Anyone good with legal stuff.. specifically relating to Personal Injury claims?

[LaraWearsZara]

Posted in legal chat but no response... I'm hoping somebody here may be able to help:

I'm hoping for some advice please 🙏
I had an accident last year which wasn't my fault and resulted in a nasty wrist injury requiring surgery.
The other side admitted liability to my solicitors and also pleaded guilty in criminal court (it was a business at fault as they breached multiple h&s laws).
One of the independent experts I've had to see as part of my compensation claim wrote in his report that I've permanently lost 50% of the mobility of my wrist as well as some of the hand function. It's my dominant hand. He also wrote "on the balance of probability there's a 50% chance she will develop osteoarthritis in her wrist within the next 10 years as it was an intro-articular fracture".
My solicitor asked him if he thought I'd be able to continue with my current job to which his additional report basically said "impossible to say".
The accident was 18m ago.
Today as part of my claim my solicitor has added in the part about arthritis and put in a total amount of £275 which is essentially for a course of physio should it develop.
Does this sound correct? I don't want to query it If it doesn't, however he has made a few errors already which I've been confident in addressing (and I've been correct) and as I felt like this was quite a big point I don't want to end up developing arthritis in say 5 years and being in a position where I learn we should have put in for more.
Obviously that's just a part of the claim - not taking into account the other financial elements for the wrist, head , shoulder injuries, psychological damage and so on which we have not yet discussed.
If anyone has advice I'd be very grateful.

When experts say there's a chance of developing issues in the future, they usually also state what treatment / surgery / care will be needed and how much. Has the expert specifically said anything about these? If not, has he been asked? I'd want the expert to comment on future needs before putting a value on anything, personally.

At current rates, £275.00 of physio really isn't much.

@NoWordForFluffy thanks so much for replying.
The expert was really rubbish in his responses here if I'm honest:

Q - If the symtoms of right wrist traumatic osteoarthritis materialise, will the Claimant have to give up work and will she have any care requirements as to household chores or personal care as a result?

A - Can't answer this question as she would need to be assessed at this stage (once symtoms develop)

Q - If the symtoms of right wrist traumatic osteoarthritis materialise, will the Claimant require any treatment such as physiotherapy or surgery (if so what treatment and what is the likely cost of the same, an estimate will suffice)

A - Potentially yes, depending on her symptoms at this stage. Again needs to be assessed at this stage.

This £275 that my solicitor is proposing appears to be a course of 10x physio costing £550, divided by 2 due to the 50% balance of probability

Do you think that sounds reasonable or would you suggest another expert?

Thanks

Thing is, you can't just go expert shopping to get somebody who isn't flaky! There's case law that says all reports are disclosable, as they're obtained for the benefit of the court, not the Claimant.

He sounds crap though. I'd have expected better answers than that (I have a client with a similar prognosis and the expert has been great in relation to future needs). PM me the name of the expert and I'll see if I know him!

I would be asking my solicitor to press the expert for an answer - he doesn't have to say for sure, he just needs to comment on the balance of probabilities. If he is not able/willing to say then you could ask your solicitor about the possibility of pleading provisional damages (essentially any settlement would allow you to go back for more if a serious deterioration occurs). Can he say at what point osteoarthritis will occur? I presume there's future care and OT costs etc as well, which the OA will have possibly increased. Is there a Smith v Manchester award too?

I agree with the PP that £275 seems very low for physio.

Sorry just seen your other post. "50% on the balance of probability" doesn't really make sense - on the balance of probabilities means more than 50% so it's slightly nonsensical to say OBOP 50%. I would go back to the expert - is it more likely than not to occur?

I think that’s right to divide it. You don’t need it - you just ‘might’ need it. In a low value case like yours they won’t come back in ten years’ time so they have to just go on probability.

Thanks @NoWordForFluffy I've sent you a PM.

Hi @dillwithit thanks for the response.
Never thought of the OBOP @ 50% being odd but actually yhat makes sense.
I'm not sure on some of the terminology you've used such as Smith v Manchester so I'll look into that now
I think your suggestion of Provisional Damages sounds fairly reasonable though!

Thanks @WeightInLine thank you.
Out of interest, what is classed as low value?
I've never ever had the discussion with my solicitor regarding am expected amount of Compensation. I have no clue what to expect. My financial losses is for just over 5k, that's all I'm aware of so far

Low value is really anything below about £100k now.

Broken wrists are ‘volume litigation’ unless they are part of a much larger context (eg some mass casualty such as a collapsed bridge or bigger episode of negligence). That means that the courts are looking to process them quickly and on pre-agreed scales and processes.