compensation for accident

[coffeeisnectar]

Dp was in an accident December 13. He was not at fault, the other driver pulled out without looking and knocked him off his motorbike.

He was earning approx £18k a year self employed as an hgv driver until that day. His injuries included torn (in 7 places) mesenteric artery causing massive internal bleeding and necessitating emergency surgery, broken sternum, 4 broken ribs, both lungs partially collapsed, soft tissue injuries to shoulder, wrist, knee and extensive bruising around his torso.

The other sides insurance haven't admitted liability. They have made 4 interim payments of £5k to enable us to pay bills but that doesn't cover his lost income.

Dp saw a barrister today who advised that the other side will not budge from the only offer they have made which is £35k less the £20k already received. Now I'm not a legal bod but I don't understand this offer or the advice to accept it. That does not cover his lost earnings. It seems his injuries are worth £8k which is included in that figure. Dp has not got a job and at the age of 57 will struggle to find anything paying enough. He can't go back to the physical job he had before.

On top of this is the bloody stress, the endless hospital appointments (50 plus), me doing his personal care for four months as he was unable to despite me still recovering from my own surgery. All his bike gear, Sat nav, his bike ....I just don't understand this offer.

Any advice on how this is calculated?

I think the person to ask is the barrister, rather than unknown people here. Sounds low though.

I agree with Collaborate you need to be talking to your barrister, or possible a different one if you do not agree with the advice they gave you.

I would expect him to get well over a 100k for those injuries, surely the barrister thinks it's worse pursuing.

I've a friend that's a childminder who got knocked off her pushbike, couldn't work for a year due to multiple leg fractures and needed extensive rehab/physio - she got over 250k no bother at all. She had lost all her clients, a years worth of earnings (at 30k plus), and then had to continue on greatly reduced hours as her legs just weren't up to it. It took 2 years to come through though.

My gut reaction is that it is way too soon to be looking at any sort of settlement. Has your DP fully recovered and gone back to work? If he settles to early that can be very dangerous.

Dp is on his way home from London now having seen the barrister who thinks that figure is fine and I'm just open mouthed to be honest. He has also lost his house due to not being able to remortgage to buy out his ex and we are now having to rent.

He has a solicitor, the last one left the firm but he'd stated it was a punitive offer. This solicitor and the barrister seem to think it's reasonable.

Oh and we need to deduct £10k for benefits received over two years leaving him with £5k.

Which really does not seem adequate for the level of injuries, pain and the stress.

That really does seem ever so low considering his loss of earnings to date, his future loss of earnings, not to mention the pain and suffering. You are under no obligation to accept this offer, despite your barristers advice. I take it your insurance is footing the bill for your legal representation?

Is the problem that they haven't yet admitted liability? What about a private prosecution? Were the police interested in pursuing?

I also think it's way too early to settle

Has he used solicitors specialising in motorcycle accidents?

ok, I absolutely agree with the advice to ask the barrister and DP's solicitor to explain this properly, in writing. It does seem low.

But you might want to consider this: if liability has not been admitted, the value of any compensation may be being reduced A LOT to take into account the prospects of success.

Yes insurance is footing the bill, the solicitors are used by dps insurance company, he was allocated a solicitor. Then that solicitor left the company and he has a new one. He met him and the barrister today.

The fact that the there's no liability admitted seems to be irrelevant as the insurance (hers) have made four interim payments of £5k which still doesn't cover our living costs. Our savings are gone and we've had to claim ESA.

The driver was prosecuted. She got points and a relatively small fine and court costs £280 altogether. Originally they were going to send her on a driver awareness course but she had already been on two so had to go to court. She pulled out to turn right on a road that has a 50mph speed limit. Dp took the front off her bmw, literally the whole front was ripped off and the handlebars of his bike were bent so they met in the middle, these went into him causing the damage to his stomach and chest.

I'm waiting for dp to call to go and pick him up. He has some paperwork which I shall read and report back.

How on earth can they not admit liability if she was prosecuted?? Confused. That would be a done deal in my untrained eye surely?

Were the payments already made "without prejudice?". Is the offer?

I don't know if the offer was without prejudice. It was a part 36 offer (I think).

I think it might be worth having a chat with other solicitors. You can generally get a few minutes over the phone,and they can tell you whether they would be willing to take the case over and give you a feel for how things sound so far.

you do NOT have to use the solicitor proposed by the insurance company.

for example these guys do a lot of similar work, I have no idea if they are any good, they just came up on a search.

Do you know anything about the barrister? You can google him/her and see how experienced he/she is. I would expect someone with about 7-15 years' experience to be asked to advise on a case like this.

Well dp is home and I've looked through the paperwork.

First they say he only earned 11k in 2013/2014 so loss of income based on that. Well that would Because he didn't work from December to April due to being knocked off his bike.

And they have given him a copy of how figures are calculated and we have looked at it and worked out between 40k and 60k not including his broken sternum as that's not listed. I will Google the barrister tomorrow. I'm not happy at the inability to a)work out reduced income due to the accident and b) do some basic arithmetic.

Coffee, get more legal advice. We had compensation recently for very serious car accident resulting in weeks in hospital/relearning to walk at around £200,000. For what your DH (and you) were put through you should have more IMO!

www.bevanbrittan.com/articles/Pages/Claimsforlossofearnings.aspx

I wonder if this would help ref the loss of future earnings (given his age and assumed medical restrictions)

Thank you. That's very helpful. Dp is going to call the solicitor in the morning but we are considering switching to another firm given the half hearted approach so far. He said it's looking like another 18 months until settlement or going to court but they told him he should find a job to keep the claim down. I mean wtf?

No the offer was,made by the other drivers insurance and we have refused it. Apparently they will not make another offer.

Definitely not in any way dps fault. He was on a main road. She pulled out of a side road, said she didn't see him. It's a straight road, I can't see how she couldn't see him unless she didn't look properly.

I understand welfare needs to be repaid but on the offer made it would leave us out of pocket. We used all our savings up and quite honestly have been scraping by. The first four months after the accident we had to use food banks and survive with help from charities as the dwp faffed so much with the claim and the insurance weren't exactly forth coming with help. It's been a horrible two years.

Your DP needs better advice, there are several excellent firms specialising in personal injury claims. The offer is far too low and DP may need to go to court to allow a judge to assess the damages especially as the woman has been found guilty in court. Don't be frightened of the court process. I can recommend a couple of excellent firms I've worked with.

The insurers may well not make another offer at this stage. They hope you will accept what they have offered of course. They do not have to make you an offer, only pay what a court finds they are liable for. Get different legal advice, preferably one who will instruct a forensic accountant to calculate your husbands future losses.

Thank you to all that have posted. We move on Thursday so once we are settled we are going to look at changing solicitors. To one who seems more interested in listening to us.

Way too low. You should be looking at 6 figures, minimum for those injuries etc.

TBH if the other side made a Part 36 offer of just 35k then they must know that your legal representation is subpar. It sounds like they think you (and your solicitor) came up the river in a bubble.