Personal Injury Solicitors?

sawyer · July 2019

Finished work 4 months ago for lots of reasons one of which been constant pain in my right shoulder. This was years of uloading and cutting 9×6×3/4 sheets of material for kitchen industry. Two men unloading a truck entirely by hand sometimes as much as 2 tons at a time. Then constantly manually moving boards about and cutting them up on a panel saw. I reckon average board weighed 7stone. So 4months off and I feel much better as far as feet and knees go. My shoulder however is worse. So been to Doctors and sent for scan. Turns out I've a 6mm tear in a 12mm thick tendon creating a condition called supraspinitus. It's ripped where all the bones cross so effectively in a hard to get to box. Needs surgery and a lot of recovery time. I'd mentioned shoulder pain in my resignation letter aswell as a list of health and Safty breaches. I know they've done no risk assesment and have ignored any problems I've brought to their attention.So in a position now I probably won't return to industry (good!) but will struggle finding an alternative as 51 and only qualified as wood machinist. Was payed quite well but those days are gone now. So I'm thinking sueing for compensation. Anyone have any experience? 'No win no fee' or just local highstreet solicitors best options and ifso costs? Thanks

RaymondLin · July 2019

Irwin Mitchell.

I used to work for the other side, as in for the insurance companies and Irwin Mitchell was one firm that we see coming up a lot, and we don't like them. Meaning they know what they are doing, have the resources and always pushing for more (better for you). But from the defendant's side, they are a pain in the butt.

sawyer · July 2019

Thanks:) cheers fella:)

fretmeister · July 2019

I used to be a personal injury solicitor.

PM me where you are and I'll see if I know anyone good in your area.

RaymondLin · July 2019

sawyer said:

Thanks:) Have you used them? Good experience?

No, like i said, I used to work for solicitors who has insurance companies for clients.

Like Aviva, AXA, Zurich, Tesco, Royal Mail etc etc etc, big firm, and we handle anything from car accidents claims to injury at work.

The claimants, a lot of the big cases I see Irwins as the firm representing them, meaning that they are a big firm and good at work they do, obviously as the Defendant we prefer them to be incompetent. As a whole they are one of the better ones.

sawyer · July 2019

Thanks Fretmiester that's appreciated. Message in way.

Blaendulais · July 2019

sawyer said:

Finished work 4 months ago for lots of reasons one of which been constant pain in my right shoulder. This was years of uloading and cutting 9×6×3/4 sheets of material for kitchen industry. Two men unloading a truck entirely by hand sometimes as much as 2 tons at a time. Then constantly manually moving boards about and cutting them up on a panel saw. I reckon average board weighed 7stone. So 4months off and I feel much better as far as feet and knees go. My shoulder however is worse. So been to Doctors and sent for scan. Turns out I've a 6mm tear in a 12mm thick tendon creating a condition called supraspinitus. It's ripped where all the bones cross so effectively in a hard to get to box. Needs surgery and a lot of recovery time. I'd mentioned shoulder pain in my resignation letter aswell as a list of health and Safty breaches. I know they've done no risk assesment and have ignored any problems I've brought to their attention.So in a position now I probably won't return to industry (good!) but will struggle finding an alternative as 51 and only qualified as wood machinist. Was payed quite well but those days are gone now. So I'm thinking sueing for compensation. Anyone have any experience? 'No win no fee' or just local highstreet solicitors best options and ifso costs? Thanks

Be clear about when the pain started, lots of 51 year old men have tears on shoulder scans, be clear that it was through work or in work and how long ago it started so they can't contend it is due to your age

grungebob · July 2019

Use breaches of Health and safety standards too, anything you can think of like manual handling risk assessments, correct lighting standards in the saw room, RPE if no extraction, training or lack of, was there adequate guarding on the machine did it have dead man switch etc, how often was it inspected or maintained, was there ever any PUWER assessments.
You need to make them look incompetent

sawyer · July 2019

That won't be hard ha. Cheers man:)

Dodge · July 2019

I'm sure it was @Gassage who gave me a name and number for someone my mother used, although I'm buggered if I can find it.

RaymondLin · July 2019

Be prepared that this can take years and years. They will see all your medical records and work history going as far as it goes, you might be asked to see a mutually agreed expert (or your own and then theirs depending on the value of your claim) for examinations. It will be a long process, it will feel drawn out to you but it is normal. Any questions you put to the other side might take 2 weeks for a response for example.

If they suspect you are faking it, or if the value is high enough, they will surveillance you.

sawyer · July 2019

I'm seeing someone tomorrow for advice so hopefully will know where I'm at and what's involved. Fingers crossed:) thanks for everyone's help and advise. All very much appreciated

sev112 · July 2019

You appear to have got good advice here, so I will add only a tiny word of caution.
whilst you may think you have a “no win no fee” contract with your lawyers / solicitors, that does not prevent you from personally being liable for the costs of the other party in the event your claim is not successful. Please look at the terms and conditions of the contract that you have to sign to start off with.

sawyer · July 2019

Good point thanks. I'll certainly will make sure exactly what the score is. Cheers.

Lodious · July 2019

Having been on the receiving end of a no win, no fee solicitor I'd def do some research and be careful. I'm pretty sure the woman who tried to (unsuccessfully) sue us ended up in a pretty bad situation, as if they loose, they come after the person they were acting for.

They were totally incompetent. They appear to work by changing huge fees for staff who can barely read and write.

RaymondLin · July 2019

The basic idea is that if the defendant is liable for 1% of the injury then they bear all of the cost. If however the claim is defeated in its entirety then they can’t claim cost against the other side. The cost aspect is so big there are firms set up specifically to handle them as they can be in the millions.

so the claimant can and should buy insurance for this incase your claim fails without admission of liability. So whilst it is no fee technically speaking, you have to pay for the insurance.

sawyer · July 2019

How much does insurance cost typically?

fretmeister · July 2019

RaymondLin said:

The basic idea is that if the defendant is liable for 1% of the injury then they bear all of the cost. If however the claim is defeated in its entirety then they can’t claim cost against the other side. The cost aspect is so big there are firms set up specifically to handle them as they can be in the millions.

so the claimant can and should buy insurance for this incase your claim fails without admission of liability. So whilst it is no fee technically speaking, you have to pay for the insurance.

You’ve ignored the risks from CPR Pt36 offers, the application of QOCS and insurers attempting to raise FD without evidence and interlocutory application work.

sev112 · July 2019

RaymondLin said:

The basic idea is that if the defendant is liable for 1% of the injury then they bear all of the cost. If however the claim is defeated in its entirety then they can’t claim cost against the other side. The cost aspect is so big there are firms set up specifically to handle them as they can be in the millions.

so the claimant can and should buy insurance for this incase your claim fails without admission of liability. So whilst it is no fee technically speaking, you have to pay for the insurance.

And in my experience, the ambulance chasers are not open and honest in telling you this.

it took me several fraught discussions and very long email trails to get clarity on this . They seem to rely on producing extremely long complex forms of contract, that most people will not read and just sign. The ones I was dealing with seemed to not understand the points I was querying in their contract!? And they kept on saying “what are you worried about?” . Which was like a red rag to a bull for me

sawyer · July 2019

This all sounds quite scary and intimidating:( I'm now wondering if I'm biting off more than I can handle and if its worth the grief?

digitalscream · July 2019

ADMIN NOTE: I have it on pretty good authority (as in: a real, genuine legal professional) that most of the advice in this thread is - to put it politely - extremely poor, and if followed will likely screw up a perfectly justifiable claim.

There's a very good principle to adhere to here: do not take legal advice from people who aren't legal professionals.

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