Road Accident Injury

Insurance Company Refuse To Increase Offer To Settle

MRS X – Reading

Mrs X of Reading was involved in a road traffic accident when a third party collided with the rear of her vehicle while she was stationary. Mrs X suffered from a whiplash type injury to her neck which required physiotherapy and time off work (she worked as a nurse). She was in the process of recovering from this injury when matters were complicated when she had a second accident, falling at work and exacerbating her injuries. Mrs X also suffered, as a result of the combination of the two accidents, a depressive disorder.

The second accident at work was merely an accident for which no-one was responsible. It was our job, therefore, to work out which of her symptoms were caused as a result of the road traffic accident and which were down to the subsequent accident.

We achieved this through careful questioning of the medical experts engaged in the case and we were finally able to put forward a valuation of our client's claim for compensation to the other driver's insurance company. The defendant's insurers disagreed with our valuation and put forward an offer which we advised Mrs X was far too low for the injuries she had sustained. The defendant's insurers refused to negotiate and increase their offer and thus we were forced to issue court proceedings on Mrs X's behalf.

The defendant's insurers maintained their stance and we had to take the case to trial where the Judge assessed the level of compensation for Mrs X's injuries. The Judge valued Mrs X's injury within £200 of our valuation and some 50% higher than the offer made by the defendant's solicitors. Mrs X was delighted with this result and felt that without our support and advice she would have been tempted to accept the defendant's low offer.

Solicitors Comments On The Case

"I was confident that my valuation of the claim was the right amount for the pain and suffering experienced by our client. However, the defendant's refused to increase their offer. At this point the only way to obtain the right amount of compensation for my client was to issue court proceedings. This carries the risk of not beating the offer already made which would carry serious costs penalties, but I was sure we would win, which we did."

"My worry with cases like this are that if an inexperienced accident claim solicitor was looking after the client they might not take the decisive action that we took to ensure our client received the correct level of compensation." Fiona Scurlock, Partner.

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