Personal injury claim advice needed please.

[VanessaL15]

Hi,

I was involved in a car accident a few months ago when putting my daughter in our car outside our house the driver drove into the car door I was standing in. Initially a lot of pain and bruising which has now left me with constant back pain I have been given physio which has now ended and told I ‘should’ make a full recovery in the next few months. A week later the insurance company sent me a letter making an offer of compensation which I don’t feel is adequate consider the psychological as well as physical impact this has had! Should I settle? Wait? Instruct a solicitor? Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is all new to me.

[VanessaL15]

Hi can anyone help me with this? Thanks in advance.

[des8]

Sorry to hear of your accident.

Have you not taken any professional advice?

Rule of thumb is not to accept first offer, and wait until you are sure the problems will resolve themselves.
Neck and back problems have a habit of not progressing the way the physio expects.
If you settle now you will have great difficulty reopening the claim for increased compensation.

[VanessaL15]

Hi Des8

Thank you for your reply!
I have contacted a firm purely for some advice and have been sent out a massive contract to sign which scares me a bit! It says they are willing to take my claim on on a no win no fee basis. I’m just worried if they can’t get what I’m hoping for with the CFA I will be worse off. Is it worth trying to deal with the insurance company directly?

[des8]

Calculating the compensation for Bodily injury is complex.
Although there are guidelines for General Damages (pain etc) which can be used as a reference, they are in fairly broad bands.
So far back injury, depending on severity and prognosis, reckon between £6000 and £20000 plus loss of earnings, out of pocket expenses.
Have there been expert medical reports called for?

Questions for you to consider:
Have the solicitors indicated a ballpark figure they would expect to recover for you?
How close to that figure is the insurer's offer?
For how long is the offer open?

[VanessaL15]

The insurance company have had a report back from the physio and have based their compensation on a 5 month recovery even though I have told them I am still suffering with back pain. I haven’t spoken to the solicitors yet as didn’t want to sign up to anything until I’d thought it through but maybe my best port of call is to see if they can offer me a rough figure.

[paulajayne]

Hi Des8

Thank you for your reply!
I have contacted a firm purely for some advice and have been sent out a massive contract to sign which scares me a bit! It says they are willing to take my claim on on a no win no fee basis. I’m just worried if they can’t get what I’m hoping for with the CFA I will be worse off. Is it worth trying to deal with the insurance company directly?

Read carefully as you could lose a large percentage of monies received.

[Peridot]

Hi Vanessal15,
You also need to return to your GP for further referrals if necessary, if the back pain is continuing and also as you suggest you have suffered psychological problems as a result. Any offer to settle should be on the basis of all the medical evidence including GP records unless minor.

[VanessaL15]

Hi Peridot,

Thanks for your post. I will definitely see my GP to see if they can help me further. Do I need to inform the insurance company I am doing this? What if I don’t accept there offer? Do I just go back to them at a later date?

[Peridot]

Confirm you are still experiencing issues which you believe are related to the accident for which you are seeing your GP.
Sometimes underlying issues can be exacerbated by an injury so do bear that in mind. Medical evidence meeting with an independent medical expert will be the evidence that shows this. I may be sensible to consider instructing lawyers to deal with this for you but as others have indicated above this will potentially affect any damages you receive by up to 25% so do check any conditional fee agreement carefully. I would say however if the Defendant insurers have already admitted liability this is a major hurdle that has already been sorted and so reduces the risk for the lawyers taking it on. Therefore any % they take should reflect this.