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Injury Time?

Despite some high profile cases in the newspapers, Britain is not turning into a nation obsessed by personal injury claims. “We need to make sure we help and protect the interests of those with genuine grievances,” says Robert Curry.

Read most papers and you’d think we were a country on the take. There’s barely a day goes by without a headline screaming that someone has sued and won for the most trivial of incidents.

In fact, personal injury claims are in decline. According to Datamonitor’s  independent market analysis “The number of personal injury claims registered by the Compensation Recovery Unit fell by 2% during 2004/2005. Whilst that may be good news for insurance companies, it does mean that there are some with legitimate claims are missing out, according to Mr Curry.

“Away from the froth and the media hype, there are many people who have genuine claims and whose lives have been changed as the result of an accident. Far from being trivial claims launched in the hope of making a few thousand pounds, these are people whose lives have been changed dramatically and irrevocably by an incident that wasn’t their fault. As such, they deserve proper compensation to help them rebuild their lives.

“The sorts of cases we see have resulted in a long time away from work and often leading into difficulties with keeping up mortgage and other commitments. Victims may have serious physical disabilities or in the worst cases a catastrophic brain injury.

“Our key focus is to concentrate on rehabilitation in the early stages. We seek interim payments from Insurers to assist rehabilitation and also to help with clients’ cashflow problems.

“It’s often not about the final settlement as such but more about regaining quality of life. We’re a small cog in the big wheel of recovery and rehabilitation.”

“The vast majority of clients who come to see us have genuine cases.  I’m always happy to sit down and talk through their situation but will advise them very quickly if I think they’re wasting their time.

And Mr Curry is convinced that the negative media coverage has put off many people who would actually be entitled to make a claim. Industry experts have suggested that some genuine claimants fear being tarred with the same brush as those who make it into the press for trying their luck. The lower end of the claims industry has damaged the reputation of some professionals.

For those wishing to consider a claim, Mr Curry recommends approaching a specialist solicitor first. Ask about their experience, the type of cases they have dealt with, their involvement with rehabilitation and their range of funding options.

TOP TIPS

• Always use a solicitor
• Don’t bother with Claims Management companies, they’ll come to lawyers anyway
• The number of personal claims in this country has fallen
• If people’s lives have been changed irrevocably, then they do deserve compensation
• Money is normally used to aid recovery and rehabilitation

CASE STUDY

When Andy fell off a roof whilst working on a building site, it took his wife to persuade him to make a claim.

“I was off work for six months with broken vertebrae and legs; I suppose I’m lucky to be alive. Because I wasn’t bringing in any money we got behind with the mortgage and life became extremely tough.

“At first, I dismissed the idea of claiming compensation. I’ve got my pride and I didn’t want to come across like some greedy cash obsessed individual. Besides, you can always find reasons why the accident was your fault and nobody else’s.

“Eventually, however, my wife persuaded me that I might have a claim so I went to see a solicitor, who specialised in personal injury.

“They were excellent. They were absolutely up front with me about how much the costs might be, what the risks were and how much I might win. The firm looked at the case in detail and felt I did have a legitimate claim for loss of earnings, recovery costs etc over that six-month period.

“The case eventually came to court and we won! It wasn’t a huge amount but it did cover everything I’d paid out for because of the injury, as well as the backlog that had built up on the mortgage and credit cards. I’m so grateful to the solicitor, and my wife! They helped to get me back on the straight and narrow.”

 

For further information contact Robert Curry .

The information given in this article is of a general nature only and should not be considered as advice applicable to any particular situation for which specific request should be made to us.