Personal injury advice please

It’s not all about financial loss - it all comes down to whether or not the garden centre was negligent. As previous posters have noted, you’re saying the pots were stacked too high - in your opinion? Do you know they should only be stacked in pairs? How did they fall, did they just topple over or was someone moving them? Did you move them?

yes, in all likelihood, you probably could get a settlement - whether the garden centre was negligent or if they are advised to settle to draw the matter to a close.

Honestly all this crap about it’s only financial loss you get compensation for. My DD is currently sat in a house that she owns outright, bought with the compensation she received after an accident that she spent three months in hospital for, then recovering at home for another six months. She wasnt working at the time, but even if she was, she damn straight wouldn’t have earned that kind of money in nine months.

Ignore the naysayers OP.

One of my kids (when a young adult) had an injury when a car pulled out of a side street and knocked him off his bike.

He got compensation for the bike but his successful claim included compensation for suffering, including scarring on his arm.

So I don't think it's correct that compensation is only for financial loss.

Assuming you’re in the UK OP you absolutely can claim for permanent scarring, and for 11 stitches it won’t be valued low either. If they were negligently stacked too high that’s not just “one of those things”.

Contact a personal injury firm in the first instance who will guide you. As above ask to move this to legal, you’re just going to have a load of people confidently telling you incorrect entitlements.

I am currently going through a personal injury claim. 19 months in and likely another 6 months to go including a possible court case. I’ve damaged my knee quite significantly. To those saying you’ve got to have a financial loss, that’s nonsense. I took annual leave after my accident as I don’t get paid if I am off sick. Taking annual leave has not stopped my solicitor pursuing a claim.

Absolutely this.

What would you be wanting to be compensated for OP?

18 years ago I slipped in Tesco as there was no wet floor sign and I severely bruised my knee… I reported it more to stress the point that it could’ve been worse but worked at a solicitors at the time and my boss offered to write to Tesco on my behalf to see if I’d get some form of compensation, in his words “maybe a £50 voucher”. I got £750!!! I was a student at the time so was BUZZING!

In whose opinion though? Has a manager from the garden centre said that they were stacked too high and it was all their fault? Did you see a risk assessment that showed they should be no more than 2 layers high? Was somebody moving things at the time? Or is it just that you think they must have been too high or you wouldn't have been injured. It's not as simple as "they were stacked too high".

You're either suing for financial loss or severe distress and inconvenience.

The garden centre may pay you off to avoid legal fees but unless you needed lots of unpaid time off work, incurred costs due to rehabilitation, needed therapy, ultimately you don't really have a valid legal claim.

By all means go for a no win, no fee, but they work on the basis of winning the claim, its usually needed to be an above 50% chance of winning before they take your case on. If you've got time on your hands have a crack but don't expect anything.

This. Fiscal work loss and medical expenses are what they pay for.

Yup, that’s exactly what they were doing.

Sorry! Maybe I'm getting mixed up with an insurance claim? It's just that the council said this to me when I had a very severe injury on their pavement. Maybe just to put me off?

Absolute fucking nonsense. Please ignore all the “oh but what financial loss did you suffer” brigade. I wonder what they would think about being scarred for life through something that was no fault of thier own. Thank god those pots didn’t fall onto a child.

Get onto a no win no fee solicitor. Irwin Mitchell are excellent but there are others. They’ll evaluate the situation for free and tell you honestly if you have a claim or not. And if you do, then go for it. If people don’t take companies to task for failing basic health and safety protocols then the next time it could be much, much worse.

Of course you should be compensated under these circumstances, based on what you've said. You were injured, suffered and required an ambulance. I guess that the garden centre are just waiting to hear from you or your legal representative. Best bet may be a no win no fee solicitor.

Post in legal OP. Otherwise you will get a ton of responses asking what losses you are claiming for, ignoring the fact that general damages for pain and suffering is a standard part of any PI claim.

Yes but a high stack doesn't necessarily mean they will fall down. Was this spontaneous or did someone try to remove one?

I think they will only pay out in terms of fiscal loss. Not the fact you're 'scarred for life'.
It needs to have stopped you from working. Or you have incurred medical costs. If you have receipts/proof for that then you can make a claim.

But I don't think you can just for the fact it was upsetting and you needed stitches. There's no financial loss there.

I mean 11 stitches isn't very nice but it's not exactly life changing, unless you're a leg model?

What do you actually want to achieve from a claim? It may be best to think about that initially. Was the garden centre negligent? What caused the plant pots to actually fall?