Summer 2011

You have probably heard about the government's plans to make massive cuts to legal aid, but the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, which was announced on 21st June, also contains some nasty provisions which will cut compensation to victims of accidents. Under the current "no win, no fee" rules, accident victims can bring claims without having to cripple themselves financially. Solicitors take the risk that they won't get paid if the claim is lost. If they win, they get an extra fee called a "success fee" for taking the risk. Claimants can also recover the cost of an insurance premium to protect themselves against having to pay their opponent's costs if they lose. As the success fee and the premium are payable by the person who caused the injuries, our clients receive 100% of their compensation. The new bill will change all that. It will make claimants pay the success fee and premium out of their compensation. It is likely that the success fee will be "capped" at 25% of the compensation which means many claimants will get only three quarters of what they are entitled to now. Paying the insurance premium will reduce

Personal Injury Matters Important news and advice for claimants 

100% compensation? Not for much longer

 

In May this year, Marsons was awarded the "Lexcel" quality mark by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Lexcel is only awarded to solicitors

who meet high management and customer care standards. Lexcel ac-credited practices undergo rigorous independent assessment every year to ensure they meet required stan-dards of excellence in areas such as client care, case management and risk management.

The Law Society says that "Accredited practices get fewer com-

plaints and claims against them than other practices. If you want peace of mind and assurance that you will re-ceive a quality service, use a solicitor with the Lexcel practice management standard."

We are very proud of this achieve-ment and will work hard to ensure that we keep it by putting our clients first.

Be careful what you say on Facebook! – see article on page 2 Socialnetworking

MARSONS solicitors 

the compensation still further. It is understandable that people are reluctant to make claims, especially against their employers, but if they have lost several weeks wages or suffered serious injuries with long term consequences, they should speak to us now about making a claim. Provided they sign up to a no win, no fee agreement before the bill becomes law, we will still be able to promise 100% compensation. So, if you know anyone who has had an accident and isn't sure whether to claim, please tell them to contact us urgently for free advice about making a claim.

 

 

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Insurers are naturally suspicious of claimants. They think all claimants are trying to get something they don't deserve. They can't help it, it's in their nature. Sometimes, you can't blame them because there are some shocking cases of people making up accidents and claiming for money they aren't entitled to. You've proba-bly heard stories of accidents in which 7 or 8 people claim to have been passengers in a Mini. One of the first things insurers and their lawyers will do is look at all the information they have about your claim to see if there are any inconsis-tencies. Did you say one thing in the accident book at work, and then something else when we sent the letter of claim? Perhaps you de-

scribed the accident slightly differ-ently when you saw the medical ex-pert. They will try to use these slight differences to argue you haven't been entirely honest.

Usually we can provide logical expla-nations and often the discrepancies aren't really there at all. But, in some cases, claimants have been caught out by video surveillance which shows them visiting the medical ex-

Mind what you say on your Facebook page! pert and claiming they need crutches only to be seen afterwards putting them in the back of the car and walk-ing off normally to do a few hours shopping. That's obviously not just silly, it's fraud. More worryingly for our clients is that insurers are now trawling through Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and other sites. If you can't walk upstairs eas-ily, it's best not to tell your "friends" or "followers" that you've just been to the Himalayas (unless you also say you had to be carried or pushed). The lesson is – be very careful what you say and who you say it to. Don't accept Facebook "friends" who might be talking to the other side - and es-pecially don’t accept anyone who might be your opponent in the case.

Another client was badly in-jured walking past a horse which twisted round and “double barreled” (or, in other words, kicked out high) at her and broke her jaw. This type of kicking is unusual for a horse but its owner knew of its char-acter and should not have left it unsupervised. A rider leading her horse back

from a field lost control of it. The horse bowled over the person in front causing serious injuries. Horses may be unpredictable but some situations are acci-dents waiting to happen. With a little forethought, all these accidents could have been prevented so we were able to recover compensation for the injuries caused.

Horse riding doesn’t have to be dangerous if people think first

There is no question that horses have their own minds. They can be unpredictable. Riding is seen as a risky sport. Insurers will always argue that riders must accept the risk that they might fall off and hurt themselves. Some claims will not suc-ceed for this reason but others still have a good chance of success because an obvious risk was not appreciated and guarded against. We acted for a child who lost control of the horse in a lesson because the horse wanted to get to some hay which had been left in the sand school. The hay should not have been there and we argued there was an obvious risk that a horse might be attracted to it. Another child was injured when she was allowed to remain at the back of a hack even though she was nervous and struggled to control the pony. It set off at a canter to catch up with the others on the ride and she fell off. The British Horse Soci-ety’s Code of Conduct says there should (at the very least) be an escort taking up the rear of the ride with a view of what is ahead. There should also be an able rider taking the lead. Not rocket science but often it doesn’t happen.

 

 

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Lawyers tend to cling to their jargon. This is out of habit and not because we don't live in the real world. At Marsons, we try to cut out the legalese as much as possible but there may be a few terms which slip through into our letters. Here are some words you might see during your case, with our explanation of what we are talking about.

Liability - this is just the question of who was to blame for the accident. This is the first and most important thing we have to prove.

Causation - If we can prove that the accident was your opponent's fault, we then have to prove that it actu-ally caused your injuries and losses. Sometimes, the accident doesn't cause all your problems and your op-ponent only has to pay for what he has actually caused.

Special damages - this is the name we give to the compensation you get for financial losses which we can put a specific figure on, like prescription charges, past loss of earnings, etc…

General damages - this relates to compensation we can't calculate mathematically. It includes money for your pain and suffering which we base on previous awards for similar injuries.

Quantum - sadly we still use some Latin! This just means the amount or value of the compensation – basi-cally the amount of your special and general damages.

Counsel/barrister - these are the people with the wigs who we instruct to represent you at trial. Solicitors prepare all the evidence and conduct the case on a day to day basis but we usually then ask a barrister (who we also refer to as "Counsel") to appear for you at the main hearing if we can't settle it first. Sometimes we ask the barrister to give a second opinion on the evidence or the value of the case before we get to trial.

Costs - basically our charges for the time we spend on your case. This can also include all the fees for bar-risters, medical reports and court fees which we incur on your behalf, and VAT. If you come across any terms you don't understand, please let us know. And there is a prize of £50 for anyone who finds a "heretofore" in one of our letters!

Jargonbuster

Is your work damaging your health? All employers have a duty to consider how the work you do might cause you injury. This isn't limited to spot-ting something obvious like a broken guard on a machine. They also have to look at how the work is done. We are acting for a number of clients who have suffered repetitive strain injuries called "Work Related Upper Limb Disorders" or “WRULDs". One was a telephonist who had to make multiple clicks on a mouse every time she took a call. Another was a

magazine finisher who constantly had to tear open plastic wrappings be-cause no suitable opener was pro-vided. The most bizarre is a cord blood technician working for the NHS who suffered severe pain in her hand, up her arm into her shoulder, from having to squeeze placentas to extract cord blood for research pur-poses. In all these cases, the employer ei-ther failed to appreciate the risk at all or simply failed to take any steps to

minimise the risk of injury by reducing the work load, insisting employees take regular breaks or simply devis-ing other ways of doing the job. If you are having pains in your hands, arms and shoulders, consider whether it might be due to your work – it might just be the position of your desk or the height of your chair. Don't suffer in silence – see your GP and call us if you think you might have a repetitive strain injury.

 

 

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Meet the Team 

Tamsin Day

Partner

Email: tamsin.day@marsons.co.uk

Tamsin is a partner of the firm. She is on the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel and a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. Tamsin conducts higher value claims arising from accidents at work and on the road, including repetitive strain injuries, traumatic brain and spinal injuries. She also deals with fatal accidents including inquests. Tamsin is a keen horse rider and has handled numerous cases involving injuries to horse riders, either because of the poor supervision of riding lessons or because other riders have failed to supervise their horses.

Beth King

Partner and Head of Department

Email: beth.king@marsons.co.uk

Beth is a partner and head of the Personal Injury department. She is a member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel and belongs to the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. Beth acts for people seriously injured in the course of their employment in particular when they have suffered repetitive strain injuries. She also conducts professional negligence claims against other solicitors arising out of advice given in personal injury cases. Beth has significant expertise in legal costs issues and sits as a Solicitor Assessor in the High Court assisting Judges in costs appeals.

Timothy Pyant

Litigation Executive

Email: timothy.pyant@marsons.co.uk

Tim has specialised in personal injury since 2004. His experience includes public liability claims, road traffic accidents, product liability, and accidents at work. A keen sportsman, he has also successfully recovered damages for injuries suffered on the rugby field amongst other sports related claims.

Jane Norris

Litigation Executive

Email: jane.norris@marsons.co.uk

Jane has worked at Marsons for many years as a litigation executive and specialises in the recovery of costs once the damages claims have been settled. She has built up a formidable reputation amongst insurers' costs negotiators for her no nonsense approach to obtaining payment of the damages and costs due.

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