Serious Car accident injuries. What to expect in Compensation payouts!

RattyMac

Last year in June 06 i was driving my car back to Uni with my sister. Driving down the country lane at 60mph, very open and wide straight. Then all of a sudden a white van man pulls out in front of me giving me 10ft to brake with out ABS too (dry hot summer day). He didnt look and had pulled out of a farm.
Anyway i crashed at around 45mph into his side with horrific consequences.

My sister was ok she had
1 - very serious whiplash obviously after hiting a car at that speed. Still suffering.
2 - Serious bruising. Gone now
3 - Injury prior to the accident got worse (force of crash opened her leg burns causing permanent scarring).
4- Pysological help and is fine now.

As for me
1 - Keys in steering column gashed out and dug into my right knee causing a hole to the bone 50p size. Permanent massive scarring.
2 - Left knee broke. Well the force broke the inner corner bottom thight in the knee (non weight baring part but still couldnt walk). The hospital said the knee was fine at 1st and said its just strained but ok. 2 weeks later the bone moves around the knee and key hole surgury was needed to remove it. Got 3 scars and a flabby part of the knee. Now healed.
3 - Right foot 5th Metatarsal fractured. Didnt notice this until 3-4 weeks after the accident. The foot couldnt take anymore since i was using crutches to help my left broken knee heal. Medical examiner said it was fractured in the accident but was delayed pain from the knee and putting all my weight on that foot made it worse. I still cannot run for long periods and long drives feathering the accelerator hurts. Lumpy bone sticking out over fracture causes pain and its still feel bruised. But ok to walk and live normal just less sports.
4 - Broken nose (no airbag) Healed
5 - Pucture wound on right hip. Hipbone chipped slightly and punctured the skin. Alot of discomfort for a few months but healed and scarred.
6 - Alot of painful whiplash. Even now it hurts so much. Difficult to weight train like i used to and every morning its stiff even though i do streches.
7 - Obviously Psycological issues and needed help. All sorted now.
The accident was at the beginning of summer 2006 so i had just finished uni and intended to work over summer. I was out all summer indoors becoming paysty and white and getting into more debt.

I think thats all.
Well blame was admitted by the other guy i hit. His fault, apparently he had a fractured pelvis but i dont know or care.
My car was annihilated. Well front end gone. I got £1500 for the car.
Since i needed money from not working and my mum had to loose her job to look after me and my sister. We needed an interim payment. We got £2500. £1500 was my loss of earnings that cleared my debt but that soon built up since was still unable to work. The other £1000 i gave to my mum to clear her debts form not working.

Right sorry for long story. Just needed to paint the picture.
i have finished all my legal medical checkups and have signed the paper to move along with offers. My sister hasnt got that far yet since she moved to spain for a while. She has £3000 worth of plastic surgury on her leg needed quoted by Bupa.

What kind of offer am i to expect? I have no idea on figures at all.
Thing is i dont want to get to worked up about getting a very large amount i will dissapointment myself.

Any help please???????????????

tomstickland

His fault, apparently he had a fractured pelvis but i dont know or care.

Do you think he did it on purpose?

RattyMac

tomstickland wrote: »

Do you think he did it on purpose?

Why would he do that on purpose? He was driving an Astra Van (company van) he had just fitted an alarm in the farm house. What happened was he clearly just drove out onto the road without looking. Even he admitted it to all the firecrew, air ambulance and police that showed up. So many came.

mattymoo

Presumably you have a solicitor representing you and perhaps another firm representing your sister. They do this sometimes in case of potential conflicts of interest, on the off chance you are held partly to blame.

You really need to be speaking to the solicitor. They will have seen the medical reports and researched the quantum (amount) of the claim based on previous cases with similar injuries, adjusted for inflation.

The amount will be in two parts.
Special damages - these are capable of financial quantification and include loss of earnings, car damage, policy excess, adaptions for home, medical bills (including BUPA) and travel expenses, e.g. to medical examinations. There should also be a claim for mothers loss of earnings, incurred to look after you and your sister.

The other type is general damages and these are for pain and suffering and disadvantage in the labour market (called a Smith v Manchester award). The S v M award is to reflect the fact that if you and an able bodied applicant apply for a job, the able bodied person is much more likely to get the job, despite the Disability Discimination Act. Normally a S v M award is 1 to 2 yrs earnings.

General damages for pain and suffering are hard for me to quantify without the reference guides (I used to deal with this type of thing in the early 90's but not anymore).
Certainly a five figure sum but not a six figure for you. High 4 figure sum for your sister.
To some extent it will vary according to impact on your life. As an example, you mention running in your summary. Were you a keen runner prior to the accident (or any kind of sports). To what extent has the injury curtailed those activities. Hopefully the medical experts will have asked you about this and put it in their reports.

As for scarring, a female actress / model / barmaid will get more (because their looks are their trade) than a male builder or lorry driver who will wear the scar as a battle wound so to speak. Don't blame me for this sexist view - it is the way judges think. Female scarring cases were always settled out of court in case the judge went over the top with the award.

astonsmummy

Sorry to hijack the thread, mattymoo
I had a crash the other week the man hit me from behind then tried to undertake me, hit my front passenger wing, got infront of my and stopped his car which made me go into the back of him.
My insurance have dealt with it as no fault of mine, yet they received a letter from his solicitors coz he's made a claim agains me!
I've been of work since the accident with whiplash, and back problems, nothing major but i've lost out on wages and £300 excess for my car, plus other expenses.
Anyway, people are saying that it might have to go as a 50/50 liability, i aint gonna accept the fact as i didnt crash into him, but what happens if my insurers decide to?
Does that mean i cant claim for my injuries and loss of earnings?

mattymoo

Yes, if the insurers settle 50/50 then all other claims related to this accident will use the same apportionment. So you would get 50% of wages, 50% of general damages etc. The other galling thing is the idiot that hit you would also get 50% of his losses paid.

Did the Police attend the accident. If they did, that would be a huge help. If not, any independent witnesses?

In any event, you need to tell your insurers not to admit any liability or make any offer to the other driver as doing so will prejudice your position.

One final thought, the impact on your front nearside wing. Assuming this wasn't cancelled out by the rear end impact (when you went into his rear), the deformation should indicate he was travelling forwards when he hit the wing. This will support your version.

You need photos of this and if the repairs have not been carried out yet, ask your insurers motor engineer to pay particular attention to this aspect. If repairs have been done, the bodyshop may still have your old wing in their waste skip.

mattymoo

Out of interest, was the other driver drunk or was it a road rage incident?

astonsmummy

mattymoo wrote: »

Yes, if the insurers settle 50/50 then all other claims related to this accident will use the same apportionment. So you would get 50% of wages, 50% of general damages etc. The other galling thing is the idiot that hit you would also get 50% of his losses paid.

Did the Police attend the accident. If they did, that would be a huge help. If not, any independent witnesses?

In any event, you need to tell your insurers not to admit any liability or make any offer to the other driver as doing so will prejudice your position.

One final thought, the impact on your front nearside wing. Assuming this wasn't cancelled out by the rear end impact (when you went into his rear), the deformation should indicate he was travelling forwards when he hit the wing. This will support your version.

You need photos of this and if the repairs have not been carried out yet, ask your insurers motor engineer to pay particular attention to this aspect. If repairs have been done, the bodyshop may still have your old wing in their waste skip.

Hi yes, i called 999 because he got out the car and started shouting at me and hitting my windscreen, they noted i was too scared to get ou the car but said as there are no witnesses it has to be dealt with by insurance.

The front wing is still damaged, and the headlight was smashed, it was a cat D write off but i got it back and got it fixed (except the wing)
I have no rear end damage but the first hit was minimal as we were both driving, i wasn't going at much of a speed becase i'd just come off the roundabout.
I took pics of the damage just need to e-mail these to my solicitors, the thing i'm worried is that on a different road i cut him up (by accident) so then he obviously followed me and done what he done, will they view it my faulkt because of what happened on the other road? I didn't do it on purpose, it was one of them, things

astonsmummy

mattymoo wrote: »

Out of interest, was the other driver drunk or was it a road rage incident?

It was road rage, at 8.10am whist i was on my way to work, on another thought i saw him the other day he was behind me and i noticed a small dent on the fron of his car below the bumper, it looks like it could of been done by my tow bar or something, but obviously i'm no expert!

mattymoo

No, if anything it adds weight to your version. Think how bad this would look to his insurance company:-
- got accidentally cut up by other driver.
- tailgated them for a while
- managed to hit their rear end while in a blind rage.
- hit them again
- they then hit me in the rear.
- I got out and hit their car leaving the other driver scared to get out of their car.

It is clearly road rage and I would suggest a red mist had descended on the other driver.
You need to give a full account of the circumstances, in writing, to your insurers and your solicitors to ensure they are fully aware of the background. The earlier incident will not weigh against you.

Did the police actually attend or did the phone operator just note that you did not feel safe and leave you to fend for yourself? If so, that is terrible and I would be making a complaint.

astonsmummy

mattymoo wrote: »

No, if anything it adds weight to your version. Think how bad this would look to his insurance company:-
- got accidentally cut up by other driver.
- tailgated them for a while
- managed to hit their rear end while in a blind rage.
- hit them again
- they then hit me in the rear.
- I got out and hit their car leaving the other driver scared to get out of their car.

It is clearly road rage and I would suggest a red mist had descended on the other driver.
You need to give a full account of the circumstances, in writing, to your insurers and your solicitors to ensure they are fully aware of the background. The earlier incident will not weigh against you.

Did the police actually attend or did the phone operator just note that you did not feel safe and leave you to fend for yourself? If so, that is terrible and I would be making a complaint.

Hi
The police did attend.
I stupidly didnt tell my insurers about the accidental cut up because i though it wasnt really relevant as it was on a different road, this all happened nearly a month ago.
I explained what happened to the police, as in i cut him up he chased me etc.
God i feel like such a prat now, i'm not really out for getting loads of money i'm just worried they will say it's my fault (i'm a pessamist )
Will it make much difference to it all if i add on the accidental cut up now? or do you think it's best to phone my solicitor and ask for their advice before doing so