One of my favourite rock bands is the Canadian trio, Rush. I have seen them live in concert 5 times between 1981 and 2013. They were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, having released their first album as long ago as 1974. By 1976, Rush were about to release their fourth album. Their previous LPs had been relative commercial failures. And so their record label encouraged them to ditch the ‘concept album’ format – with whole sides devoted to a single theme or story – which they had followed for albums 2 and 3. In fact, they stuck to their philosophy. Side 1 has the 7-part suite of the album’s title, set in a musically intolerant world, now less than 100 years in the future. 2112 (“Twenty-one Twelve”) went on to become arguably their most famous record; it was certainly their breakthrough. The final track on Side 2 is called ‘Something for Nothing’ and has the chorus: You don't get something for nothing You don't get freedom for free You won't get Continue Reading
Sheriff rules that an adult egg-and-spoon race is not a race
“Race - a competition in which all the competitors try to be the fastest and to finish first.” The Cambridge Dictionary The Pursuer was unsuccessful in this Elgin Sheriff Court case arising out of injuries sustained in the course of a parents’ race at a children’s sports day. The Pursuer attended her daughter’s annual nursery sports day. One of the events was an egg-and-spoon race for the mothers. The sports day had had to be moved indoors to a sports hall due to inclement weather. Whilst participating in the egg and spoon race, in the “outside lane”, the Pursuer failed to stop in time after the finish line so as to avoid colliding with the wall beyond. She sustained significant and life-changing injuries to both wrists as a result. While most parents taking part did not seem bothered by the outcome, at least one other participant appeared to treat it as a race, stopping only beyond the finish line. The Pursuer took first place. The Pursuer’s higher momentum Continue Reading
Digging for QOCS Exceptions in Scottish Personal Injury Claims
The default position under Qualified One-way Costs Shifting (QOCS) for personal injury compensation claimants in Scotland is this. If your claim succeeds, you will be able to recover legal costs from your opponent, in addition to the compensation agreed as payable or as awarded to you by a court. Whether you lose any of your compensation to pay a success fee will depend upon the arrangement you have with your solicitor. If your claim is unsuccessful, QOCS should mean that you DO NOT have pay legal costs to your opponent - even though the normal rule is “loser pays”. That is what “one-way costs shifting” means. There’s a shift in the usual costs rule in favour of the loser if they are claimant; but not if they are the claimant’s opponents (usually an insurance company). QOCS arrived in England and Wales (2013) before it came to Scotland (2021). To some extent, Scotland has been learning from the experience south of the Border. In 2023, there have been some Continue Reading
Why these are the 3 hardest words for personal injury insurers to utter
If you like words and plays on words, the internet is a mine of nuggets. For example, in India, “Sari” always seems to be the hardest word. If you’re looking for “alternative” definitions of words, the Uxbridge English Dictionary (from BBC Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue) has examples such as: Words are not always what they seem. The “plain meaning” of a word is rarely a given. The meaning of words can be twisted or ignored. In this article, we’ll consider 3 words / phrases which insurers in personal injury claim situations will avoid using if they can and will twist as far as possible if they cannot be avoided. What are these "unforgivable" words / phrases? We’ll get to them in a moment. First, we need to understand the context in which the problematic terminology arises. Your personal injury solicitor wants to achieve for you the highest level of compensation reasonably possible, as soon as reasonably possible. There are various tactics your solicitor Continue Reading