On 04 May 2013 – a cold and windy day in Elgin - three of us from Grigor & Young / Moray Claims (Ann, Eileen and Peter), took a stall at the Scottish Theme Day run by Elgin Business Improvement District (Elgin BID). Thank you to everyone involved in organising it and all who participated. We ran a competition where we asked people to give their valuation of the injury in the following scenario. Female, aged 42, at the date of the injury and 45 at the date of the hearing, sustained a deep laceration on her posterior left thigh as a result of sitting on a toilet which had a jagged broken edge. The wound bled profusely and she was taken to hospital where it was sutured with seven stitches under local anaesthetic. Approximately two weeks later the wound became inflamed and antibiotics were prescribed. She was unable to work for 10 days and had difficulties sitting down or sleeping on her back for some six to eight weeks afterwards. She was left with a permanent scar measuring 3cm by Continue Reading
Early Settlement of Personal Injury Claims: Bad News For Everyone?
We see this happening much more frequently following accidents involving personal injury. People, who are at their most vulnerable following injury, receive a call from the other party’s insurance company and then a letter offering settlement of their claim at a derisory level. Why? Well, settling the claim quickly is invariably cheaper for an insurer and they know that, without specialist advice, you may not be paid all that you are entitled to receive. If you have suffered a personal injury, it is generally only possible to value the injury part of the claim properly by obtaining medical evidence. The amount your injury is worth depends on things like: the nature and severity of the initial injury; and the length of time it takes you to recover from the injury. Getting medical evidence, including a report from an appropriate medical expert, should ensure that the compensation paid out at the end of the day is fair compensation. And that means “fair” not only to you Continue Reading
If You Go To Court Will You Get 33 Times More Compensation For Your Personal Injury Claim?
We at Grigor & Young / Moray Claims recently dealt with a personal injury claim for a child who had suffered loss of several teeth following a fall in a local-authority-run play park - caused by a defective ground surface. The best settlement offer received from the insurers in negotiations before court action was raised was £750. Raising a court action resulted in a subsequent negotiated settlement of the claim at £25,000 – in other words, 33 times the best pre-litigation offer. Insurance companies are constantly putting forward the line that personal injury solicitors are simply expensive middle men. The insurers maintain that they can themselves fairly assess the compensation that is due and that, if you choose to deal with them directly, you will not be prejudiced. They will negotiate settlement of the claim with you and your claim will not have to go to court. The insurers say that the benefits of this solicitor-less approach go further. If less money has to be spent on Continue Reading
Car Insurance: When the “Best Deal” may be False Economy (If In Doubt – Disclose)
When you’re insuring your car, you’re looking for the best deal and that usually means the cheapest deal. In that environment, it is easy to think that a little 'white lie' about your vehicle or your circumstances will not hurt you if it saves you a few pounds. That is a risky and inadvisable approach, as a recent decision from Greenock Sheriff Court illustrates. The claimant in that case had insured his Audi with Zenith Insurance. When the vehicle was stolen, he claimed on his car insurance for the value of the vehicle. The claim was refused. Zenith said they were treating his policy as void. They refunded the premiums he had paid (amounting to about £1,440) but refused to pay him the value of his car (about £20,000). He sued Zenith for payment of the value of the car. He lost. Insurance contracts are contracts of the utmost good faith Basically, this means that you, as the insured, have a duty to disclose all material or “important” facts that might have Continue Reading