To put things in context my settlement took 6 years and the Solicitor fees were £110K. I had an English Solicitor and a Manx one and the fee was more or less split 50/50. If the driver has been charged liability is not an issue I would have thought. Hastings just being awkward I presume but your Solicitor should be pushing for liability just for your piece of mind. Nothing can be settled until it is known how well you will recover, how it affects your work life/employability etc. Hastings will try to wear you down unfortunately and these things move very slowly. You have to hang in there and be patient. My case took over my life for those 6 years and it was bloody tough. It is imperative you have the right person fighting for you. If you have any questions drop me a message by all means. Take care.
Thanks. I am not really worried as my solicitor isn't. My family picked the firm when I was still out cold. Although they are "no win, no fee", they are very choosy about the cases that they take on. My solicitor is a partner and I have had at least two other people who work for her been in touch. Although she is in court often, her staff get back to me if I have a question. She asked me how much I wa expecting and I said that I didn't know but a few hundred thousand. She didn't come back to me and say (in solicitor speak), "Don't be so f***ing stupid!" With legal fees, my mate reckons that it could be near half a million to a million. So, I've learnt to just sit back and wait. Nobody else seems to be in a rush. What is weird to me is that the Police investigated and didn't think that I was at fault but they prosecuted the car driver - who always admitted fault... but the insurance company still keep towing the line that they are not liable and nothing to do with them..... weird....
That’s good to hear regarding your Solicitor. One thing I will add is the compensation for injuries is a lot less than you think. There is a price list online that gives a guideline, I found it shocking to be honest. Employability is one of the most important issues regarding settlements. All the best.
I suggest Hastings have accepted liability if they have paid for alterations to your house and other accident related costs, what they will not have yet accepted is the extent of the damages to be paid and that they will fight tooth and nail to get it as low as possible. Your solicitor is right to hold fire because other injuries can become apparent and, as JAT said above, future employability is a biggie. If you can no longer do the job you used to to the extent you used to and this arguably impacts your earning capability then they have to cough up for that, ie, simply put, they have to pay what you otherwise would have earned over the remainder of your working life. I don't know the full details of the case but if you are short of money as you are not working it may be worth your solicitor pushing for an interim payment from them; however, don't go and spend it on a new bike as that will impact your total claim "you see m'lud, he's fit enough to buy and ride a bike but not fit enough to work, hmmm, me thinks not, you should reduce the award m'lud". Here's hoping you make as full a recovery as possible Perry as those injuries above sound awful.
A new Guzzi or Multistrada may be involved but not until the whole thing is settled! My brother reckons that my solicitor was given 30k to pay for private medical reports. I assume that this is because Hastings want reports that say it is not that bad really, but my solicitor will make sure that doesn't happen. I dunno if it is a girlie thing, but my last conversation with my solicitor was about if I wanted plastic surgery to look better! I was very business like and didn't say, " Are you calling me ugly?"! I think that she was referring to my leg! I did ask about getting an interim payment to live on but that email was never answered. I get the impression that my solicitor doesn't want to faff about with interim payments but just go straight for the jugular. Suits me as I can enjoy the show!
When I first got home and I could buy beer, finally!, I could not manage a whole bottle in one night. Now it lasts a couple of hours! My local small Co-Op is the only place that I can get to without a taxi. All through the panic buying, I could always buy beer - it seems that panic buyers only go for the cheap sh1t. The Co-Op buyers agree with my beer taste - and so, I am happy ( but a bit p1ssed!) There! I'm sure that you all needed to know that!
Oh no! I do find the beer quite heavy, as I have to carry everything that I buy, back home. I've just discovered Amazon sell and deliver it! Anyone got any recommendations for on-line beer vendors?
We have about 6 local breweries that deliver - where are you ? We pay between £1.80 - £2.20 a pint delivered
Good call. I don't think that they mention Stroud Brewery who are my closest brewery. They do delivery - but you have to order £50 worth. Oh dear, what a pity, never mind!
If your wondering how come I know how many breweries deliver round here !! we’ve had gritchie (expensive but the best imo) hopback Plain ales Downtown brewery Stonehenge ales Sixpenny handley brewery Keystone Brewery #supportyourlocalbrewery
Did an order way over £50 to get free delivery. We had a bit of a disagreement because they kept on telling me when I could come to the brewery to pick up the order. And I was getting riled because the web site said that if you ordered was over £50 they would do free delivery. Turns out that mug here, clicked the wrong button and that's is why they thought that I would be collecting it. After getting riled up with them, it seems that I am eating humble pie - I clicked the wrong button! What is good is that they have sorted it out and I will have free delivery next week. It will be interesting and I am quite looking forward to my beer. In future, I just need to be a bit more careful.... and humble, because I was blowing off about how easier it would of been to order from Amazon, whilst busily forgetting my philosophy of buying local!
I guess that (and I do guess) because there is no talk of any medical negligence, and the injuries are already documented (everyone has the medical reports - although Hasting have shown zero interest because their head is firmly buried in the sand) then medical reports would only be required where there is any argument regarding recovery. Unless for some even more bizarre reason, Hastings won't to start arguing about the severity of my injuries and the treatment that I received. Perhaps, they would want to argue that I didn't really need to have my hip replaced. Well, good luck with that one as they would be taking on the South West's Primary Trauma Hospital and I would pay to watch the entertainment! But I guess that this money would only be used to show that something that I complain about hasn't recovered and a consultant can explain why and we can hit them with even more claim. I don't think that this is likely. It sends a strange feeling to my brain, though. I am recovering well and that is going to save Hasting money. Whilst I don't want to save Hastings one penny, I do want to get better. That dichotomy is strange to live with. I want to make a full recovery but I don't want to save Hastings any money. Even if I wasn't to get it but, say, my solicitor did, then I would still be happy! It shows how much my brain is messed up"
AND I am getting it wrong all of the time! I've been in dispute with Paypal because they would not let me close my account. They kept saying that there was a payment in progress but it looked to me that everything was done. I could delete all my saved payment receivers. Turns out that it was my "The Times"subscription that went through several days ago. It turns out ( and I didn't realise this) that Paypal stump up for it out of their own money. And then Paypal try to recover the money from you. No wonder they didn't want me to close the account. They had paid Times Newspapers, but hadn't yet collected the money off me. I didn't realise that Paypal worked this way. I thought that they would get the money off me first and then pass it on. But they trust me! They pay for me and then try to recover it the money from me!
With my case liability was admitted fairly early. I still had to have medical reports carried out by both sides. In total I had about 10 for various injuries. Both sides had Spinal reports, hand/wrist injuries etc. Some I even had to fund myself and reclaim the money back at final settlement, these are the games these scumbags play. We also got an interim payment to cover my spinal op which was approximately £16K, my Solicitor threatened to take them to court regarding this which prompted them to fund the op. I know exactly how you feel regarding Hastings, they’re all the same unfortunately.
After having multiple injuries from a non fault trackday accident, multiple ops, unable to work for a year, months of rehab, carrying the resulting aches, pains and unable to do certain tasks. I could only dream about injury compo, bike totally trashed, kit destroyed, loss of earnings and out of pocket expenses.
