From 22 September 2015, Scotland has a new personal injury court available for compensation claims by victims of accidents. Scotland is divided into 6 Sheriffdoms: Tayside, Central and Fife; South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway; North Strathclyde; Lothian and Borders; Grampian, Highland and Islands; and Glasgow and Strathkelvin Within each Sheriffdom, there are several Sheriff Courts. Scotland has 49 such courts, each covering a defined geographical area. A remarkable Sheriff Court The unusual feature of the Sheriff Personal Injury Court is that it sits only in Edinburgh but has jurisdiction extending across the whole of Scotland. So, for example, if you are injured in an accident in Moray, before these changes, your Sheriff Court for a damages action would only have been Elgin Sheriff Court. Now, you can choose between the local Sheriff court and the national all-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court. The increased importance of Sheriff Courts Continue Reading
Financial pressure to return to work too soon after an accident?
If you are off work as the result of an accident, you can easily find yourself under increasing pressure to go back to your job before you are fully fit to do so. Many people are forced into making a claim for personal injury compensation due to financial stresses. Often, this is because their employment does not provide sick pay at full pay or even half pay rates. If you are more or less immediately on Statutory Sick Pay through absence from work after an accident, you will inevitably have worries how you will manage to pay your bills and provide for your family. This wage loss seems especially unfair, if you were injured at work. If you live in Moray or have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray, we can help with advice on a possible personal injury claim. We can take any claim on directly, if that is in your best interests. We will refer you on elsewhere if we think that’s a better option for you. Our priority is to make sure everyone with a valid claim gets fair Continue Reading
Prove Negligence But Lose Your Claim – When Can That Happen?
When Andrew Kay was 2 years old, he contracted meningitis. It is a dangerous medical condition, causing inflammation of membranes in the central nervous system, and affecting the brain. On 28 November 1975, Andrew was admitted to Seafield Children’s Hospital in Ayr, seriously ill. As part of his treatment, he received an injection of penicillin. The problem was that, by mistake, he was given a massive overdose of penicillin – receiving about 30 (thirty) times the correct dose. In such a quantity, the penicillin was toxic and it caused Andrew to suffer convulsions. He later developed paralysis down one side of his body, though it was short-lived. Andrew recovered from his life-threatening illness, but he was left profoundly deaf. He also had significant learning difficulties. A claim for compensation From 1978, Andrew’s Dad, partly conducting the case himself, made a compensation claim on behalf of his son, raising an action in the Court of Session. Before the judge (in Continue Reading
Should you settle a personal injury claim without getting legal advice?
We would advise anyone who has been injured in an accident to get specialist legal advice as soon as possible. Economics alone suggest that you cannot rely on an insurance company to give you a fair deal, if you choose to handle your claim yourself. (Their primary duty is to their shareholders, not to you). Unfortunately, there are all sorts of other potential conflicts of interest for third party insurers as well. Only an independent, specialist solicitor will be truly on your side and hold your best interests as paramount. If you live in Moray or have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray, we can help with advice on a possible personal injury claim. We’ll help you directly if that's what is in your best interests. We will refer you on elsewhere if we think that’s a better option for you. Our main aim is to make sure everyone with a valid claim gets access to the justice they deserve through the solicitor who is best-placed to help them – in terms of experience, Continue Reading
3 Non-Financial Benefits of a Personal Injury Claim
What are the non-financial benefits of a personal injury claim? Personal injury claims are about compensation for loss. The law measures that loss in money terms, even though some losses cannot easily be valued financially. It’s straightforward to work out the wages you’ve lost from being off work as a result of your accident. Well, it is compared to valuing your injuries. And how can you put a fair value on a broken arm, let alone the death of a relative, anyway? In making a personal injury claim, money may not be the most important factor for you. For some people, it’s of no importance at all. The law looks at personal injury claims in terms of money but there are non-financial benefits associated with personal injury claims and it is worth considering them. They might be what persuade you to proceed with a claim where, otherwise, you might decide not to bother. Better understanding of your injuries, present state of recovery and prognosis In cases of serious injury, Continue Reading
Personal Injury Claim First Enquiries – How Much Scope For Free Advice?
We end most articles on this blog with a call to action along the lines of “get in touch if you have any questions – all initial enquiries are free”. We’ve received a request for clarification of this. The question came via email - “When is a contract deemed to have started after first enquiry?” I take that to mean: at what point do you get beyond the point of initial enquiry, where everything is "without obligation", and get bound into taking things further with that particular solicitor? With personal injury claim first enquiries, how much scope for free advice do you have? We handle most personal injury claims in one of two ways here and I will try to explain what happens in each case (there's a general summary, below, if you want to skip to that). Legal aid cases If you qualify for some form of legal aid, we will encourage you to sign up for legal advice and assistance, which is the initial form of legal aid, covering meetings, correspondence and Continue Reading
Can a Moray Solicitor help with a Personal Injury Claim?
For a variety of reasons, a local solicitor - provided they have the necessary experience and specialism - is the best person to handle your personal injury claim. If you have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray or if you live in Moray, we can help you. If you have any questions about any element of our personal injury claims services at Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, feel free to contact us. You can send us a Free Online Enquiry via this website (it's an online method of sending us an email). Alternatively, you can phone us. Our accredited specialist personal injury solicitors – Peter and Marie – are on (Elgin) 01343 544077. We’ll help you directly if that's what seems to us to be in your best interests. But we might refer you on elsewhere, if we think that’s an option that's more in your best interests. Our priority is to make sure all people with valid claims get access to the justice they deserve through a solicitor who is best-placed to help them – in Continue Reading
Winning and losing your personal injury claim
If you live in Moray or have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray, we can help. If you have any questions about any aspect of our personal injury claims services at Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, please get in touch with us. You can send a Free Online Enquiry via this website (basically, it's an online method of sending us an email). You can also phone us. Our accredited specialist personal injury solicitors – Peter and Marie – are on (Elgin) 01343 544077. We’ll help you directly if that appears to be in your best interests. We might refer you on elsewhere if we think that’s a better option for you. Our main aim is to make sure everyone with a valid claim gets access to the justice they deserve through the solicitor who is best-placed to help them – in terms of expertise, experience and location. We don't want you, as an injured person, to end up winning and losing your personal injury claim - we just want you to experience the success part. Continue Reading
Websites, Content Marketing and Self-Help
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This post and the downloadable resource list below have been updated as at 18 November 2021, though the post has not been 'republished' at that later date). The map highlights the areas of the UK which have the five highest rates of internet use. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) were published in May 2015. One of the areas is the North East of Scotland. It has the second highest rate of internet users in the UK. 90.4% of adults are internet users. ONS also published a map showing the five areas of the UK with lowest rates of internet use. Highland and Islands is there in second place, with 16.9% of adults as non-users. But that still leaves 83.1% as internet users. So, even in the lowest areas of internet use, still more than 4 out of every 5 adults are internet users. The lesson (as if you didn’t know it already) is that you need to have a website. This article considers 3 aspects of online marketing in the Continue Reading
Why A Local Personal Injury Solicitor Is Your Best Choice
No one enjoys filling in forms. If your work involves form filling, while you may not like it, you do at least become familiar with the sections of forms you have to fill in regularly. For us, Civil Legal Aid forms and Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) forms fall into that category. The problems are greatest where you have to fill in a form which you have never seen before. Most people making a personal injury claim are 'first timers', so any forms you have to fill in will be new to you. The Legal Aid and MIB forms mentioned above are much more difficult for you to complete than for us; so are any forms generated by solicitors acting on your behalf, as the injured person. In a previous article, we have considered the factors to take into account when selecting a solicitor. Whether the solicitor's office is close to you is one of the matters we suggest you consider. In this article, we look at a specific reason why it might be a good idea to have a solicitor you can easily meet in Continue Reading
Injured By An Uninsured Driver? Things You Need To Know About Claiming
If you are injured in a road traffic accident caused by the negligence of a vehicle driver, you should be able to claim against their motor insurance because it’s compulsory to have insurance. But we all know that not everyone has insurance. You only need to read local newspapers like Moray’s Northern Scot. Reports of criminal prosecutions where someone has either driven without insurance, or caused or permitted someone else to drive without insurance, are common. In this article, we consider the procedures available for you to claim compensation if you have been injured by an uninsured driver. Continue Reading
How much compensation for a needlestick injury?
“I had finished cleaning the floor and was just doing a final check before going for my break. I noticed I had missed some scrunched up toilet paper lying on the floor in one of the cubicles. As I picked the papers up with my right hand, I suddenly felt a burning pain between my index finger and my thumb. When I looked at my hand, I could see there was a needle which had pierced my skin there. It must have been hidden in the bundle. I was stunned and felt physically sick. I was so shocked I had to sit down for 10 minutes until I got my wits back.” Needlestick injuries are one type of “sharps” injury. A sharps injury happens when a needle, blade (e.g. a scalpel) or other medical instrument penetrates the skin. It's a frightening injury because even a pinprick can have such significant consequences for your health. Who is at risk? This type of injury is an occupational hazard if you work in the health or social care sector, especially for those who directly handle sharps. In our Continue Reading