Elgin's Dandy Lion has not had a view up the High Street to Dr Gray's Hospital since May 2018. In the meantime, his view has been blocked by wooden hoardings as Poundland first had structural problems and then a fire. We’ve had piles of metal on the site, from the “scaffolding mountain” to the beginnings of the new Poundland construction. In the various photos below, there is a similarity but there's also gradual progress. In the law relating to bereavement compensation in Scotland, there can be a superficial sameness to things but, again, under the surface, there is progress and milestones are being achieved. We’ll look at one of these progression points in this article. For fatal accident claims, in Scotland, this is one area where the law is quite different to that in England and Wales. This is particularly the case for compensation awarded for the grief and sorrow caused by deceased’s death – often referred to as compensation for “loss of society”. Those pushing Continue Reading
Fatal Accident Claims Articles
Below are listed all of our articles which deal with Fatal Accident Claims in Scotland for compensation following the death of a loved one.
Why keeping your personal injury claim simple (or as simple as possible) is best
“You’re ignorant. But at least you act on it.” So comments an eye-rolling Hobbes to Calvin in response to his friend’s rant about knowledge only leading to paralysis by analysis. That’s an outcome which, as a “man of action”, Calvin simply cannot afford. In other words, it’s a "simple" explanation for why Calvin will be better off not doing his homework. Calvin’s logic may be flawed but, with a personal injury claim, the simplest approach is usually the best. But can we keep things simple? In this article, we’ll consider, firstly, some of the factors that can complicate a personal injury claim. Secondly, we’ll look at complexity from the injured claimant’s perspective. And finally at “control” issues surrounding complexity: in other words, who has the power to make things simple or not? There are lots of ways a personal injury claim can become complicated. Allegations of contributory negligence - that you were partly to blame for your injuries. Where it appears Continue Reading
Why an accident in Scotland means you need advice from a Scottish solicitor
If you have an accident in Scotland, you need to get advice from a Scottish solicitor. People contact us with personal injury related questions via this website from all over the place (not always in the UK and not always even in Europe). Where the enquiry is about an accident that happened outwith Scotland, we cannot help you directly but we can often use our professional contacts to point you in the right direction. It’s even more focused than "Scotland" for us, however, because we concentrate our main efforts on helping clients in our home area of Moray and a bit beyond that. One phone enquiry we received recently caused us a lot of concern and that’s the seed for this article: The risk that you might have a question about injuries arising from an accident in Scotland but not get advice from a Scottish solicitor. Here’s (an anonymised version of) the scenario that came from the phone enquiry mentioned above. A parent of the caller had died as the result of a road Continue Reading
Why you might be surprised who qualifies as a cohabitee (more people than you’d expect)
In modern society, cohabitation is an increasingly popular family structure. As one aspect of the response to this change, the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 was enacted to provide particular limited rights to cohabiting couples. On the breakdown of their relationship within their lifetimes, a former cohabitee has the chance to make a claim for financial provision from his or her former partner. On the death of one of them – provided they did not leave a will – the survivor can make a claim for financial provision from the deceased’s estate. The time limit for a “separation” claim is one year from the date of separation and, for a “death” claim, only 6 months. These time limits are very short indeed and they cannot be extended. As a sort of public information drive, we have a poster we often display outside our offices which summarises the time limit for death claims. If a cohabitee dies as the result of an accident which is due to the fault or breach of duty of Continue Reading
Bereavement Damages – Scots Law Used As A Benchmark For Reform
The Radio 4 consumer programme “You and Yours”, for 14 January 2016, included a section on bereavement damages. It highlighted the fact that, although they say “you can’t put a price on a life”, in fact, we do it all the time. Decisions made about which treatments and drugs are going to be available on the NHS are one example. Another is the way we deal with compensation when someone dies as a result of negligence. Scotland as a benchmark for law reform in England and Wales One MP – a former personal injury lawyer – is asking for a change in the law to allow courts in England and Wales to pay more in compensation than at present and allow a wider range of relatives to claim, when someone has died as a result of negligence. In many ways, the Scottish legal position is being used as the blueprint for the proposed change in the law in England and Wales. Andy McDonald is the Labour MP for Middlesborough and his Private Member’s Bill comes before Parliament at the end of January Continue Reading
Work Accident Prosecution Delays Put Compensation Claims At Risk
If a worker is fatally injured as the result of an accident at work, there will often be an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Available options include: the holding of a Fatal Accident Inquiry by the procurator fiscal; criminal prosecution of the employer and/or any other business which might have been "in control" of the workplace at the time of the accident under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Examples of employer prosecutions as the result of a fatal accident HSE publishes a weekly email bulletin - to which anyone can subscribe - which gives details of the latest health and safety breaches which have given rise to criminal convictions for businesses. The accidents involve life-changing injuries and some result in fatalities. Using as an example the most recent bulletin, we find several reports of fines imposed on businesses for deaths of workers in a variety of circumstances: A landscape gardener who fell under the wheels of a 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
Fatal Accidents: Another Reason To Make A Will
Something like 7 out of 10 people do not have a Will. There are lots of reasons why you are unlikely to have made a Will. This post tells a story which might convince you to take action and make a Will, if you do not have one. The details are fictional but are based on fact situations we have dealt with in practice. Maggie and Tam – cohabiting couple Maggie had been separated from her husband for several years when she met her partner, Tam, through a mutual friend in 2002. Maggie lived in Moray and Tam was based in the Borders. After a year or so, they decided to move in together, Tam finding a job with a haulage company in Moray. They bought a house using, as a deposit, money Tam had saved. Tam had never been married and had no children. He formed a great relationship with Maggie’s three children – and two grandchildren born during the years after he and Maggie got together. Maggie, in turn, enjoyed the company of Tam’s brother and his parents. They went on Continue Reading
When Do You Need A Personal Injury Solicitor In Scotland (rather than elsewhere in the UK)?
Accidents do not take any notice of national boundaries. An accident can happen whether you are in Dallas, Moray, or Dallas, Texas. If you have been injured in an accident and need to make a claim for compensation, we recommend that you contact a solicitor with proven specialist knowledge in personal injury claims. We also suggest that you should deal with a solicitor who is local to you, if possible. For accidents which have happened in Scotland, does it matter whether your solicitor is in Scotland? It does matter and we will explain why. When a local-to-you solicitor can be a bad idea Where you suffer injury in a road traffic accident in Scotland, you might be on holiday or on business at the time. You may have your home in another part of the UK. It can be tempting in that situation to consult a solicitor close to where you live, once you are sufficiently recovered, because it is the most convenient option. The solicitor you consult will be reluctant to Continue Reading
Snow and Ice: Single Vehicle Accidents
We are back to that time of year when the roads in Moray and the North of Scotland are regularly icy or snow-covered. In this blog, we are looking at the chances of making a claim for personal injury where, due to the road conditions, you lose control of your vehicle on ice or snow and have an accident. The fact is these are very difficult claims to make successfully, if you were the driver of the vehicle. Difficulties for drivers in claiming successfully … As you will see from what follows, under Scots Law the relevant highway authority will virtually never be to blame for an accident caused by a vehicle skidding on ice or snow. This puts the onus very much on you as the driver to take great care when driving in such conditions – and even to think carefully about whether you should make your journey at all. … Though not for passengers If you are a passenger in a single vehicle accident of that type, you will almost certainly have a claim against the insurers of the driver Continue Reading
Fatal Accident Claims: Different in Scotland
On 16 July 2009, Peter McGee fell down the stairs at his home in Springburn, Glasgow. Two days later, he died in hospital as a result of complications from his injuries. His wife, Catherine, and other family members raised an action in the Court of Session against RJK Building Services Ltd, who had carried out joinery work at the property on the instructions of Glasgow City Council, Mr and Mrs McGee’s landlords. In an Opinion issued on 18 January 2013, Lord Drummond Young found that RJK were to blame for Mr McGee’s injuries and death because they had been negligent in the way they fitted a handrail on the stairs. The handrail had come loose from the wall as Mr McGee descended the stairs, causing him to fall. A lengthy marriage At the time of his death, Mr McGee was 71 years old. His wife was a few months younger than him. They had been married for 36 years. An area of personal injury law where Scotland is different Personal injury law is applied identically or Continue Reading