Personal injury in traffic accident

clueless1

Hi I am seeking advice for a family member.

My brother was in a traffic accident while at work driving a work vehicle. Police and ambulance attended the scene. The other driver was arrested for drink driving, my brother was taken to hospital.
Fortunately, the MRI scan gave all clear. However he is suffering from whiplash as the impact of accident has written off both vehicles.
He has completed the insurance claim forms for his employer. Will his employers insurance claim personal injury for my brother or does he need to put in a separate claim? Can he do this himself or does he need to appoint a solicitor?
Not sure how to deal with this or who to contact about this as it is his employers insurance. Even the police report was sent to his employer and not to my brother.

McKneff

I think it is something he will have to deal with himself. He could deal with the company directly or find himself a no win, no fee solicitor. Maybe the companys insurance could point him in the right direction.

Hope he gets well soon. I have a friend still suffering from the after effects of a low impact crash with whiplash. This was 2 years ago.

Dynamic_Panda

I was involved in an accident last year and the person who owned the vehicle I was a passenger in's insurance company appointed a solicitor for me..................its still on going and they said I should be fully recovered by 01 Feb this year..........ten months after the accident..............I am currently waiting for a scan to see why I am in constant pain............

I digress...........get his works insurers to appoint one for him as it was a work vehicle he was driving............

DP

Crazy_Jamie

I would highly recommend that your brother instructs a solicitor to represent him. Personal injury litigation is a specialist area, and even if liability is admitted (which is may well be), your brother will have no way of knowing whether or not any particular offer for his injuries is reasonable or not. His employer will not make this claim for him; he needs to do this himself.

Your brother has the right to instruct a solicitor of his choosing. He may be offered a solicitor through the employer's insurance, but equally he can find a solicitor himself. It is unlikely to make any material difference as to which solicitor your brother instructs, just as long as he realises that the choice is his and he is comfortable with who he instructs. Unless there is a relevant legal expenses policy somewhere, your brother should instruct a solicitor on the basis of a Conditional Fee Agreement or CFA (which is the proper name for 'no win no fee'). CFAs are the most common and most appropriate way of funding personal injury litigation at the moment, and that is how your brother should be seeking to instruct a solicitor.

vaio

Yep, specialist representation is required.

Worth pointing out that if his employers insurer appoints one then they will likely get a nice referral fee for doing so. Google will throw up a number of PI firms that, if approached direct, will give the punter a "referral fee" for allowing them to take the case. Up to £1500 is available

BethanyD

Think carefully before you decide which solicitor to instruct

Those who offer the £1500 upfront try and settle your claim as quickly as possible so that they can recoup the money they advanced to you as they have to pay the interest until the case is concluded.

This will probably mean that instead of getting £3000 in compensation (after 6 -8 months) you will only get £1500 after 4 months.

Lots of lawyers are now being sued for under-settling the claims.

Try Lance Mason Solicitors - they are meant to achieve the highest compensation awards in the UK

sarahg1969

BethanyD wrote: »

Try Lance Mason Solicitors - they are meant to achieve the highest compensation awards in the UK

Says who? They're a tiny firm who've only been around a couple of years and operate from a small office on an industrial estate in Blackburn.

Crazy_Jamie

BethanyD wrote: »

Try Lance Mason Solicitors - they are meant to achieve the highest compensation awards in the UK

Along with Sarah I would be very interested to see the source of that information. According to the Law Society they only have four qualified solicitors. In the absence of any further information I would frankly be rather suspicious of such a recommendation.

vaio

BethanyD wrote: »

Think carefully before you decide which solicitor to instruct

Those who offer the £1500 upfront try and settle your claim as quickly as possible so that they can recoup the money they advanced to you as they have to pay the interest until the case is concluded.

This will probably mean that instead of getting £3000 in compensation (after 6 -8 months) you will only get £1500 after 4 months.

Lots of lawyers are now being sued for under-settling the claims.

Try Lance Mason Solicitors - they are meant to achieve the highest compensation awards in the UK

I thought most (almost non-contentious) injuries were valued by reference to a set of guidlines so broadly you'll yet the same whoever represents you.

But even if you are right then I'd prefer £1500 now (referral fee) and £1500 (compensation) in four months rather than no referral fee and £3k compensation in eight months

BethanyD

Although there are guidelines, there are still discrepancies between how lawyers run claims.

Incidentally, the initial £1500 - are you sure it's a referral fee and not an advance against the compensation award as lawyers only get paid £1300 for the majority of cases which would mean they are losing money.

This would mean that you only get the £1500 once.

vaio wrote: »

I thought most (almost non-contentious) injuries were valued by reference to a set of guidlines so broadly you'll yet the same whoever represents you.

But even if you are right then I'd prefer £1500 now (referral fee) and £1500 (compensation) in four months rather than no referral fee and £3k compensation in eight months

BethanyD

I think your information is out of date - they operate out of 2 offices next to each other (about 20,000 sq ft) and employ over 90 people

I work for an insurance company defending claims so I have some knowledge of these things.

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Says who? They're a tiny firm who've only been around a couple of years and operate from a small office on an industrial estate in Blackburn.