Your solicitor’s aim is to maximise the amount of compensation you receive for your injuries and other losses. The “top line” value of your claim needs to be as high as possible, but that’s not all. You also want to try to reduce the amount you will lose in having to pay legal fees from your compensation. For most people who become a personal injury client of Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, you will lose 10 per cent of your compensation in paying what is called a "Success Fee". In a minority of cases, though, no deduction will apply at all. The basic difference is between claims covered by legal aid (no deduction ever) and claims we deal with on a no win-no fee basis (10 per cent deduction in most cases and, rarely, 20 per cent). So , how much does a personal injury claim cost? And how can you minimise what you will have to pay out of your damages? As we will see, it can mean the difference between receiving 100% of your compensation and only 80% - and the Continue Reading
Why you must check if your motor insurance covers commuting
In the bustling life of Scotland, commuting is a daily ritual for many of us. Even more so, for those who live rurally. Most of us will commute by car and, while many are familiar with car insurance to allow us to do so, many are not so familiar with "commuting" insurance. In this blog post, we’ll delve into what commuting insurance is, why it is important, and what are the consequences if you don’t have it. What is commuting insurance? Commuting insurance is a type of coverage designed to protect individuals during their daily travel to and from their workplace. This type of insurance coverage is usually combined within an existing car insurance policy rather than a separate policy. Its purpose is to specifically cover the risks associated with your commute, such as accidents or damage to your car. Why it is commuting insurance important? Statistics show that a significant number of accidents occur during peak commuting hours. With more vehicles on the Continue Reading
In Whiplash injury claims how important is speed of collision?
By definition, whiplash injuries are caused by low velocity impacts. The perpetual difficulty we have in describing whiplash injuries stems from the fact that there is, by definition, no structural pathology (i.e. nothing that can be independently verified by x-rays or other scans) They say that whiplash-associated disorders remain 'a diagnosis of exclusion'. In other words, if you seem to be dealing with 'appropriate' symptoms and nothing else would explain them, "whiplash" is your diagnosis because you have excluded all other possibilities. What is the mechanism of a whiplash injury? The mechanism of a whiplash injury involves the initial acceleration of the vehicle occupant due to force being transmitted through the vehicle in which they are seated - typically, a rear-end shunt of their vehicle. This results in the occupant to moving forward. In moving forward, the occupant’s head and upper cervical spine (neck) lags behind very slightly compared to the movement Continue Reading
Rise in fatalities among vulnerable road users in Scotland
Recently-released statistics have shown that as compared with 2022, 2023 saw a reduction in the overall number of deaths on Scotland’s roads. This is good news. However, lurking within these statistics, there was, unfortunately, an increase in deaths within the sub-category for vulnerable road users. Vulnerable road users include motorcyclists, pedal cyclists and pedestrians. The figures for serious injuries within each of these subcategories also showed an increase as between 2022 and 2023. The indications are that, for car users, road safety levels continued to improve. But if you are walking or travelling on two wheels, it is more of a bleak picture. Given that we are all being encouraged to engage in more active forms of travel (e.g. walking and pedal cycling), the signs are that the Government is going to need to do more to reassure the public that proper safety measures are being put in place (e.g. separated-from-carriageway active travel routes such as Continue Reading