Bus accident claim, what to do next ?

brummie3

Hi, i was a passenger in a bus accident and suffered relatively minor injuries although they were described in the medical report as more than just whiplash injuries. The insurance company of the car driver at fault only offered me the lowest payout on the whiplash scale of £260 which i initially declined. Having spoken to a couple of solicitors it seems they don't fancy taking on the case, although they agree i should get more, because there isn't enough value in the claim for them.
 Should i just go back to the insurance company and reluctantly (try to) accept the original offer or is there some arbitration anywhere ? Thanks

MattMattMattUK

brummie3 said:

Hi, i was a passenger in a bus accident and suffered relatively minor injuries although they were described in the medical report as more than just whiplash injuries. The insurance company of the car driver at fault only offered me the lowest payout on the whiplash scale of £260 which i initially declined. Having spoken to a couple of solicitors it seems they don't fancy taking on the case, although they agree i should get more, because there isn't enough value in the claim for them.
 Should i just go back to the insurance company and reluctantly (try to) accept the original offer or is there some arbitration anywhere ? Thanks

Did you make a counter offer, referring to your medical notes and pointing out it should be in a higher category, or did you just say "no"? Remember that there is a real effort to try and rein in whiplash claims now, they got out of hand and have pushed up everyone's insurance premiums in most cases for no real reason for the large amounts that were being paid, hence a more standardised scale. 

Brie

I would think that you might be expected to justify a higher amount.  Maybe it's £260 for whiplash but then you also need £XX for missing work, £BBB for physio, £ccc for pain killers.  Something itemised gives them something to hang their hat on rather than you saying you want £5000 or whatever.

brummie3

MattMattMattUK said:

brummie3 said:

Hi, i was a passenger in a bus accident and suffered relatively minor injuries although they were described in the medical report as more than just whiplash injuries. The insurance company of the car driver at fault only offered me the lowest payout on the whiplash scale of £260 which i initially declined. Having spoken to a couple of solicitors it seems they don't fancy taking on the case, although they agree i should get more, because there isn't enough value in the claim for them.
 Should i just go back to the insurance company and reluctantly (try to) accept the original offer or is there some arbitration anywhere ? Thanks

Did you make a counter offer, referring to your medical notes and pointing out it should be in a higher category, or did you just say "no"? Remember that there is a real effort to try and rein in whiplash claims now, they got out of hand and have pushed up everyone's insurance premiums in most cases for no real reason for the large amounts that were being paid, hence a more standardised scale. 

Brie said:

I would think that you might be expected to justify a higher amount.  Maybe it's £260 for whiplash but then you also need £XX for missing work, £BBB for physio, £ccc for pain killers.  Something itemised gives them something to hang their hat on rather than you saying you want £5000 or whatever.

I didn't put a figure on what i was expecting but i pointed out to the insurance company the findings of the medical report hoping they'd raise the offer a little and settle the case, but instead they just told me to seek independent advice. It seems the insurance companies feel they can get away with offering the lowest settlement values knowing there isn't much appetite for lawyers to get involved in low value claims and there's little arbitration.

DullGreyGuy

Its the reason why the whiplash reforms were passed by parliament (it covers general soft tissue injury and minor psych as well as whiplash) to kill off the ambulance chasers who want absolutely anyone in a minor accident to say they had short term whiplash which is very hard to disprove and gets their lawyers a decent wack. The law pushed these claims into the Small Claims Court effectively slashing what the lawyers could claim. 

There is no harm putting in a counter offer for general damages (ie your injury) and also remember to claim for any special damages (ie actual financial losses you suffered like time off work, medicines, physio etc)

brummie3

DullGreyGuy said:

Its the reason why the whiplash reforms were passed by parliament (it covers general soft tissue injury and minor psych as well as whiplash) to kill off the ambulance chasers who want absolutely anyone in a minor accident to say they had short term whiplash which is very hard to disprove and gets their lawyers a decent wack. The law pushed these claims into the Small Claims Court effectively slashing what the lawyers could claim. 

There is no harm putting in a counter offer for general damages (ie your injury) and also remember to claim for any special damages (ie actual financial losses you suffered like time off work, medicines, physio etc)

The insurance company don’t want to engage in dialogue and are basically saying it’s £260 (plus loss of earnings) or nothing because they know lawyers won’t pick up the case because of the relative low value. The claimant doesn’t seem to have any redress these days that I can see !

DullGreyGuy

brummie3 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Its the reason why the whiplash reforms were passed by parliament (it covers general soft tissue injury and minor psych as well as whiplash) to kill off the ambulance chasers who want absolutely anyone in a minor accident to say they had short term whiplash which is very hard to disprove and gets their lawyers a decent wack. The law pushed these claims into the Small Claims Court effectively slashing what the lawyers could claim. 

There is no harm putting in a counter offer for general damages (ie your injury) and also remember to claim for any special damages (ie actual financial losses you suffered like time off work, medicines, physio etc)

The insurance company don’t want to engage in dialogue and are basically saying it’s £260 (plus loss of earnings) or nothing because they know lawyers won’t pick up the case because of the relative low value. The claimant doesn’t seem to have any redress these days that I can see !

What is the duration of the injury according to the medical report? 
Presumably the prognosis is full recovery?
What were the injuries outside of whiplash?

Lawyers in these kinds of cases never added much value, just a lot of cost, hence why they were moved to the small track of the court system. Assuming your medical report supports your argument that your injury lasted more than the 3 months of the first band then you'd send them a letter before action stating how much you are claiming for each head of claim (injury/PSLA, LoE + anything else) and give them a reasonable time to settle else you will issue proceedings. 

The fact solicitors have turned you down suggests they feel you are likely to be caught by the Whiplash Reforms tariff system and your other injuries were not sufficient to argue that the case should go to Fast Track. 

brummie3

The recovery time for the injuries was within 3 months. They were impact injuries to back and neck which according to the medical report should be classified 'as non-whiplash injuries. They fall within subsection 1.3 of the Civil Liability Act'.DullGreyGuy said:

brummie3 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Its the reason why the whiplash reforms were passed by parliament (it covers general soft tissue injury and minor psych as well as whiplash) to kill off the ambulance chasers who want absolutely anyone in a minor accident to say they had short term whiplash which is very hard to disprove and gets their lawyers a decent wack. The law pushed these claims into the Small Claims Court effectively slashing what the lawyers could claim. 

There is no harm putting in a counter offer for general damages (ie your injury) and also remember to claim for any special damages (ie actual financial losses you suffered like time off work, medicines, physio etc)

The insurance company don’t want to engage in dialogue and are basically saying it’s £260 (plus loss of earnings) or nothing because they know lawyers won’t pick up the case because of the relative low value. The claimant doesn’t seem to have any redress these days that I can see !

What is the duration of the injury according to the medical report? 
Presumably the prognosis is full recovery?
What were the injuries outside of whiplash?

Lawyers in these kinds of cases never added much value, just a lot of cost, hence why they were moved to the small track of the court system. Assuming your medical report supports your argument that your injury lasted more than the 3 months of the first band then you'd send them a letter before action stating how much you are claiming for each head of claim (injury/PSLA, LoE + anything else) and give them a reasonable time to settle else you will issue proceedings. 

The fact solicitors have turned you down suggests they feel you are likely to be caught by the Whiplash Reforms tariff system and your other injuries were not sufficient to argue that the case should go to Fast Track. 

 

DullGreyGuy

Whiplash Reforms are broader than just whiplash... the lawyers not wanting to argue its outside of the reforms is telling.