Car accident, compensation claim help.

astonsmummy

Hi
I was involved in a RTA on the 28th august, i have been off work since then with whiplash back an shoulder injurys, am currently undergoing treatment to sort this out.
I received a letter from my solicitors after undertgoing a medical assessment and they have recomeneded 6 months recovery.
Now they have said that they will ask for £2k for my injurys and i can ask to settle now, or wait until april 2008 when the 6 months is up and then see if my injuries have cleared up etc.
So my question is, what should i do, i've had people tell me not to accept the first offer, but this is isnt an offer, more of a demand
I only have 4 treatments left for physio and cant afford anymore so dont even know if it will clear the problems up, and i could end up being off work still.
Thnx for looking.

mattymoo

Presumably that £2k is in addition to your special damages claim for lost earnings etc. If not, then I would find another solicitor pronto.

As for the injury, your medical expert has indicated matters should clear up within 6 months. If you are still off work after nearly 2 months I would feel this is a little optimistic. If it were me, I would wait and see what happens.

You can ask your solicitor to approach the other side for additional physio costs if your med expert agrees this will help your recovery. It is in their interest to pay up if it will result in a faster recovery for you.

You only get one chance at settlement. If you settle now and things do not improve as predicted, you can not go back for more money.

Horace

My advice is change solicitors because you need one that specialises in personal injury cases, also if you are not happy with your solicitor you can always complain to the Law Society.

I had an RTA in 1995 and had whiplash injuries to my neck and lower back, I contacted the RAC as they had a legal services section at the time and they referred me to a specialist solicitor. Initially, I was awarded £1,000 as an interim payment and eventually got £7500 plus costs which came to an additional £3000 or thereabouts. Unfortunately for me I still suffer from the after effects of the whiplash injury as my back stiffens when I stand for more than 5 minutes.

You should be claiming all travel expenses to see the solicitor and for your hospital appointments, if you were working at the time, you can also claim for loss of earnings even if you were temping (I had kept 6 years' worth of wage slips to prove that temping was my permanent job). I also rode a motorcycle and following the accident I could no longer do so, so I also claimed for loss of enjoyment because I haven't ridden a bike since (I was in my car when I had the RTA).

Hope this puts things in perspective somewhat? I say, don't settle now.

astonsmummy

Hi
Thnx for your advice, i was refered to the solicitor through my insurers as i had legal cover on my policy.
Liability is still in despute (even though one of their staff told me it wasnt) and i just contacted my insurers and they basically say that the final decision is down to them, they have alrready received correspondence from the 3rd party insurers to ask to make it 50/50 liability, as apparently i moved lanes in an unsafe manner, i was in the right hand lane the whole time!
I told my insurers no way would it do that (he drove into my car twice, rear and passenger side, overtook me and stopped on a dual carriageway causing me to hit his rear) so now they are waiting for his 'version' and diagram.

The 2k is just for injuries, i've lost my £300 policy excess and half of my wage per week i am off, but i'm still off so havent calculated that yet, i may even have to look for another job if my treatment doesnt go well.

I'm going to have a word with the physio man tommorrow and see what he recomends, but he has stated there is now way i'll be able to go back to work in the next month
He reckons my shoulder has some out of its socket, everything is out of line etc, yet the independant examiner saw me for less than 5 mins and never mentioned any of that on the report it does say whiplash, backand shoulder injury though.

I'll hold off for now then, and see what my man says tommorrow, i've got 4 treatments left and i'm not hopefull i'll be fixed by then, i've been given about 5 diffrent meds since the accident and the pain is just getting worse and seems to be shifting to new areas.

Thnx for the advice so far xx

mattymoo

5 minutes is a joke. No way can they take a history and perform an exam sufficient for a medico-legal report. Have you mentioned that to your solicitor?

astonsmummy

No i didnt, can i request a new examination, he was so blase (blarzay) about it, i'm wondering if he just thought i was trying it on or something, seriously it wasnt even 5 mins, i'd say less, when i went to the osteopath i was in there about 45 mins for the assessment, including telling him my medical history.

lindsaygalaxy

I had my car accident in February. The other party wont admit fault, put in a 50/50 request then retracted it, even though I have 2 independent witnesses!. Had my personal injury assesment 3 months ago. The other person in the car with me settled her claim at £2000 but like you got asked if she wanted to wait 6 months later, butr she was back at work and just wanted to move on from it.

If you are still ast work I would wait. Because of the time mine has taken ive added stress to my claim! And like you, £550 excess and less value car due to muine being written off.

astonsmummy

Stress aint the word!
I'm worried more about my insurance premiums more than anything :eek:
But ultimately it's down to my insurers wether they will go 50/50, i just hope my version and car damage blow his account completely out of the water.
Unfortunately i dont have any witnesses, so they only have my word and car damage to go on

What did your examiner say lindsay? i might see if i can request another, i know it's not about the money but i know of other people who had mild whiplash and got 2k for their injurys, i've had alot more than blooming whiplash, i had to go to out of hours emergency docs and have a muscle relaxant injection because my back muscles went into spasm and OMG the pain was excrtutiating, i'm still on muscle relaxing drugs from my doctor, i've got a trapped nerve in my leg and arm, cant even do simple things like hoovering, even picking something up from the floor is really painful, i've had to ask strangers in supermarkets to pick things up for me if i drop them
I'm not sleeping properly as i just cant get comfy, it's a nightmare.
I might even have to look for another less strenuous job if my back doesnt heal according to the physio man, i'm just so peed off with it all, i've been massively inconvinienced because of this and the !!!!! that drove into me is fine, i saw him driving to work the next day (my uncle had to come and pick me and my son up to take him to nursery) and he's probably gonna come out smelling of roses knowing my luck :rolleyes:
Oops sorry for the rant!

debsy42

Don't settle early and make sure you have a good solicitor. My original solicitor wrote to me to say that I'd been offered £5000 for my claim and did I want to accept it, no advice from him whether that was good or bad. I changed to one, recommended by a friend, who was brilliant and who managed to secure a more realistic payment although my claim took over 4 year beginning to end.

Horace

No worries about the rant - your insurers sound stoopid offering 50/50 - how can it be 50/50 if you have damage to both the rear and side of your car? Why don't they wake up and smell the coffee?

I would ask for another examination, I remembered when I had my accident my GP at the time wrote this massive report about how she had seen me and the pain that I was in - I refuted it with my solicitors as the dratted woman saw me for precisely 3.5 minutes (I know because I timed it and noted down the time) she came out with a complete fairy tale about the length of time I had been in her surgery. I changed my GP after that little episode.

Just a thought, I don't suppose you reported the accident to the police at the time? Mind you, it might be too late now as they'll moan that you failed to report an accident.

Good luck with the osteopath etc. Let us know how you get on.

astonsmummy

Thnx, will i have to pay for a new solicitor?
My one was provided by my legal expenses cover, also as liability is still in dispute i'm gathering noone else would take me on.
I am an uneducated 23 year old carer, i have no clue about any of this