Personal Injury Claim Advise Please

AndyCTR

Hello all,

Hoping to get some advise off all you clever people as me and my partner are quite confused.

Cutting a long story short, me and my partner were invovled in a car accident just over 2 years ago. At the time my car slipped on mud on the road from road works and the car hit passenger side into a road sign. I could not prove it was down to the road works as the road was cleared the next morning and we couldnt take and pictures as we were both taken to hospital at the time of the accident. As there were no other vehicles invovled or witnesses, I had to take liability as (unfortunate circustances, driver error), which I am still angry about but can't do nothing about this.

We both sustained some nasty injuries, we decided that my partner should make a personal injury claim on my insurance as I had all the covers ect.

My partner suffered a fractured pelvis in two places, ACL ligament damage to her knee. Lower back pain still to this day. She has been told she may need a operation on her ACL knee ligament later in life. She can't do any heavy exercise because and knee and back pain. She was in hospital for 8 days after the accident and has had lots of treatment over the last two years including CT Scans, xrays, physiotherapy, psychotherapy and much more. She was also out of work for 4 months and when she did go back it was on light duties.

Anyway.... All this treatment was being handled by a company called Knight Rehab appointed through my insurance. Yet until only about 3/4 weeks ago she had not heard anything relating to the personal injury claim, she rang Knight Rehab and asked about this because she was unsure who else to speak to. They said they would advise Swiftcover of this (My insurer at the time of the accident). Swiftcover contacted her saying someone from SIMS Claims would be in contact which they did. SIMS Claims contacted my partner and requested her medical records, work pay slips and any other loss of earnings and said they would be intouch with a personal injury claim offer.

A couple days ago they rang my partner and made a offer of £14,200. She was unsure what to do and said she would think about it.

The reason I am writing here is we are confused about a few things...

..Don't SIMS Claims work for Swiftcover? Do they have my partners best interests at heart? Or are they giving a bad offer to save Swiftcover money?

..Should have she been appointed a solicitor by my insurance?

.. I know you can't give us a exact figure of money, but does this figure seem about right? As we have no idea if it is as we seem the have no one to talk to about the claim who is on "our side".

.. Is this case being handled correctly? Or should she have been appointed a solicitor? Or is it correct that the guy at SIMS Claims is dealing with it all?

If you need anymore info we will be glad to help, any answers are appreciated.

Many Thanks,

Andy.

Sgt_Pepper_2

So what did the police report say about the condition of the road?

AndyCTR

I don't know as I havent seen it personally. All I know is the police were onsite, did a report and was just told I was liable as (unfortunate circumstances, driver error).

Road conditions were, wet, heavy rain, dark. There were piles of dirt on both sides of the road where works were taking place, also where the accident happened there is a landfill site where trucks are in and out all the time which I felt could of contributed to the slippy road surface. I did tell the insurance all this, but I was never asked to do a police statement. I never had any contact with the police at all, apart from having a letter of them a couple months after the accident saying that basically it was a unfortunate accident and that no further action would be taken. Must admit I found this strange seeing I had not had any other contact from them...?

Many Thanks,

Andy.

geri1965_2

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

So what did the police report say about the condition of the road?

This is irrelevant as the passenger is claiming against the driver's insurance and it appears they have admitted liability.

OP, you can see a solicitor at any stage. It is hard for strangers on the internet to advise on the offer without seeing a medical report and documentation to assess loss of earnings etc.

Your insurers will not instruct a solicitor for her as they would in effect be helping someone to claim more money from them.

Sgt_Pepper_2

They'll have a copy of the report though.

Quentin

Your partner is effectively sueing you,(with your insurer picking up the tab), and should have her own legal advice over this (and not be being advised by your insurer's advisers).

She should get independent advice from a PI solicitor.

AndyCTR

So who should she go to for advise? Any companies recommended?

What should be the next steps, just advise? Or get a independant solicitor to handle her case?

I understand it looks strange as she effectively sueing me, up this does not bother me as we are a strong couple who have been together along time, she suffered badly from her injuries and should be intitled to compensation.

Sorry for all the questions, its just all getting very confusing now

Many thanks,

Andy.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Try Fentons. Of course there are other companies