Terence Connelly suffered a serious injury to his arm. He fell while playing tennis on a carpeted court at a leisure centre in Renfrew. One of his feet got stuck in the surface and he fell heavily. It appears that he had on the wrong kind of tennis shoes. It turned out there was a special type of shoes he should have been wearing, though he did not know that at the time. Mr Connelly made a personal injury claim against the leisure centre. He pointed to the fact that, following the accident, signs were put up at the centre stating: “Non-marking smooth-soled tennis shoes on carpet courts”. His action was unsuccessful in the Sheriff Court before first the Sheriff and then on appeal to the Sheriff Principal. He further appealed to the Court of Session but that appeal also failed. He conducted all three hearings in the case himself. In essence, the claim was unsuccessful because the various judges did not feel able to say that, on the available evidence at the date of the Continue Reading
Your future accident at work claim at risk
In a press release on 13 November 2012, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has highlighted a proposed change to Health and Safety at Work that threatens to return Scotland to Victorian times. The amendment of Section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 would alter laws that have been in place since the end of the 19th century. As the law stands, if a worker is injured and he or she can show the employer is in breach of health and safety regulations, there is a right to claim compensation. The proposed changes will mean an injured person would no longer be able to rely on this right but would have to start from square one and prove that negligence had occurred. It seems inevitable that this change will mean employers’ liability cases becoming more complex - and so more expensive to run. Many legitimate claims could be denied redress in future, leaving people injured at work having to rely on their families and the State to support them rather than the insurers of Continue Reading
Negative comments about lawyers in songs
Here’s an example from the first verse of “Nothin' But A Woman” by The Robert Cray Band. You can give me an hour alone in a bank Pay all my tickets, wipe the slate blank You could buy me a car, fill up the tank Tell me a boat full of lawyers just sank But it ain't nothin' but a woman Nothin' but a woman, no, no Don't need nothin' but a woman Any time I'm feelin' low Do you have any others we could add to our playlist? Continue Reading
When a court action may not be necessary in order to win your claim …
It can often be a frustrating game for consumers with possible claims against large organisations or corporations. If liability is denied by the company (or if they don’t even engage in negotiations) you generally face the prospect of having to raise a court action to press your claim. Expenses or costs tend to follow success in court actions so, even where you have what seems to be a strong claim, the economic imbalance between the parties can make the prospect of a court action quite daunting for you as the consumer: if you lose, you may have a large bill to pay. Canadian Musician, Dave Carroll, found a perfect way round this problem when United Airlines allegedly caused significant damage to his expensive guitar at Chicago Airport. He wrote and recorded a song and uploaded the video to YouTube. This reportedly knocked around $180 million off the share value of the company in the aftermath of its release. We don’t suggest you try this if you want to complain about Continue Reading
Whiplash injuries
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