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