“Idiot insurance scammer fails miserably with fake ‘ice on floor’ fall”. That was one description of 57-year-old New Jersey man Alexander Goldinsky’s apparent attempt to stage a “slipping on ice cubes” accident in his work canteen. The incident – which happened sometime in the second half of 2018 - was captured on CCTV. Allegedly, he then filed a false insurance claim for the ambulance service and treatment he received at a local hospital for his "injuries" and the outcome was that he faced a criminal prosecution for fabricating the claim. Clearly, the USA is not Scotland but did you know that... ...within the UK, Scottish personal injury claimants are most likely to put forward exaggerated or fraudulent claims? This view has been expressed in the legal press by solicitors whose job it is represent the interests of insurers in defending personal injury compensation claims. Reforms to the law in England and Wales have meant that, in some claims where the injured person has Continue Reading
The most-read 2018 articles on the Moray Claims blog
In 2018, we published 44 new articles on this blog. 14 of these were published between 28 March and 27 April. This month-long burst of activity was helped by the kind folks at 5000bc who kept me accountable via a Taking Action Post in that forum. I didn’t quite achieve my aim to write 20 articles in 30 days (not all of them for this website) but I came close. In this article, we’ll look at the 10 Moray Claims posts from 2018 which have attracted the most traffic, according to Google Analytics. The ones which didn’t make it included one about how not to market personal injury claims services and one about how the Scottish Government plans to legislate to reduce the average cost of personal injury claim services for no win-no fee claimants. In reverse order… 10. When you should get help from an Advocate with your personal injury claim When you should get help from an Advocate was the first blog of 2018, explaining the role that Scottish barristers (known here as Continue Reading
Can insurers change their mind about settling your claim (if liability is admitted)?
Some say The Blue Nile are the greatest ever Scottish band. Though they only ever released 4 albums - between 1984 and 2004 - they maintained a consistently high standard throughout. Their music has a spare, cinematic quality which blends perfectly with Paul Buchanan’s soulful and world-weary voice. The Blue Nile’s 1989 release, Hats, has topped some polls to find the best Scottish album of all time. I listened to that album a lot when it came out - I was a student then - and I still listen to it often even now. The fact is, they almost never got a recording contract at all and took an unusual route to achieve that end. Around 1983, a top-of-the-range Glasgow-based hi-fi company called Linn Products found that their equipment’s sales prospects were boosted if they used music from the band’s demo tape when demonstrating Linn’s music systems to potential customers. When Linn discovered The Blue Nile were unsigned, they decided they would sort them with a record deal by Continue Reading
Slipping accident on retail premises: a case study
Ms S visited a fast food restaurant in Elgin at the end of a night out. She needed to use the customer toilets. She went through the door from the restaurant into the ceramic-tiled corridor which led to the toilets. Though she did not notice the fact until after she had fallen, the floor was wet. This caused her to slip. As a result of her fall, she suffered an injury to her back. A "wet floor" sign was put out in the corridor, immediately following her accident. She reported her accident to a member of staff at the time but it was not until the next day that she realised the severity of the injury. She had the presence of mind to write a letter to the manager of the fast food restaurant informing him of the fact and details of her accident. Grigor & Young made a compensation claim on Ms S’s behalf, in this case. At all times, liability was denied. The fast food restaurant did not accept that, in fact, the floor had been wet at the time. They did not accept Continue Reading
Why employers face greater risk from injury claims due to employee negligence
Who you claim compensation from via a personal injury claim is not always as obvious as it may appear. In a road traffic accident, it’s the negligent driver who injured you that’s first in line. But it’s usually their motor insurer who pays the compensation. And it’s that insurer you will sue if you have to raise a court action to ensure your claim succeeds and you secure a reasonable level of compensation. If the driver was at work at the time of the accident, you might also have a claim against the driver’s employers under the law of vicarious liability. What do we mean by vicarious liability? “Vicarious” experience is where you live your life through the experience of another person, as a housebound parent might experience the wider world through their student child reporting back on travels during a gap year. Or a precocious child, such as Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, might claim that his Dad is trying to live Calvin's life vicariously because Calvin's Dad's life is Continue Reading
Reducing Success Fees paid by Scottish personal injury claimants
Success fees are the “hidden cost” of personal injury claims. They reduce the amount of compensation you receive from a personal injury claim after that compensation figure has been fixed and paid. Success fees are fees that are paid out of compensation (awarded or agreed) by successful personal injury claimants to their solicitors or claims management companies under a success fee agreement. In this article, we will look at how the Scottish Government wishes to regulate the maximum levels of success fee that can be charged – to provide a better financial outcome for injured people than they often get at present. First of all, in order to understand the context in which this is all happening, we need to look at wider changes that will soon affect Scottish personal injury claims. The Scottish Government intends to change the way personal injury claims are run in Scotland. This follows similar changes brought in in England and Wales. One big proposed change is to reduce Continue Reading
3 ways to maximise the power and benefit of important evidence
Memory scientist, Julia Shaw, gave a talk at TEDx London in July 2018 about reporting harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Dr Shaw is an honorary research associate at University College London in the Psychology and Language Sciences department. Women, people of colour and people who identify themselves openly as part of the LGBT community are most at risk of harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Some studies have shown that as much as 98% of affected persons will never report this type of mistreatment to their employers. One barrier to speaking up is the fear that it will be held against us and affect our future prospects in the job. Another is the fact that, often, your memory is the only evidence you have of what happened. Will that be enough to be believed? Dr Shaw has researched – in courtrooms as well as laboratories - how humans process memory of important and emotionally-charged events. The interview process is important. By “interview”, Continue Reading
Knee injury compensation claims
Dr Carl Wunderlich, who died in 1877, is famous for his measurement of average healthy body temperature of 37°C. (98.6°F). Using a thermometer reputedly a foot in length - and needing 20 minutes to register the temperature – he tested around 25,000 patients and took over 1 million readings. He was at the forefront of medical science for his time but his “normal body temperature” of 37°C has gradually been seen as an oversimplification of reality. In fact, normal temperature is actually a range because no two human bodies are the same. In addition, we all react differently to external factors and disease. Body temperature can also vary according to: how much we’ve eaten; our stress levels; hormones; and different levels of exercise. Something – normal body temperature - that, at a glance, seems simple turns out to be much more complicated. And this is also the case with the human knee. On the face of it, the knee simply joins the top of the leg with the bottom of the leg. Continue Reading
Dental negligence claims
Rock climber, Alex Honnold, completed the first free-solo ascent of El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California in June 2017. In other words, he climbed it by himself – all 2,900 feet of the route known as “Freerider” - without any ropes, taking just under four hours. In a TED Talk about his incredible accomplishment, he explains the sense of anti-climax he had after a previous free-solo first – the ascent of Half Dome (also Yosemite) – in 2012. That peak can also be reached by walkers, via a path up another side of the mountain from the rock face. As he struggled at the crux of the climb, just below the summit, he could hear people chatting and laughing above him, unaware of his presence. He had climbed Half Dome before, with ropes and full climbing gear. On those occasions, because his clothing and equipment marked him out, the regular hikers had greeted him at the mountaintop with gasps of adulation and crowded round him for photos. Not so, on this Continue Reading
How not to market your personal injury claims services
That's right. You don't spell it "nuisiance". But spelling mistakes in stock photography are not regarded as a nuisance at Moray Claims. They brighten our day. Anyhow... Like all businesses, law firms must market their products and services. In the end, it all comes down to trust. Having a website with a wide range of educational information is part of the process of encouraging you to get to know, like and trust the solicitors (or other legal services provider) marketing their services to you online. Beyond that, the first impression you get - when you pluck up the courage to contact a solicitor - will be important to you. Most websites have contact forms you can fill in and submit. Should you choose to make contact by phone, however - How long does it take for the telephone to be answered? How long will it take for your call to be transferred to a solicitor who might actually be able to deal with your case? One thing which comes up repeatedly in advice Continue Reading
Ways to make sure that insurance will cover payment of your personal injury claim compensation
One of the first things a personal injury solicitor will consider, if you have a potential claim, is how you are going to get paid. (Yes, they’ll also think about how they might get paid for any work they do, but the first consideration has to be how easily you will recover compensation). It’s partly about whether you’re likely to be entitled to compensation - can you prove breach of duty or negligence? Fundamentally, though, it’s about ensuring as far as possible that, assuming your claim does succeed, someone will be there to pick up the tab – to pay you the compensation. Ideally, you want to know that there is insurance cover and that an insurance company will pay out on your claim. In this article, we will look at three aspects of insurance in relation to personal injury claims. Firstly, when can it happen that there is no insurance? Second, in which situations ought there to be insurance to cover personal injury compensation? And, finally, what steps does the law take to Continue Reading
Getting the sack for making a personal injury claim (health and safety protections)
The fear of being dismissed. It’s a fear that prevents many people claiming compensation for personal injury sustained at work. We’ve considered this general issue in other articles. In this article, we focus on protections which might apply via employment law, and health and safety law. It’s a discussion of health and safety at work, workplace danger and sections 44 and 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Employers have extensive health and safety duties towards employees. And also to workers, self-employed people and visitors to their workplaces. The principal legislation in relation to health and safety is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This sets out basic health and safety duties. They apply to companies, directors, managers and employees. As the director or owner of a company, you have potential personal liability as well: you can't hide behind your company. The nature and extent of the duties in practice will depend very much on the type of business Continue Reading