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• #27
Cases involving head injuries aren't straight forward, have you seen the outcome of the medical report ?. The chances are it says that you need to be assessed over a period of time before they can full assess your injury.
If the motorists insurers have admitted liability that's half the battle. I'd give your solicitors a ring, you could ask about the chances of an interim payment (22 Months is a long time) It's easy to ignore an e-mail, less so a person at the end of a phone.
Hope you healed up well.
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• #28
I'm now working at Slater and Gordon (got fed up of telling people my firm couldn't help them if the value was not high enough). Drop me a PM and I'll find out what's going on in your case.
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• #29
Thanks both. Re the head injury - if I remember rightly the report said something along the lines of "Will recover in two years either via healing or in combination with learning to live with the injury"
I will give them a call (thanks for the offer ojeffcott, will PM if I don't get anywhere).
Thanks for the suggestion of an interim payment HousecatHST, will try at least for this to cover getting a replacement bike. I've kept the broken bike in case it's needed for insurance purposes, it's a bit disconcerting having it in the house when I don't remember how it happened. -
• #30
interesting article by @ojeffcott
http://thecyclingsolicitor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/how-will-proposed-increase-in-small.htmlHow will the proposed increase in the Small Claims limit affect cyclists?
Here is a guest blog I wrote for the Cyclist Defence Fund website:http://www.cyclistsdefencefund.org.uk/how-small-claims-limit-affect-cyclists
In the recent Autumn Statement(link is external)George Osborne stated that the small claims limit will increase from £1,000 to £5,000 in personal injury cases. The theory is that cases which fall within the small claims track are straightforward and will not require legal representation. As a result, a party bringing such a case should not be entitled to recover their legal costs.
In personal injury cases this is being brought in so injured people are encouraged to deal with a defendant’s insurance company direct. However, personal injury cases at this level are not always minor or straightforward and the government were even warned against this move in 2013 by a report of the transport select committee.
To put it in context, a common injury cyclists face after being struck by a car is a fractured collar bone. Under the Judicial College guidelines (which the courts use to assess the value of an injury), a fractured collar bone may be worth £4,290. Most would agree that a fractured collar bone is not trivial, yet such injuries will fall within the cases captured by the proposed increase to the small claims limit.
According to the Financial Services Authority, injured people get an average of two or three times more money if they consult a solicitor rather than negotiating with an insurer direct. In other words, insurance companies will try to under-settle cases when solicitors are not there to hold the companies to account and give the victim a voice.
This will not surprise anyone who has had the misfortune of trying to recover money from an insurer themselves. A client whose home had been burgled recently told me that the process of getting the money from her household insurer was more distressing than the burglary itself. People who have suffered injury will soon have to go through a similar process.
Many will be asking why George Osborne is increasing the small claim limit, and he has explained that the change is being brought in to cut the cost of motor insurance. However, it is debatable whether the purported savings will be passed on to motorists. The number of claims have fallen significantly in recent years yet still the insurance industry has not reduced premiums.
More importantly, it is unjust to expect a cyclist or pedestrian, who may have suffered a fracture and several thousand pounds of financial losses, to fight against a driver's insurance company without legal representation. The fact that the measure is being taken to save motorists money adds insult to injury.
I would encourage all to sign this petition to keep the small claims limit at £1000 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/113810 so that this change in the law will be debated properly in Parliament and to give injured people the chance to retain their voice. -
• #31
Update. After much chasing I managed to get contact going with the solicitor again. It turned out that the insurance company had made an offer a while ago, and the solicitor hadn't informed me. I accepted the offer, and got an interim payment of 75% of the offer five months ago. The solicitor was supposed to give me a breakdown of costs and pay me any remaining monies.
This hasn't happened, and the solicitor is away in the medium term. The solicitors is a large international firm, should they be assigning my case to someone else to sort, or do I have to wait for the Solicitor I've been dealing with to return ?
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• #32
Hello all, I UTFS read some other threads and dredged this one, have given them a read through and am looking to see if anyone has any recent experiences and that the all the positive reviews in here still stand true.
Was recently hit by a car that pulled out on to a roundabout whilst I had right of way. Driver accepted liability (driver submitted dash-cam footage showing they're at fault) and the drivers insurance has been pretty helpful and have said they will help with property claims (helmet, clothing etc.)
Here's the but... although I sustained new injuries from the accident because it has impacted on an existing back injury it brings 'a new level of complexity' and they have said that I need to get my own representation and said in their experience it's best to go with a 'cycle injury specific solicitor'. If it was just new injuries they would have handled it in house but there you go!
So hive mind - are there any go to people you'd recommend?
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• #33
Are you a member of British Cycling, or the CTC or the London Cycling Campaign? If so, they’ll have a recommended solicitor who’ll take your case on.
If not, I used Leigh Day (who BC use) and they were excellent. I’m not sure if @ojeffcott is still active on here, but he has represented forum members before.
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• #34
Sadly not a member of any of the above.
Leigh Day sound like a strong contender as others have mentioned them before. The drivers insurers gave the impression it'd all be fairly prompt as liability had been accepted and the dash cam footage backs it all up. In what sort of timescale did they sort your scenario out?
Thanks for the tips!
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• #35
I think all told it took 6 months from the date of my incident (was car doored) to receiving the settlement.
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• #36
That's pretty good, heard nightmares of people chasing stuff for 2+ years! Guess it's all case dependant; lack of evidence, rebuttals, shitty insurers etc.
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• #37
I don't practice law anymore but always happy to help. Feel free to PM me if you've got any questions or want any recommendations.
(As an aside - the time scales are totally case dependant. The last case I settled had gone on for over 6 years! Yours sounds pretty straightforward though...)
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• #38
Thanks for the reply and the offer of assistance, I have spoken to Leigh Day and they seem very helpful and responsive. If I have an issues I'll give you a shout, thanks again!
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• #39
Bit of a dredge, but...
Currently looking for a solicitor for what effectively looks like a hit-and-run.
C-ams, Osbornes, Slater & Gordon have all been recommended to me but
- c-ams have been super pushy and looks like they use pretty shady solicitors on their behalf
- Osbornes have ghosted me
- Slater & Gordon have mixed reviews and it doesn't fill me with confidence that I've spoken to a different person each time they've phoned me.
Leigh Day have popped up a few times - does anyone have any positive (or not so positive) experiences to share? Otherwise I'm looking at cycle-legal.co.uk, which looks like a one-man-band, keen cyclist, with good reviews but I'm not expecting him to be able to operate on a no-win-no-fee basis, which complicates things at the moment.
Any help / experiences would be much appreciated - struggling to choose where to go.
- c-ams have been super pushy and looks like they use pretty shady solicitors on their behalf
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• #40
Leigh Day are (or at least were a few years ago) British Cycling's go to firm.
When a driver ran over my front wheel compromising the carbon, they got in touch with me (after being instructed to by British Cycling) . While I didn't have to use them specifically to process a claim; they were able to provide me with offending drivers details and insurance company. I was able to contact said insurance company, make a claim, and successfully receive a replacement payment. I was permitted to use Leigh Day's name as leverage, threatening their deployment should the insurance company not cough up.
So while I didn't need to use their services extensively, what they did help out with was useful.
Don't know if that helps you or not to be honest.
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• #41
I can’t speak on their cycling stuff.
But as a solicitor in Scotland, who has a pro bono thing going on with Leigh Day at the moment, I’d say to give them a go.
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• #42
Deleted – we're sorted!
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• #43
Looking for conveyancing solicitors in or around Hampshire. Considering GoodLaw Solicitors LLP, anyone used them?
Got hit by a car 22 months ago. Lost three hours of memory around the accident, no witnesses, but luckily the driver stopped and claimed responsibility
Went via Slater Gordon a couple of weeks after the accident and after various paperwork, the drivers insurance company again admitting responsibility, Slater Gordon getting my medical records and getting me assessed by a couple of private consultants, it's gone quiet. After a regular amount of contact, they're not responding to emails.
Should I be worried ? Or shall I just let them get on with it ?