and it will only be at that stage, when all of the medical evidence is available that the damages can be agreed between insurers.

I hope that you feel better soon. Please come back and post if you need anything else.

Should also have added, that if things prove difficult because you have no income, then you can ask your solicitor to ask for an interim payment from the third party insurers - this will be deducted from final settlements, but you should not have to struggle with additional costs because of this accident.

Geordie_Aaron

Many thanks all.... been a bit of a strange week with a couple unplanned visits to hospital but back on the mend now.
Decided to source my own solicitor to deal with it because the insurance provided one just didn't seem on the ball nor too 'bothered' about the whole situation. IE it's a week later now and not heard a thing from them other than their opening 'how are you' letter explaining who they are.

anyway - managed to go view the car today.... ALOT worse than what i had pictured in my head... the tall 'van' in the background of the pics is what ploughed into me...

epsilondraconis

Wow - what a mess. I assume no one else was in the car (at least not on the rear passenger seats).

Just a thought, should you black out your reg number from your pics?

Sgt_Pepper_2

Yeah
Black out the EU52 GMG.

Geordie_Aaron

Thanks for the concern, I did think about blanking the Reg out, but if the low life out there would like to use this reg....feel free,
It's already been declared sorn/written off RE insurance database and the registration itself has been confirmed by the DVLA as destroyed so the very first ANPR camera (likely traffic car) the reg went through they would be pulled straight away :-)

again thanks for the concern people :-)

Sgt_Pepper_2

Geordie_Aaron wrote: »

Thanks for the concern, I did think about blanking the Reg out, but if the low life out there would like to use this reg....feel free,
It's already been declared sorn/written off RE insurance database and the registration itself has been confirmed by the DVLA as destroyed so the very first ANPR camera (likely traffic car) the reg went through they would be pulled straight away :-)

again thanks for the concern people :-)

Don't stop them getting your home address.