John here, blogging again.
I thought I would do something a bit different for a change and describe an interesting case that I have just finished, from start to finish. Forgive me for not naming names, to protect identities.
A friend of an old colleague of mine had a nasty rear end shunt accident on his way to drop his two young children at school. His modest car was written off by a large 4X4 that hit him pretty hard from behind. The collision was so severe that parts of his engine burst out of the bonnet and landed in the road and one child’s car seat was broken.
His first concern was for his children, but, thankfully, whilst they were badly shaken, they were not badly hurt. He himself felt pretty sore in the neck and upper back, but just carried on dealing with all of the post-crash tasks.
He felt grim that night and called my old colleague, who told him to seek medical help and call me, giving him my number. We get 70% of our new work from personal recommendations and so this is quite normal.
He went to his GP the next day and she was worried enough to tell him to go to A & E. He went to A & E and despite some minor neurological symptoms, they were able, cautiously, to reassure him that it was “just” a serious whiplash injury.
He called me and we met face to face at his home for free. We had a really good chat and he took me on as his solicitor on a “no win, no fee” basis, to bring a compensation claim.
I was quickly able to secure a full admission of liability from the insurers of the 4X4.
At this point, all seemed to be going well and he was getting slightly better.
I had another face to face chat with him a couple of months after the accident, for us to decide whether it was safe to think about pushing the claim towards a conclusion. However, I was a little concerned at some of the ongoing symptoms that he described to me. They rang alarm bells for me, having dealt with thousands of injury claims. I said I thought he should not consider trying to settle his claim yet, because any settlement would be on a full and final basis. Instead, I said I thought he ought to go back to his GP and describe the ongoing symptoms.
He went back to his GP and, sure enough, she was concerned too. She referred him to a Consultant Neurologist.
To cut what became a very long story short, this supposedly simple “whiplash” claim grew into a massive, all-encompassing claim with complex injuries. I was able to help him receive comprehensive and timely rehabilitation and treatment – funded by the “at fault” insurers – and, gradually, get him well again.
If he had been rushed into settling his claim at a much earlier stage, his outcome and long term wellbeing would have been so much worse.
Perhaps less importantly than his long term wellbeing, the claim ended up being of a value of in excess of £100,000.00 too. It took years to get him well and to achieve this outcome, but it was 100% the right pathway and result.
It is a happy ending too, because he is pretty well again and is firmly equipped to get on with his life.
The moral of the story?
Don’t trust a cowboy claim firm with any accident claim, no matter how minor you think it might be. You just never know, and I have seen and dealt with things like this accident outcome many, many times.
Give me, or my great colleague Rebecca Wood a call for a free chat – no win no fee Leeds and the wider area. We work for clients with severe and complex injuries country wide too.
That’s all for now,
John