"Spine once more" found on flickrcc.net One of the frustrations for solicitors helping victims of accidents with their compensation claims is where medical records show that the injured person did not take up all the treatment which was available to them while recovering from their injuries. The “pain and suffering” value of your personal injury claim depends, broadly, on the severity of the initial injury and the length of time it takes you to make a full recovery. You rarely win if it's "you versus your medical records" Whilst your own evidence about the duration and extent of your symptoms will carry some weight, it is likely to be trumped by anything inconsistent contained in your medical records. So, for example, it will be difficult to argue two years after an accident that you have continuing shoulder pain related to the accident if your GP referred to you for physiotherapy at the 6-month mark and you failed to attend at all or stopped going for treatment before Continue Reading
Why An APIL Solicitor Is Best To Handle Your Personal Injury Claim
Peter Brash, Grigor & Young, APIL Senior Litigator Not every solicitor handles personal injury claims but, more importantly, not every solicitor who handles personal injury claims is a specialist. In previous posts, we have explained why you need a specialist personal injury solicitor, preferably local to you, to handle your claim for you; and how the Law Society of Scotland’s Accreditation scheme is one badge of recognition of skills beyond the ordinary in particular areas of law, such as personal injury. How else can you tell whether a solicitor is going to be up to the task of handling your claim? Membership of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) APIL is a not-for-profit organisation set up over 20 years ago to encourage accident prevention and assist accident victims through campaigns and lobbying. It has over 4,300 members, most of whom are UK-based solicitors. APIL’s headquarters are in Nottingham. The culture of the Continue Reading
Fatal Accident Claims in Scotland: Increased Compensation levels
Claims by three members of the family of a man who died as the result of a road traffic accident in Glasgow have been awarded damages totalling £106,500. Lady Wise, in the Court of Session, decided that the award of compensation in a previous similar case had been too low. She set the damages level for each claimant by applying an uplift of approximately 50% on the awards in the previous case. Pedestrian crossing accident Gavin Currie was 25 years old when he was knocked down on a zebra crossing on 28 December 2011. He died in hospital 2 days later. The Court described Gavin as a “fine young man with good employment prospects and a happy and settled family life”. He came from a close-knit family. Only value of claim disputed Liability for the accident was not in dispute but there was disagreement about the level of compensation to be paid to each of his parents and to his brother, Euan, by the insurers of the negligent driver. Tension between Judge and Jury damages Continue Reading
Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law: Marie Morrison
Well done, Marie! Marie Morrison of Grigor & Young, Solicitors, Elgin and Forres, and of Moray Claims has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Personal Injury for a period of 5 years to 18 February 2019. The road to accreditation Marie has been a solicitor since 1992. She lives in Macduff, Banffshire, which is her home town. She returned there around 10 years ago, having worked as a Personal Injury solicitor with a number of firms in the Glasgow area following her qualification. Marie joined in Grigor & Young in 2006 and has dealt almost exclusively with personal injury claims throughout her time with the firm. She is an Associate with Grigor & Young and is also a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Marie joins Peter Brash of Grigor & Young in having the same "PI" accreditation, which gives the firm - and Moray Claims - clear recognition of its expertise in relation to the law on accident and Continue Reading