Just had an email from my solicitors saying that they are preparing to go to court for personal injury. And that they will arrange a medical examination, five months on?

The accident left me pretty broke i.e couldn’t work for a month and I’d just bought 15k worth of non returnable lighting for a job I lost whilst out of action. Now I could buy a replacement, but I could do with putting my money elsewhere.
What I’ve been trying to figure out is this. Am I likely to have a claim for the damage to the bike and a seperate one for injury?

Up to a week ago the drivers insurance were not admiting liability, although the driver has admitted it to the police and myself.

My missus would idealy like a replacement bike purchased from the insurance claim, which is fair enough.

Any idea what’s likely to be happening?

Oldgit – Insurance and solicitors work in strange ways, my accident was in April 2010, i had to wait till June 2011 to see a hospital consultant for a full medical, only just this week had a nice 2k payout cheque a week before Xmas 😆
I’ll give you more information tomorrow as i’ve got a 6am 20ml commute 🙄 …..

you see your paying this solicitor why not ask him/ her…tell em what you want not what he wants

Oldgit, your claim against the driver should be for all losses that you can show to be a consequence of the incident, this is likely to include injuries and any long term health issues, immediate losses and any other losses. I was self employed when I had an accident at work in 2005. I returned to work almost immediately but it became obvious over the following couple of years, I was still having some physio, that I would have to change my job, which I did, albeit with a lower income. My solicitor didn’t issue the summons until both my medical report & the defendants agreed the long term prognosis. As part of my claim I was asked if I wanted to claim for house cleaning and decorating because I couldn’t do it properly myself at that stage. I didn’t but the option was there. The defendant’s insurer finally admitted liability in 2008, but disputed damages, it took until december 2010 to settle the claim, an offer of settlement was made to avoid potential spiraling legal costs by the defendants insurer. The largest part of the settlement was for loss of future earnings, the report by a forensic accontant cost nearly £5000! The best advice I can give is to be reasonable in your claim and be very, very patient. Hope this helps, mail me at the address in my profile if I can offer any more insight, I’m sure the lawyers on here will be along shortly.

oldgit,

Sorry to hear this is still dragging on, hopefully you can still see that although the cogs turn almightily slowly they are still turning in your favour.

Fingers crossed that you get all that you deserve out of the claim.

Hi Oldgit,

For my sins and although i never admit this in public but i am a personal injury lawyer (i get fit by chasing ambulances on my bike!), if i can offer any advice my email is in profile.

My claim took two years to get to the point where court action was threatened. It is usually only a threat though and very few cases go all the way to court. Usually the insurance company gets the summons and pays up (so I was told).

5 months is also quite usual for the medical examination, as the solicitors will want to wait till all symptoms have become apparent. The examination is in essence you telling someone all the symptoms you had, the time it took for them to go away etc. The dr basically sits there and takes notes and then makes a report for both sides (and the court if it go that far). As its a long time ago, you can probably labour the pain and trauma stuff as no one can prove otherwise and the examiner will just put it in his report.

All elements of my claim were bundled together in the same settlement BUT stuff like the damaged bike was paid out early in the process as it was tangible. You should have had some money for the bike by now I would have thought. Edit. just realised that no responsibility has been accepted so this is probably why no payments have been made yet.

When I hit a car (split liability) I went for a medical 2 years later – they used scars and what not as evidence. If it was soft tissue injuries not quite sure what they’re expecting to find!

It took over 2 years to settle a claim I had – hopefully yours won’t drag out that long, but just to illustrate these things can take a long time. As mentioned above, both settlements I’ve had have been out of court, though both have required the threat of court action to get the insurance company to pay up – even the one where the driver admitted liability at the scene to me and the police who took a statement, never changed her story or lied about what happened, and I had a witness. Ins cos appear to hope you’ll give up until they get the summons.

Up to a week ago the drivers insurance were not admiting liability, although the driver has admitted it to the police and myself.

Unfortunately the two are unrelated. I presume her admissions are also the one to you you have no witnesses for, and the one to the police they have no proper record for. She’s still now claiming it wasn’t her? Did her car get inspected for damage – that seemed like the only way to prove it was her?

Medical examination months later is normal for assessing comp – they need to know what the long term prognosis is and whether everything has cleared up (in my case I had a professional photographer take photos of my scars).

IME bike, injuries, legal fees etc. all get rolled together as one thing (in your case add loss of earnings and incidental losses for the work you couldn’t do – your solicitors do know about that?) If she’s found liable you get the lot. The reason they’re headlining the personal injury is because that’s normally the biggest item (apart from their fees 😉 ) – though in your case it seems work related stuff might be more significant.

Best though to ask your solicitors what’s happening – are you using a specialist who does cycling stuff?

Thanks.
I/we have good records of everything. The most damning is her report to the police after the accident (it is hit and run)
I had my injuries documented by my GP.
I still have all my blood stained clothing and broken crash helmet.
I have copies and names relating to all the police communications including the name and number of the PC she called to report the H&R.

So you think I’ll need to stump up for another bike in advance for the start of the race season?

AS for the medical examination. I still have minor scarring. Slight heaviness? at the back and lower of my head. And my eyesight is almost back to where it was.

And yes I’m using a cycling specific company.

I was thinking of contacting Giro to see if they could give some idea of the impact my head took.
It’s cracked in three places, only the outer laminate is holding it together, and there’s a chunk about 2″x1″ missing where I made contact.
Worth a try?

If liability has been resolved then there is no reason why you cant ask for an interim payment for the replacement cost of the bike and any other special damage claims (out of pocket losses) whilst you await the medical evidence for the personal injury claim.

I was thinking of contacting Giro to see if they could give some idea of the impact my head took.

I doubt it will add much to the information available – they’re interested in the damage to you, not the physics (and it doesn’t make any difference to assessing liability).

Sounds like you’re doing better than I thought regarding evidence of liability. Well done on using cycling specific company – with the one I used I’m fairly sure they wouldn’t issue court proceedings unless they were fairly sure you had a good case. You have told them about loss of earnings etc.?

Oh and regarding a new bike, to get anything at all you first have to get liability admitted or apportioned. Once that happens a payment should be fairly quick. Where you get paid for a bike before injuries is if your recovery isn’t complete or they’re still assessing how bad you are (which might happen in your case, but you’ve not go there yet). It all really depends whether they carry on disputing liability, or fold when they get issued court papers – I’ve had experience of both, best speak to your solicitors and get their advice.

Right, had a reply. It seems that the drivers insurers are not making a satisfactory offer for any part of the claim. Hence the court action.
So I’m assuming that they have since admitted liability.
As there were no witness statements taken, they wanted to know if I had known the exact make model and colour of the car when it hit me, which I did and reported it and documented it before the driver of the very same car came forward.
It’s all pretty crazy isn’t it.

arracer.
Yes we have loads of documentation. My accountant has worked out that just over 26K was lost. That includes the 15K worth of lighting I bought and can’t use. Obviously I would have lost more money from not being at work for a month.
I have to pay back that 26K and my business has failed and closed as a direct result of this accident.
You can see why my missus doesn’t want me to buy a new bike just yet.

It’s sounds like they are admitting liability, but arguing over the amount.

It sounds like you have all the documentation to make a good case; and the hit and run aspect will influence the decision makers, even if it is an insurance company in the firing line and not some mad woman with stary eyes and a drink problem.

Be patient; I would be more interested in the £26k lost earnings than a new bike at this moment. Listen to your wife. This time.

Be patient; I would be more interested in the £26k lost earnings than a new bike at this moment. Listen to your wife. This time

That’s a cycling obsession for you 🙄

Just spoken to my solicitor, and the drivers insurers are not accepting liability?

That’s odd; why would they make offers for settlement without liability? Unless it’s legalo-bollocks like “an offer without predudice etc.”

I’d assume they are on the ropes though.

I’d assume they are on the ropes though

well call me old fashioned, but I don’t know how you can admit something like this to the police and the person you hit, and yet the insurance company can deny it happened?

There will be some legal nonsense that if you accept liability, it’s full liability. That would include every last penny you can throw at them.

Whereas limited liability will have a figure attached to it.

They can make offers for a claim without formally admitting liability, it is known as doing it on a “without prejudice” basis, normally when they feel that they will not be succesful at Court when it comes to liability or when they have problems with the other party admitting fault or problems in trying to contact them to get instruction from them.

Just make it clear to you solicitor what your losses are, make it clear that your loss of earnings and the subsequent fold of your business is a direct result of the accident and make sure that this is stated within the medical evidence when you see the medical expert.

What you must do is make sure that you document everything as well as possible, photographs of the damaged bike and gear, original receipts if you have them, if not then a pro-forma invoice from a bike shop for the cost of their replacement.

Make sure you get your accountant to provide the 3 years accounts and tax returns in the run up to the accident and your accounts since. That they calculate your loss to date and that once they have the medical evidence backing it, that they make a request for an interim payments for your bike, gear and loss of earnings to date.

The more you can document your losses the easier it is for your solicitor to claim them back in full for you.

With regards to liability, try and provide them with a good diagram, photos of the accident location etc, makes it a lot easier to argue liability.

my business has failed and closed as a direct result of this accident.

😯 – I hope you’re getting your losses assessed properly. By the sounds of that it’s a lot more than £26k.

I’d suggest that them offering anything at all is a sign of weakness – they’d not be doing that if they didn’t think they were liable. But IANAL.

yet the insurance company can deny it happened?

Have you seen The Rainmaker? Deny, deny, deny.

aracer, my business had been on shaky ground for some years and this was the last nail in the coffin you might say.
So the books look bad, however I had just renewed some very good contracts and work had started just prior to this.

oldgit – You need to ensure that the person handling your claim knows what they are doing and what is in issue!!. They may be a Solicitor but you need an experienced one, I know you say they are cycling specific solicitors but this only means they are knowlegable about highway laws and cycling accidents, not neccesarily dealing with complex special damage claims arising from the failure of your business.

I would recommend that you speak to them and find out the fee earners experience. IF the matter has the complexities it suggests then the matter justifies conduct by a Grade A fee earner and you should ask for a Senior Solicitor to deal with the claim.