Need advice on finding a personal injury lawyer

[SpiralHecate]

Hello all, earlier today my mother was injured at her local leisure centre, entering the changing rooms she got distracted by the cleaning crew and the door swung against her; for some reason there was piece of sharp metal at the bottom of the door and it cut her foot, she had to go to A&E and required 9 stitches. I feel this is a result of gross negligence on the part of the leisure centre, if there was jagged metal sticking out of a door it suggests very poor maintenance. No one in my family has ever sued anyone before but in this instance I think requesting compensation is justifiable. My mother's in her 70s and emotionally fragile, if we're going to pursue this I'll need to do most of the work. Can anyone advise me on where to start? I know there are tons of 'no win no fee' injury lawyers out there, but are they any good? What are the proper channels to go through? Should I contact the leisure centre first? Tomorrow I'm seeing my mum and will try and get a full account of what happened.

Check on the Law Society website for a member of the Personal Injury Panel in your area

I know there are tons of 'no win no fee' injury lawyers out there, but are they any good?

‘No win, no fee’ refers to your own costs. If you lose you may be liable for the other party’s costs.

Thanks, that's the kind of thing the web sites don't tell us. It's not that I'm especially interested in getting money, I just want the leisure centre to be held accountable. I'm also wondering if I can report them to the council.

If you aren't interested in money then why do you need a Personal Injury Lawyer? if you just want them held to account then if it's Council owned report it as an accident to the Council and the Health and Safety Executive

Was the leisure centre aware of the accident? Did they log it?

I would report it to the health and safety executive and the council/company (depending on who runs it).

Also, in case you do decide to make a claim, I'd take photos of her injury and if possible, quietly go back and take a photo of the door (before you report it).

‘No win, no fee’ refers to your own costs. If you lose you may be liable for the other party’s costs.

It is very unlikely you would have to pay the other sides costs in a personal injury claim because of a principle called Qualified One Way costs Shifting. This is the principle that if you bring a personal injury claim in good faith you do not have to pay the defendants costs if you lose except in exceptional circumstances.

You can read about it here:

www.dacbeachcroft.com/en/gb/articles/2018/march/qualified-one-way-costs-shifting-what-constitutes-an-exception-to-the-rules-and-when-will-the-court-apply-its-discretion-in-relation-to-the-cost-award/

The leisure centre are aware, the cleaners witnessed it happen and the first aid person initially dressed the wound before Mum took herself off to hospital.

I initially asked about injury lawyers because my first thought were Mum deserves compensation about what happened, but given reflection I think it's most important the centre be brought to account.

I saw Mum last night and it turns out it was more a cut to her ankle, she's lucky it didn't cut her achilles tendon as the wound was very deep. She knows that the centre is privately run so liability is shared by the private company and the council. The centre has had a bad rep for years with bad space planning and poor maintenance, but I would never have guessed they'd allow the fixtures and fittings to be dangerous.

I will look into reporting them to the council. If it did go to court I'm not too worried about losing, the injury so severe and so obviously the centre's fault.