Whiplash claims now make up about 70 per cent of all motor accident personal injury claims. Whiplash injuries are caused by the neck and head being thrown suddenly backward then forward during the accident. The neck and head are forced beyond their normal range of movement and this results in damage to soft tissue and pain. Most people make a full recovery from this type of injury and, where neck and back symptoms last perhaps three to six months, courts will award damages of between £1,500 and £3,000. Because whiplash does not involve broken bones, there are few objective signs of injury. At the moment, claims for whiplash injuries are under fire from the Westminster government and the insurance industry because there is clear temptation for exaggeration of symptoms by claimants. The House of Commons Transport Select Committee heard evidence in 2011 that the insurance industry loses £2.1 billion per annum to fraudulent claims, whether by “cash for crash” staged accidents or Continue Reading
Slip and fall? I bet that won’t look good on the dancefloor …
Dancefloors can be dangerous places. The combination of spilt drink, variable lighting and alcohol consumption means that falls can easily happen. Broken wrists are the most popular injury in our experience but leg injuries are also common. Claims based on occupiers' liability If you have been injured in this sort of situation, following a slip and fall, it may be possible to make a claim based on Occupiers’ Liability. The occupier – basically whoever has control of the premises – has to take reasonable care to see to it that people are not injured due to the state of the premises – which includes wet floors. Wet surfaces are not necessarily slippery? Unbelievable as it may seem, the courts have actually said that it is not self-evident that a wet surface is “slippery”. If liability for an accident is denied it can be necessary to get an engineer to carry out a slip-resistance test on the surface in question to provide a scientific measure of whether the floor poses a low, Continue Reading
Not just another accident claims company…
The internet and the television are overflowing with organisations competing for the business that could be generated by your personal injury claim. In launching our brand “Moray Claims”, Grigor & Young are building on experience gained over more than 10 years in handling referrals from a national claims helpline which covered clients and accidents over the whole of the North of Scotland. Our local knowledge can benefit you What our experience has taught us is that we can offer the best service at lowest risk to ourselves where the accidents and / or injured persons concerned are geographically close to us. For one thing, we have “local knowledge” in such situations that will often give us an advantage over just about any other solicitor who could handle the claim. There are also economies that can be made where claims are locally-based that are of benefit to us and consequently can be made to be of benefit to you as a potential client. In many cases - a service Continue Reading