Traffic Accident Compensation Case Study
Paul
Paul was a self-employed IT Consultant. He contacted us 2 years after his road traffic accident in which he had suffered a back injury that had kept him out of work for 18 months. His insurance company had referred him to a large firm of Solicitors over 200 miles away. His claim was handled by somebody who described themselves as a "Claims Executive", and was not a qualified Solicitor or Legal Executive.
Paul told us that the whole process was very impersonal and "felt like a conveyor belt". He said that the Claims Executive "never gave me a straight answer to a straight question" and that they "sounded as if they were working from a script. They made me feel like I was a nuisance when I called, and that my input was unimportant”.
Matters finally came to a head when, incredibly, he was advised that he would not be able to claim for his lost earnings. The reason he was given was that as he had sustained a previous back injury 10 years before, from which he had made a full recovery, he would not be able to claim for lost earnings this time around! "They told me that the other driver’s insurance company had made an offer of £2,500, and that I should take the money."
Paul called us. We contacted his Solicitors and took over the claim. After obtaining specialist medical evidence and properly valuing his claim, we negotiated a settlement of £45,000, which included all of his lost earnings.