Devon lady compensated for fall

Although in her 70s, ‘Mrs R’ is an extremely fit lady who regularly walked from her home to the town centre in Barnstaple in Devon, a distance of a little over one mile.

Unfortunately, on one occasion she tripped on a piece of raised paving and suffered a nasty fall which resulted in a blow to her head and unpleasant facial injuries. An ambulance was called and Mrs R was treated in the local hospital.

Fortunately, Mrs R’s son and daughter in law lived locally, and returned to the scene later in the day to see what had caused her to fall. The photos they took helped prove that the fall was not due to Mrs R’s age or agility, but down to the condition of the unfinished paving, which was in the process of being repaired by a contractor.

Mrs R contacted comercrawley, who secured compensation from the contractor without the need to go to court. In addition to her injuries, the compensation covered her broken spectacles and other out of pocket loss and expenses.

Mrs R said: “I had never been involved in anything like this before and as such it was good to have such expert help and personal service.

“My case was dealt with by Ian Comer and nothing was too much trouble. He took the time required to explain things fully by letter and phone.

“The fact that we never met face to face because of the distance between comercrawley’s office and where I live did not matter at all.

“I was also very pleased with the amount of compensation I received.”

Ian Comer added: “Mrs R is a very nice lady whose life was blighted for quite some while by this incident. It affected her confidence for a considerable period after the event, but I’m pleased to say that eventually she was able to resume to walking into town from her home.”

29.03.2011

Bricklayer compensated for scaffolding accident

In December 2006 Mr W, a self-employed bricklayer, was working on a site in London when the scaffolding he was on collapsed beneath him.

Mr W fell around 15’ onto the concrete floor below and suffered a number of injuries, the most serious of which was shattering his left ankle.

Since then Mr W has had a series of operations to attempt to rebuild the ankle, involving metal plates and a cage round the ankle. Sadly, despite extensive medical treatment and surgery, he has been left with permanent damage to the ankle and limitations in his mobility.

Mr W was advised to contact comercrawley by a friend whose son had been injured in a motorcycle accident and was impressed with the service provided by comercrawley.

Mr W, whose case has been dealt with by Emma Crawley, said: “Emma has been helpful and friendly throughout and has gone to great lengths to explain things fully and clearly."

One of the side effects of the incident was that Mr W suffered a series of disturbing and unpleasant flashbacks. “Emma arranged for me to meet a psychologist to help me deal with the flashbacks. In fact, comercrawley arranged consultations with a number of specialists and I didn’t have to pay a penny,” Mr W said.

“They also arranged for me to have an automatic car because I could not drive my manual one – all at no cost to me.”

Emma Crawley said: “Mr W is a lovely man whose life has been blighted by what has happened to him, through no fault of his own.

“He has not been able to return to work but I’m very pleased to say that we have recently settled his claim for a substantial sum.

“We issued proceedings on Mr W’s behalf and they reached an advanced stage before a settlement could be negotiated.”

Mr W concluded: “As a bricklayer I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before, so it was really important to have someone who took as much time as necessary to explain how the process of making a claim works.

“I would have no hesitation in recommending comercrawley to anyone who is unfortunate enough to find themselves in a similar position.”

Taking on Tesco - and winning

Comercrawley recently settled a product liability claim against supermarket giant Tesco Stores Limited.

When 70 year old Mrs B went to open a screw top bottle of German Neirsteiner wine that had been home delivered by Tesco the neck of the bottle fractured causing a nasty deep laceration injury to Mrs B’s right hand.

After undergoing extensive surgery to her right hand Mrs B, on the recommendation of the Taxi Driver who took her to hospital, consulted comercrawley who then brought a product liability claim against Tesco Stores for selling wine in a defective bottle. comercrawley obtained an expert report which was able to identify from the remains of the bottle that not only had the neck of the bottle suffered a hairline fracture but that this had been caused during the manufacturing process prior to the application of the screw cap unit.

Initially Tesco refused to deal with the claim and attempted to pass on responsibility to the bottle manufacturers but proceedings were commenced against Tesco under the provisions of the Consumer Protection legislation and following this Tesco quickly accepted responsibility for the accident.

comercrawley were able to recover significant compensation for Mrs B not only for her injury but also for the additional load that had fallen upon her husband in looking after her whilst she was recovering from the injury suffered.

Holiday horrors - but a successful outcome

comercrawley recently successfully settled a claim for Mr D who suffered injury whilst holidaying in Dubai with his wife.

After a few days sightseeing Mr D and his wife decided that it was time to spend a fun day soaking up the rays in the hotel’s aquapark. Unfortunately one of the aquapark’s giant water slides was not working correctly and as a result Mr D suffered a nasty laceration and bruising injury to his coccyx which not only ruined the remainder of his holiday but also interfered with his ability to undertake his work as a self employed electrician on return to this country.

comercrawley were instructed and brought a claim against the UK tour operator responsible for organising the holiday. This is possible under the provisions of the Package Holiday Travel Regulations, which in essence makes the tour operator responsible providing at least two aspects of the holiday e.g. travel and accommodation are organised by the operator.

Initially the hotel in Dubai denied knowledge of the incident but comercrawley were able to obtain records of a medical attendance at the hospital and witness statements from fellow holidaymakers who confirmed that the incident had occurred. Ultimately the tour operator settled Mr D’s claim on the threat of issue of proceedings and Mr D recovered compensation for his injury, loss of earnings and his damaged holiday shorts!

Budding career back on track

Comercrawley were instructed by the parents of Simon who suffered serious lower limb injuries in a motorcycle accident which occurred in Bournemouth in November 2007.

The unusual feature of this case was that Simon was a budding race cyclist intent of breaking into the professional ranks. The accident could not have occurred at a worst time as Simon was on the point of being selected for a development team but because of his injury he was unable to train and cycle for many months and lost this opportunity.

Liability for the accident was denied by the other party and in consequence proceedings were issued. As soon as he was able Simon returned to his training and was eventually able to get back to race riding. For two year Simon battled to return to his former level of fitness and performance, because he had missed out on joining a development team the dream was funded by his parents.

Simon’s efforts were rewarded and in 2010 he managed to secure a place in a Belgium riding team. His claim has been concluded on a split liability basis and Simon has been able to recover some compensation for the injuries and loss that he suffered.

If Simon’s dedication and determination to return to professional cycling are any indication then he should have a glittering career before him as a pro cyclist.

Boot on the other foot

comercrawley acted for Mr G who was an agency worker and had been put into a food production company along with a number of fellow agency workers.

Mr G was injured in an accident during the course of his work when a heavy roll of plastic fell on his foot causing a painful crush injury to his great toe.

Prior to his accident Mr G had asked the management representative from the agency on site to provide him and his co-workers with safety boots. Had these been supplied then Mr G would not have suffered injury.

A claim was brought against the employment agency, but the agency tried to offload blame on to the business where Mr G was working. Proceedings were instituted against the agency for failing to provide the workforce with proper protective equipment and the claim was settled shortly after issue of proceedings. Mr G recovered compensation for his injury and the loss of earnings that he had suffered while unable to work.

Couple compensated for distress and trauma

A couple received 50 times more than initially offered for the trauma they suffered when a car wrecked their home of more than 45 years.
The accident occurred on 26 February 2007 when the defendant was driving through the village that 'Mr & Mrs Smith' live in. He lost control of his car and collided with their home, causing extensive damage.

The damage to the Smith's cottage was such that they had to move out for nine months while reinstatement works were carried out.

They initially stayed with their family, and then rented a holiday let before moving into a mobile home at their property while the building work went on around them.

Mr. & Mrs Smith's claim for repairs to their home was dealt with through their home insurance policy. They were advised, however, that there was no provision for compensation for the distress and inconvenience that they had experienced.

The couple contacted comercrawley and we advised them that they could pursue a claim against the driver's insurers, both for the distress and inconvenience and any other claim such as compensation for personal injury.

While Mrs Smith was not at home when the accident happened, Mr Smith was trapped in the house for about an hour after the collision, initially not knowing what had happened. While he was fortunate to escape physical injury, it became apparent afterwards that he was suffering quite severely from the psychological effects associated with the trauma.

These effects were noticed more by Mr Smith's family as he found it difficult to acknowledge the symptoms that he was suffering from, which included anxiety, lack of confidence and patience, difficulty in sleeping, becoming very emotional and tearful, and mood swings. He also become over anxious about a similar incident re-occurring and his family members being injured as a result.

Through pursuing a personal injury claim, Mr Smith benefited from expert advice from a consultant psychiatrist who diagnosed that he was suffering from a moderate to severe depressive disorder, and advised a course of treatment that included psychological therapy and medication.

We arranged for the insurance company to pay for the treatment, following which Mr Smith returned more or less back to normal. Following the treatment we negotiated a settlement of Mr Smith's personal injury claim that he was extremely pleased with.

The Smiths' claim for compensation for distress and inconvenience was initially rejected by the insurers, who initially merely offered the sum of £100 by way of a 'goodwill gesture'. The claim was eventually settled for a figure 50 times higher than that initial offer.

Mr & Mrs Smith have been extremely pleased with the outcome of their claims. Not only have they achieved good levels of compensation, but Mr. Smith has also received the treatment he needed to help him recover from the effects of the accident. It has been a pleasure dealing with Mr & Mrs Smith, and extremely satisfying to achieve such a positive outcome and to help them put the event behind them.