July 1999 was a momentous month for Scottish golf. The British Open returned to Carnoustie for the first time since 1975. More importantly, Paul Lawrie became the first Scottish winner since 1985 (and is still the most recent Scottish winner of a major). However, that championship will also be remembered for all the ‘wrong’ reasons French golfer, Jean van de Velde, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, throwing away a 3-shot advantage on the final hole. At the 18th, a par 4, he could have taken 6 shots and still won - but he took 7, in fact holing a decent putt just to get himself into the playoff which he eventually lost. His play on the final hole is true ‘car crash’ television as he seemed to regress to beginner standard in dealing with the rough, a bunker and a water hazard. One author has classified van de Velde's problem as one of 'overthinking' In his book “The Art of Thinking Clearly”, Rolf Dobelli explains that skills involve an element of instinct and feeling. Continue Reading
FAQs
Below are listed all of our articles covering Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs) in relation to Personal Injury Claims in Scotland.
Can You Get 100% Contributory Negligence?
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
22 Injury Questions To Answer So You Maximise The Value Of Your Claim
If you have been injured in an accident and are making a claim for compensation, your solicitor needs as much information as possible about your injuries and their consequences so that the full extent of your claim is understood and you can be properly compensated. Most solicitors specialising in personal injury work will have a system of questionnaires or standardised questions to make sure, as far as possible, that no issues are left unexplored. We hope that, by highlighting the following matters, it will help you to understand the sort of issues which could be crucial in your particular circumstances. The injury questions to answer so you maximise the value of your claim will be different in each case. It is unlikely that all of the questions will be relevant to you, but many of them will be. We hope that at least one or two of them might make you think about things you had not considered before now. Injury questions Do you still have any pain or discomfort or have Continue Reading
How Long Until My Claim Finishes (Once Liability Is Admitted)?
[NOTE: This article is now also a podcast episode, which you can access here, if you would prefer to listen to the content rather than read it] "If the insurance company admit liability and arrange for an independent medical report, how long do they get to make a settlement offer?" This is a question we received via a Free Enquiry to our website. Another way to put the question would be: once the third party insurers have accepted responsibility to pay compensation to me, how long until my claim finishes? Assumptions made: no solicitor but "proper" medical examination In order to answer the question, we have to assume some things: That you do not have a solicitor and that you are dealing directly with an insurance company. (You say that they have admitted liability and so they should be willing to make an offer of compensation to you.) That the insurers have instructed an independent medical expert, who has examined you and the relevant medical records. (The Continue Reading
Financial pressure to return to work too soon after an accident?
If you are off work as the result of an accident, you can easily find yourself under increasing pressure to go back to your job before you are fully fit to do so. Many people are forced into making a claim for personal injury compensation due to financial stresses. Often, this is because their employment does not provide sick pay at full pay or even half pay rates. If you are more or less immediately on Statutory Sick Pay through absence from work after an accident, you will inevitably have worries how you will manage to pay your bills and provide for your family. This wage loss seems especially unfair, if you were injured at work. If you live in Moray or have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray, we can help with advice on a possible personal injury claim. We can take any claim on directly, if that is in your best interests. We will refer you on elsewhere if we think that’s a better option for you. Our priority is to make sure everyone with a valid claim gets fair Continue Reading
Should you settle a personal injury claim without getting legal advice?
We would advise anyone who has been injured in an accident to get specialist legal advice as soon as possible. Economics alone suggest that you cannot rely on an insurance company to give you a fair deal, if you choose to handle your claim yourself. (Their primary duty is to their shareholders, not to you). Unfortunately, there are all sorts of other potential conflicts of interest for third party insurers as well. Only an independent, specialist solicitor will be truly on your side and hold your best interests as paramount. If you live in Moray or have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray, we can help with advice on a possible personal injury claim. We’ll help you directly if that's what is in your best interests. We will refer you on elsewhere if we think that’s a better option for you. Our main aim is to make sure everyone with a valid claim gets access to the justice they deserve through the solicitor who is best-placed to help them – in terms of experience, Continue Reading
Personal Injury Claim First Enquiries – How Much Scope For Free Advice?
We end most articles on this blog with a call to action along the lines of “get in touch if you have any questions – all initial enquiries are free”. We’ve received a request for clarification of this. The question came via email - “When is a contract deemed to have started after first enquiry?” I take that to mean: at what point do you get beyond the point of initial enquiry, where everything is "without obligation", and get bound into taking things further with that particular solicitor? With personal injury claim first enquiries, how much scope for free advice do you have? We handle most personal injury claims in one of two ways here and I will try to explain what happens in each case (there's a general summary, below, if you want to skip to that). Legal aid cases If you qualify for some form of legal aid, we will encourage you to sign up for legal advice and assistance, which is the initial form of legal aid, covering meetings, correspondence and Continue Reading
Can a Moray Solicitor help with a Personal Injury Claim?
For a variety of reasons, a local solicitor - provided they have the necessary experience and specialism - is the best person to handle your personal injury claim. If you have suffered a personal injury accident in Moray or if you live in Moray, we can help you. If you have any questions about any element of our personal injury claims services at Moray Claims / Grigor & Young, feel free to contact us. You can send us a Free Online Enquiry via this website (it's an online method of sending us an email). Alternatively, you can phone us. Our accredited specialist personal injury solicitors – Peter and Marie – are on (Elgin) 01343 544077. We’ll help you directly if that's what seems to us to be in your best interests. But we might refer you on elsewhere, if we think that’s an option that's more in your best interests. Our priority is to make sure all people with valid claims get access to the justice they deserve through a solicitor who is best-placed to help them – in Continue Reading
Why A Local Personal Injury Solicitor Is Your Best Choice
No one enjoys filling in forms. If your work involves form filling, while you may not like it, you do at least become familiar with the sections of forms you have to fill in regularly. For us, Civil Legal Aid forms and Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) forms fall into that category. The problems are greatest where you have to fill in a form which you have never seen before. Most people making a personal injury claim are 'first timers', so any forms you have to fill in will be new to you. The Legal Aid and MIB forms mentioned above are much more difficult for you to complete than for us; so are any forms generated by solicitors acting on your behalf, as the injured person. In a previous article, we have considered the factors to take into account when selecting a solicitor. Whether the solicitor's office is close to you is one of the matters we suggest you consider. In this article, we look at a specific reason why it might be a good idea to have a solicitor you can easily meet in Continue Reading
How Long Do I Have To Make A Personal Injury Claim?
I recently had to travel to a family funeral in Germany with my wife. We flew with KLM from Aberdeen to Cologne via Amsterdam. On the way there, we had one hour in Amsterdam Airport to catch our connecting flight. From previous experience, we knew this might be a problem. Schiphol is a sprawling airport. It is designed as a central hub with “spokes” going off from the centre and, on each spoke, there are up to 30 Gates. Gates with low numbers are close to the central hub and Gates with higher numbers are further out. On arrival at Amsterdam, we were on time. The aircraft’s parking stance was at Gate C18 and we understood we had to get to Gate D4. “C” and “D” are two different spokes, so we would have to get from one Gate to the other via the hub. When we checked the departure boards, we found that the departure Gate had been changed to D28. Travelator walkways on the spokes help to speed you on your way but, at the hub, we had to go through Security again and there Continue Reading
Should I Settle My Accident Injury Claim Directly With The Insurance Company?
If you have been hurt as the result of an accident, it is likely that the third party’s insurance company will contact you directly. You will probably have exchanged personal details with the other party to the accident and that information will be passed on to the other insurers if the accident is reported to them by their customer. Insurers have recognised this as a great opportunity to “get in first”. Where the insurance company for the other party sees that the accident is likely to be the fault of their insured, if they move swiftly, they can get to you before you are in touch with your own insurers. The “prize” as far as they are concerned is the chance to offer money to settle any personal injury claim you might have - before you have had time to get proper legal advice and intimate the claim. Third party capture There are different terms for this procedure, depending on your point of view. Solicitors who represent the interests of injury victims refer to it as Continue Reading
Do I Have To Use The Solicitor My Insurer Tells Me To Use?
We have blogged previously about Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI). If you have LEI and approach your insurer for cover under the policy to make, for example, a personal injury claim, you may find the insurance company saying that they have the right to appoint a solicitor of their choice to act for you. We often get asked the question: "Do I have to use the solicitor my insurer tells me to use?" The true position is that you do not have to go with their choice. Right to appoint own solicitor for proceedings It’s not entirely simple but under Regulations dating from 1990 (the Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations) you have the right to select the solicitor who will be appointed in respect of any proceedings. Of course, the normal procedure with a claim is that your solicitor will intimate it by letter first of all and, in many cases, the claim can be negotiated to a successful conclusion without the need for a court action – in other words, without the Continue Reading