s

Simply clear and straight forward advice from our team of industry experts

Call Clearwater Solicitors today to start your case

Tag Archive: compensation claim

1. Personal Injury Frequently Asked Questions

   December 9, 2014 11:22 am Leave a Comment

   

   Summary

   In essence, personal injury is a vast topic that covers various aspects to convey the right message to the targeted audiences globally. If you are willing to know something special about personal injury, please feel free to read various frequently asked questions about personal injury.

    

    

   Question 1: How do victims/injured parties settle on how much money they are entitled to in consequence of the accident, mishap or tragedy?

    

   Answer: The personal injury solicitors determine the exact compensation amounts by evaluating various important factors like loss of salaries, damages, emotional distress, medical expenses, loss of consortium, periods of disability and mutilation, etc.

    

   Question 2: What are the most important documents or evidences that injured parties should bring with them to show their lawyer.

    

   Answer: This may well includes bystander statements, medical reports from the doctors, and pictures of the accident, injuries and eyewitnesses.

    

   Question 3: What sort of information will victim/injured party need to provide at the initial consultation related to their personal injury, road accidents, accidents at work, and clinical negligence case?

    

   Answer: A personal injury attorney will request for several things such as medical reports, records, names, addresses and past medical records. It may include physical therapists, chiropractors, nursing staffs and other members.

    

   Question 4: What will usually happen at the initial consultation with personal injury solicitor?

    

   Answer: First and foremost, the attorney will tell you whether you have a valid legal claim against the responsible party or not. If you decide to make the right claims against the liable party, it is wiser to sign a fee agreement.

    

   Question 5: What is necessary for the victims or injured parties to have their valid personal injury case?

    

   Answer: All the injured persons or victims need to do is provide essential evidences regarding the personal injuries and damages to solicitors. If you were injured due to road accident or accident at work place, you have then a right potential personal injury cause of action.

    

   Question 6: What is exactly personal injury settlement process?

    

   Answer: It is a systematic process that will mainly cover evidences, medical reports, records, names, addresses, records and reports of the medical doctors. In addition, it includes the compensation amounts for loss of wages, medical expenditures, car repairing expenses, loss of cash, etc.

    

   Question 7: When should you contact with personal injury solicitors?

    

   Answer: It is vital to contact with personal injury solicitors immediately after the tragedy, road accident or mishap.

    

   Question 8: What are the types of accident claims in the UK these days?

    

   Answer: They may include slip and fall, car accidents, motorbike accidents, boating accidents, defective products, wrongful death, medical malpractice, water accidents, occupational accidents, dog bites and assaults, etc.

    

    

    

    

    

    

2. How To Claim Compensation With Clearwater Solicitors

   January 28, 2014 12:26 pm Leave a Comment

   If you’ve been injured in an accident that you were not to blame for, then speak with Clearwater Solicitors today to find out more about making a claim for compensation. We are a Lexcel-accredited law firm, which means we meet the highest possible standards for practice management, so you can rest assured your case is in good hands with us.

   We specialise in the field of personal injury law. We strongly believe that people who have been injured in accidents they were not to blame for should have the right to receive compensation for their pain, suffering, loss of amenity and financial losses, and will strive to ensure that you succeed in your claim and recover all the money you deserve if you use us.

   Our personal injury law firm contains solicitors with all kinds of specialities, so you will receive a legal representative who has skills and knowledge that directly relate to your injuries and the circumstances of your accident.

   Some of the compensation claims we specialise in include:

   – Medical negligence claims

   – Accident at work compensation claims

   – Slips, trips and falls

   – Road traffic accident claims

   – Child abuse claims

   – Public liability claims

   – Fatal accident claims

   – Criminal injuries compensation claims

   This list is not exhaustive, so if you have been injured and you believe someone else’s negligence is to blame for the injury, then you should contact us to discuss making a personal injury claim.

   You should start proceedings within three years of the date you realised you were injured – this is as a result of the UK’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims. There are exceptions to this; children have until their 21^st birthday, while people who are mentally incapacitated have from three years of the date they regained capacity. Nonetheless, it is better for people to begin their personal injury claim as soon after the date they realised they were injured as possible – any delays could lead to the loss of evidence, and will almost certainly benefit the defendant more than the claimant.

   In some instances, it may be appropriate for you to gather evidence to support your claim. Clearwater Solicitors can help you do so, but if possible, you should note down the name and contact information of the party you believe is liable. You should also have the incident recorded – in an accident at work, you should have the incident recorded in the accident book, whereas in a road traffic accident claim or criminal injury compensation claim, the police may become involved and take statements.

   You should also have your injuries assessed by a medical professional. If you have not done so already, or if we feel like we need further information, we may ask you to undergo a medical examination.

   Any evidence of losses you have sustained, such as bank statements, receipts and bills detailing expenses, or wage slips that can show you lost wages as a result of the incident, could also increase the size of your claim, so you should retain these and show them to Clearwater Solicitors.

   Fill in our online enquiry form or call us on 08000 430 430 for more information.

    

3. MOJ Moves Towards Implementing Whiplash Injury Claim Medical Panels

   January 22, 2014 1:03 pm Leave a Comment

   The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed that it is to begin creating medical panels to investigate whiplash injury compensation claims by setting up a working group in February.

   This group is expected to be made up of road traffic accident lawyers and insurers and representatives of the British Medical Association, Law Society and other related bodies. It will be expected to come up with a solution to the issue of implementing the medical panels by the end of July. In the future, medical panels will be charged with handling road traffic accident claims under £5,000.

   Association of Personal Injury Lawyers Vice President John Spencer was at a meeting into these changes to personal injury law. He told Post that Justice Minister Shailesh Vara confirmed to attendees the personal injury claim limitation period would not be changed, and that the government would not force through changes to the small claims track limit. However, these limits could still change in the future and will be kept under a UK government review.

   Mr Spencer added that the medical panels will be focused on road traffic accident whiplash claims worth up to £5,000, with a ministry civil servant present at the meeting confirming it will not go beyond these limits.

   Medical panels for whiplash injury claims will therefore almost certainly be delivered in 2014.

   Difficulties implementing whiplash injury compensation medical panels

   A huge amount of manpower will be needed to establish these medical panels. Whiplash injury claims occur up and down the country, and claimants can be unfit to travel as a result of their injuries. The UK will therefore need to have thousands of accredited whiplash doctors if this personal injury law is to succeed.

   The Insurance Times reports that it is already understood that the insurance industry will pay for these whiplash panels, and that taxpayers will not have to foot the bill. Paul Edwards, Head of Costs at commercial law firm Hill Dickinson, who was also at the meeting, told the publication that Shailesh Vara made this very clear.

   However, it is still not decided if the medical panel’s costs will be funded by a pot that the insurers pay for, if medical experts paying for accreditation will also possibly fund this pot, or if the losing defendant will have to pay the panel’s costs.

   Mr Edwards said that at the moment, the question of which medical professionals are capable of being on these whiplash injury claim panels is “wide open”.

   This forms part of the government’s strategy to reduce the overall volume and cost of whiplash injury claims. Ministers argue that the number of whiplash injury claims is increasing and that this is significantly impacting people’s motor vehicle premiums, although all of these claims are questionable, with figures suggesting whiplash could add just £6.30 to the average insurance policy and with the number of whiplash claims falling from 2,553 in December 2012 to reach just 1,485 in September 2013.

4. Mesothelioma Bill Edges Towards Royal Assent

   January 9, 2014 12:48 pm Leave a Comment

   The Mesothelioma Bill has almost reached the Royal Assent stage. It underwent its third reading  in the House of Commons on January 7^th, before returning to the House of Lords for final consideration. It is scheduled to become law in July this year.

   This bill will see people who have developed mesothelioma able to claim compensation through a diffuse mesothelioma payments scheme, helping hundreds of people who would otherwise be unable to receive help.

   Paul Goggins, MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East, was a fierce advocate of the Mesothelioma Bill, striving to increase the amount of compensation sufferers of the disease would receive. He tragically died from a brain haemorrhage before the bill passed, with MPs listening to his amendments to the bill despite his absence in dedication to his hard work as he lay critically-ill in hospital.

   Concerns about the Mesothelioma Bill

   It would be wrong to criticise the Mesothelioma Bill too harshly – it will undoubtedly provide much-needed personal injury compensation to thousands of people who developed a fatal disease due to asbestos exposure, and is crafted in such a way as to give insurers the onus on footing the bill for settlements, rather than the taxpayer.

   We have previously outlined some of our concerns with the Mesothelioma Bill, and these concerns have not yet been fully ironed-out.  People will only receive 75% of the compensation they would have received had they been able to trace the liable insurance company and claim industrial illness compensation directly from them, for instance.

   MP Tracey Crouch argued that this should be increased to 80%, saying that while 100% would be the best outcome, the Mesothelioma Bill would likely not have made it so far if this was the only available option.

   She explained that while 5% might not sound like an awful lot, it actually is an additional £6,000 for mesothelioma compensation claimants.

   However, the fact of the matter is, the figure will be pegged at 75% because the insurance companies that fund the scheme said it can only cost them 3% of their gross written premium, and that increasing the levy to 80% of the amount a mesothelioma personal injury compensation claimant would receive from a liable insurer would push the cost of the scheme slightly above this 3% boundary over four years, despite falling to just 2.61% over ten years.

   Many organisations have been pushing for the Mesothelioma Bill to award recipients more than 75% of the amount other mesothelioma compensation claimants receive, with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) describing this as “not the justice” that mesothelioma sufferers deserve.

   APIL President Matthew Stockwell confirmed the organisation will continue pushing to increase the availability of justice anyone who has been injured due to workplace safety mismanagement can receive.

   We at Clearwater Solicitors are ready to help you claim compensation if you have developed mesothelioma or any other industrial disease. Call us on 08000 430 430 or fill in our online enquiry form to find out more.

5. Are government moves making it harder to claim compensation?

   January 6, 2014 1:04 pm Leave a Comment

   Injured people are still struggling to access the justice they deserve. Every year, millions of people suffer serious injuries in accidents they have nothing to do with, and although recent years and decades have seen huge strides in these people’s ability to recover the compensation they are entitled to, drives to reduce costs and cut the cost of insurance have seen some of this progress start to fall apart.

   The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LAPSO), which became law in April 2013, was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation relating to personal injury claims to have come into effect in recent years. The Coalition government wished to put an end to the country’s so-called ‘compensation culture’ in the wake of an 18% increase in the number of personal injury compensation claims, and elected to do so by hampering the ability of the general public to access or afford representation.

   When complaining about the rise in the number of compensation claims, the media acts like claiming compensation is something shameful, sinister and greedy, linking genuinely-injured people who have a right to be recompensed for their damages to fraudsters and scammers.

   After a UK law review, the Coalition agreed to cut the provision of legal aid to people who had been injured due to clinical negligence and who wish to make a medical negligence claim, as well as enforcing restrictions to no win no fee compensation claims.

   These have caused injured people to lose out on part of their compensation, and many people need the full value of their compensation claim if they are ever to return to health and get their life back to the standards it was before they sustained the injury.

   Until LAPSO was enacted, legal aid became significantly more means-tested – everyone used to be entitled to legal aid when they needed it, but this is no longer the case. This has seen people unable to afford legal representation – injured people could see their finances plummet after their accident as they miss wages and deal with medical and other expenses, and could still find they are unable to receive legal aid.

   Other Coalition moves that have made it harder for people to claim personal injury compensation include the introduction of fixed fees for certain lower-value claims, as well as cost budgeting and proportionality rules for some higher-value claims. This has seen some higher-value compensation claims – which had merit, and involved people who had suffered serious injuries and disabilities – become untenable simply because they are too expensive to run and too complicated.

   At Clearwater Solicitors, we offer a range of various funding options for personal injury claims, as we strive to ensure everyone can access our legal services and benefit from our skilled representation, regardless of the complexity of their case.