Personal Injury Claim advice

leachi

One of my kitchen chairs collapsed a few days ago and I ended up on my back on the kitchen floor. The chair is a John Lewis Curve basic chair. When I peeled myself up off the floor it became apparent that the chair's fittings had gradually sliced through the tubular metal of the leg. I went to the GP yesterday as I had been suffering from back pain and headaches and today, several days on, it is even worse. I have pain between the shoulder blades on breathing in. I have complained/tweeted John Lewis and they have refunded me and referred my complaint to their buying department.

I have checked the reviews of these chairs and although they are generally well reviewed, it seems there have been quite a lot of people experiencing problems with them, including them collapsing under people! (Check out the 1* Curve £19 Chair reviews on the John Lewis website- I am unable to put the link here as I am a newbie!)

I am furious that they have continued to sell these chairs without taking any action on all of the negative reviews, warning that these chairs collapse. Therefore, I am considering legal action as I am in quite a bit of pain and feel they have been negligent.

My question is, has anyone got advice on how to proceed as I hear bad things about all these personal injury lawyers and wouldn't know where to start. Any advice gratefully received! Vanessa

AJXX

Meh... I'm in two minds about this.

It's obviously a really bad situation and could really hurt someone BUT on the other hand how long can you really expect £19 flimsy chairs to last in the real world?

I'm assuming the chairs in question are these: http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-the-basics-curve-dining-chair-white/p231441579

motley

I would suspect if you take it further, the shop would pass it onto their lawyers, who in turn would turn to the manufacturers for recompense.

leachi

Well, you are entitled to your opinion AJXX but surely a chair should be safe and the chair's price would, I imagine, be irrelevant from a legal point of view.

tomtontom

What has your GP suggested you do? How much compo are you looking for?

AJXX

leachi wrote: »

Well, you are entitled to your opinion AJXX but surely a chair should be safe and the chair's price would, I imagine, be irrelevant from a legal point of view.

Not so actually. Take for example SOGA complaints.

Under the Sale of Goods Act of 1979, traders are legally responsible to sell goods which are of satisfactory quality, that is they are of a standard that would reasonably be expected taking into consideration the price paid and description. In appropriate circumstances the quality of the goods will include freedom from minor defects, durability, safety, and appearance and finish.

Also take into account that a few bad reviews of the same thing happening will NOT constitute a design flaw legally. You will have to prove that the design is flawed/dangerous.

John Lewis have done the right thing and refunded you. Will your GP be willing to back you up and confirm that your 'headaches' and such are 100% the result of taking a tumble off the chair?

Also you say that it was apparent that the metal had sliced through. So what happens if you go to court and John Lewis lawyers turn around and say "well you didn't check the chair regularly for issues". If you look at the assembly instructions (here) it clearly states "Periodically check the tightness of all screws and retighten as necessary." - did you do this? if so why didn't you notice the metal slicing through?

A minor detail such as above could get the whole case thrown out.

unholyangel

leachi wrote: »

Well, you are entitled to your opinion AJXX but surely a chair should be safe and the chair's price would, I imagine, be irrelevant from a legal point of view.

Yes and no - mostly no. The reason its not irrelevant from a legal point of view...well things dont have indefinite lifespans. Determining a products lifespan (and whether it is of satisfactory quality or not) does take the price into consideration.

Put quite simply, you wouldnt expect a £19 chair to last as long or be as good quality as a £500 one.

Also, injury claims are a lot harder to prove than personal injury lawyer adverts would have you believe.

Bantex_2

OP, How much to you weigh.

leachi

The chair was less than 2 years old and had been tightened a few times, but the serious damage was happening, hidden, under a fixing. I think you could reasonably expect a chair, whatever the price, to last for 2 years, especially from somewhere like John Lewis, who have a good reputation generally. Also, there is evidence from the other reviews that this has happened to others when their chairs were even newer. I am more interested in holding John Lewis to account and making sure this doesn't happen again than in "compo" for my " 'headaches' and such" although something towards physio would be appreciated. I really wouldn't have any idea of how much you could get for an accident like this.

I am only 10 stone by the way and have really hurt myself I was just interested if anyone else had any experience with this sort of thing.

tomtontom

What did your doctor say? If you need physio they can refer you.

leachi

Tomtontom, yesterday morning when I saw the doctor, she gave no particular advice other than come back if I am not feeling better in a few days. I just wanted to be checked over as I had fallen quite hard backwards. Today, however, the pain has got worse between my shoulder blades, every breath in hurts, and bad headache even after taking co-codamol and ibuprofen together, so will go back to the doctors tomorrow and see what she says.