As a chocolate lover, my taste is more for milk chocolate and white chocolate than for dark chocolate. If dark chocolate is married with another flavour, such as mint, I’m a big fan but, on its own, I’ll always prefer the other varieties of chocolate, if I can get them. With 100% dark chocolate, it means that all the ingredients have come from the cocoa bean. 100% dark chocolate is not to everyone’s taste because of its intense bitterness. In the world of personal injury claims, an area where ‘100%’ could leave an intensely bitter taste in your mouth is in relation to contributory negligence. What is contributory negligence? In the usual case, contributory negligence is where it’s accepted by the other party or their insurers that you should get some compensation for your losses. The catch is that they say it was partly due to your own fault that you got injured – so your full compensation should be reduced by a percentage to reflect your share of the blame. In Continue Reading
Removing Right To Claim For Whiplash Injury Is Thin End Of The Wedge
As a bus passenger most days between Lossiemouth and Elgin, the recent unreliability of the Stagecoach service has been a regular topic of conversation. It has made me wonder how you can give an incentive to provide on-time servicing to a company with a virtual monopoly of the local bus service. How about we all get the automatic right to claim compensation from Stagecoach for our hassle and inconvenience every time a bus is more than 15 minutes late? An end to compensation for minor whiplash In his Autumn Statement for 2015, the Chancellor announced that the Westminster government intends to introduce measures to end the right to compensation for minor whiplash injuries. (We don't know yet how 'minor' is to be defined). Scotland not included Our understanding is that these proposed reforms would apply only to England and Wales (and not Scotland or Northern Ireland). However, we’re highlighting these proposals because we consider the principle to be so important. The Continue Reading
Road Traffic Accident Questions Your Solicitor Needs Answered
If you are making a personal injury claim as a result of an accident, your solicitor needs a lot of information from you at the outset. So much information, in fact, that it can be easy to overlook something important. This post contains a list of questions relevant to personal injury claims arising from road traffic accidents. A checklist like this can help to make sure your solicitor gets as much of the crucial information as possible. At the foot of the article is a link to a downloadable pdf document, which contains all the questions as a handy reference. In this type of case, it will be necessary to show that the accident was caused by fault or negligence (that is, some blameworthy or careless act or omission) on the part of the other driver. Your solicitor will want to have the following information from you, as far as possible. Road traffic accident questions to answer for your personal injury solicitor 1 Your full name, date of birth, address and telephone number, Continue Reading
Medical Reports in Personal Injury Claims
If you have a medical problem which you have not been able to resolve yourself, your GP may refer you for a specialist opinion from a consultant. Your GP writes a referral letter and you will receive an appointment for a clinic at a hospital in due course. At the clinic, you may see the consultant or a more junior doctor. You have to rely on how well you can understand what you are told at the consultation. The doctor will write to your GP as a result of the appointment, which will be a sort of “report”. You will not automatically get to see that letter. It can be difficult to get a clear idea of your diagnosis, prognosis and any further treatment proposed. How personal injury claim medical reports are different In the context of a personal injury claim, medical reports are different. As part of most personal injury claims, your solicitor will refer you at some point for an expert opinion from a specialist such as a consultant. If your injury includes, say, a bone Continue Reading