Frequently Asked Questions2021-01-12T18:27:31+00:00

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

24 HOUR ADVICE (UK)
0800 0523 693

Can I change solicitors?2020-03-24T10:06:34+00:00

You have an absolute right to appoint a solicitor of your own choice – And the right to change solicitors if you want to.

Your insurers may have told you that you have to use one of their “panel” solicitors, but that’s just not right – You can choose whichever lawyer you want!

We have a long track record of winning compensation claims after other lawyers had told our client they “didn’t have a case”.

And we often step in to get far more compensation than other lawyers thought our clients should get.

  • It doesn’t cost anything to get a second opinion from us.
  • It is very straightforward to have your file transferred to us
  • 97% of our clients tell us we are good or excellent at what we do!

If you are fed up with your current solicitor and you would like some free advice about making a change, please give us a call on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form.

Mr Naylor suffered very serious groin injuries as a result of a motorbike accident. He was sent to a “panel solicitor” by his insurance company but after three years they hadn’t got anywhere – They had never had a single meeting with him, and were suggesting that he might lose his case! He instructed Mulderrigs, and we quickly proved the other driver was to blame and then helped him get compensation of £200,000.00.

How Much Compensation Should I Get?2023-08-25T14:51:36+01:00

 

The starting point for the valuation of most injury claims will be “The Guidelines” (Guidelines For The Assessment Of General Damages In Personal Injury Cases – Oxford University Press), which contains advice about the valuation of all types of injuries.

However a genuine specialist solicitor should also have access to online resources such as LAWTEL and/or Kemp & Kemp, which contain a vast resource of up to date case reports about the valuation of injury claims.

If you’d like a free assessment about how much compensation you should get please call us on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form.

In the next section we have set out a few examples from the current edition of the Guidelines. The figures mentioned are for the pain and suffering caused by your injuries… you may be able to add on the amount of any other losses, such as loss of earnings and so on.

You will see that some of the figures vary quite widely… the amount you get will depend on things like the extent of the injury, the impact on your work and personal life, and, of course the quality of your legal advice!

  • A simple fracture of the femur – £5,750-£9,000
  • Very severe injury to the knee – £44,400-£61,500
  • A minor fracture of the wrist – £2,250-£3,000
  • A severe injury to the wrist – £30,500-£38,250
  • A minor “whiplash” injury to the neck (recovery within 2 years) – £2,750-£5,000
  • A “minor” back injury (recovery within two years) – Up to £5,000
  • A “moderate” back injury (constant pain, impairment of sexual function, risk of arthritis) – £17,750-£24,750

If you’d like a free assessment about how much compensation you should get please call us on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form.

Compensation for other losses

In addition to the claim in respect of your injury there may be claims for various other financial losses, some of which can be very substantial. These can include:-

  • Loss of earnings

    This may range from a short period off work after a minor acccident, to a detailed calculation of future loss of earnings for someone who is unable to go back to work after suffering an injury. In serious cases, we often obtain the evidence of expert accountants to help our clients obtain the maximum amount of compensation for lost earnings.

  • The value of a damaged car or motorcycle or bicycle

    It is very common for us to obtain the report of an expert engineer when valuing the damage to vehicles.

  • Value of damaged clothing, cycling or motorcycle helmets

  • The cost of obtaining nursing care, help with housework or gardening

    In serious cases, we often obtain expert evidence in relation to this part of a claim, which may amount to many thousands of pounds.

  • The cost of private medical treatment, such as physiotherapy or even surgery

Our team have years of experience in the valuation of injury claims, from those worth only £1,000.00 or so to those worth over £1,000,000.00, and we are always focused on gathering all of the necessary evidence so that we can help our clients to recover the maximum amount of compensation available within the rules.

If you’d like a free assessment about how much compensation you should get please call us on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form.

If you’d like some free advice please give us a call on 0800 0523 693 or complete our free claim enquiry form.

How long will my claim take?2020-03-24T10:27:11+00:00

It is difficult to give an exact estimate about how long a particular case will take until we have some details, but we can give some helpful guidelines.

If you’d like some free advice please contact us.

All injury cases are initially governed by a set of rules called the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims (let’s just call it the protocol!)

In some very straightforward cases, an admission of liability can be obtained within a few days.

If a very quick admission isn’t made, your solicitor should be able to use the protocol to find out whether your opponent accepts liability for the accident within four months of starting your case.

Court proceedings are sometimes necessary in order to sort out who was to blame for the accident, or to sort out the amount of compensation, and sometimes both.

Straightforward cases can normally reach a trial or a settlement within twelve months of the court action being started.

Complex cases can take much longer, but the timetable is monitored very strictly by the Judge, so that the case reaches a settlement or a trial as soon as possible.

Our team at Mulderrigs have years of experience in complex cases, from the most minor to the most serious, and we are always very focused on getting our clients’ cases settled as soon as possible.

If you’d like some free advice about how long your case might take please contact us.

What are the time limits for claiming?2020-03-24T10:27:39+00:00

There are strict time limits for the issue of court proceedings in claims for personal injury compensation and claims for damages in professional negligence.

For most adults the time limit for commencing court proceedings following an injury in England or Wales will be three years after the date of the accident.

In a claim for professional negligence the corresponding time limit for issuing court proceedings is usually six years from the date of the negligent incident.

However the rules on time limits are complex (for example, there are different time limits in many cases for young people under 18 and for people who don’t have full mental capacity).

Even lawyers often find themselves in trouble for getting time limits wrong, so the best course of action is to get expert legal advice as soon as possible about the time limits applicable to your own case.

If you’d like some free advice please contact us.

What if there’s no insurance?2020-03-24T10:29:13+00:00

Insurance can be a complex issue, and we are often able to find an insurance company to deal with a claim, even though it initially looks as though there’s no insurance cover.

So, even if you think the person causing your accident doesn’t have insurance you should let us investigate the case for you.

If you’d like some free advice just give us a call on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form

Or, continue reading the rest of this page to see details of some of the insurance issues we have come up against in car accidents, motorbike accidents, accidents at work, football injuries and so on.

Car Accidents, motorcycle accidents and pedestrians

Unfortunately, more and more people are now driving without the appropriate insurance, but even where the motorist isn’t insured, or even if you are the victim of a “hit & run” driver we may be able to help you claim compensation from a fund called the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).

Some of our recent MIB cases:

Mr Shepperton was riding his motorbike on a motorway roundabout when his bike went out of control because there had been some diesel spillage. He suffered a broken leg. We took on his claim against the MIB under their Untraced “Hit & Run” scheme on the basis that the diesel spill was caused by an unknown motorist. We helped him recover compensation of £19,000.00 from the MIB.

Mr Hankinson was badly injured when he was knocked down in a hit and run accident whilst crossing the road after a night out in Putney, London. He sustained very severe injuries, but fortunately went on to make a very good recovery. We brought his claim against the MIB under their Untraced “Hit & Run” scheme and helped him recover £80,000.00 in compensation for his injuries.

If you’d like some free advice just give us a call on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form

Accidents at work

All employers are obliged by law to have insurance to cover them in respect of injuries to their workers.

Professional negligence

All professionals (lawyers, doctors, accountants etc) are obliged to have insurance to cover claims where they cause damage or loss by their professional negligence.

Football Injuries

Many offending players who have caused an injury are covered by their own house insurance for the compensation they have to pay to our clients.

However, it’s fair to say that insurance can be a problem in football injury claims. Although we at Mulderrigs have lobbied the Sports Minister and the government for several years, they have still not introduced a compulsory scheme to protect injured players.

In some cases an accident may have been caused in unusual circumstances, perhaps a child running into the road, a horse bolting or maybe a cyclist is responsible for the accident… Even in those situations there is often insurance which covers the person responsible for the accident.

If you’d like some free advice just give us a call on 0333 006 6266 or complete our free claim enquiry form.

Will I have to go to court?2020-11-27T14:34:19+00:00

We hope that you won’t have to go to court in order to sort out your case.

Way back in 1999 the Lord Chancellor introduced Civil Procedure Rules designed to help people sort out their cases without court proceedings.

These rules are supported by a series of protocols for personal injury claims, professional negligence claims, and other cases, and the protocols encourage people to regard court action as a “last resort”.

At Mulderrigs we are experts in using those rulse to win and we succesfully conclude a large number of our clients’ cases without the need for court action.

Even when court action becomes necessary we estimate that 95% of our clients are able to settle their cases without going as far as stepping into a court room.

Of course, we can’t always settle cases without a fight.

If you’d like some free advice please contact us.

And, of course, in the event that your case does have to go all the way to court you don’t need to worry….. you’ll be in very safe hands!

What if I’m partly to blame?2020-11-27T15:06:30+00:00

We always try to help our clients win their cases on a 100% basis. But even where clients have been partly responsible for the accident we still help many of them to obtain very substantial amounts of compensation.

If you’d like some free advice please contact us.

Compensation claims aren’t governed in the same way as criminal cases, where there has to be a definite verdict…guilty or not guilty.

In a civil claim it is possible for our clients to win 100% or to be held partly to blame – it’s what lawyers call “contributory negligence”- with settlements or judgments based on 50-50, 75-25 or whatever.

For example, contributory negligence might crop up:-

  • in a work accident case, where our client has disregarded previous training, or a car/motorbike accident, where the client may have been speeding at the time of the collision,
  • a tripping accident, where the client perhaps ought to have seen the pothole or raised kerbstone,
  • a car accident where the client wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

In serious cases, in particular, it is still worth investigating a claim, even though you may have been partly responsible – 25% of a claim worth £20,000.00 is £5,000.00….a sum that’s still worth receiving!

Some of our cases where contributory negligence has been a factor are listed later on this page.

If you’d like some free advice please contact us.

We are currently representing Mr Charlton from Lancashire who suffered some nasty dental injuries when he was involved in a car accident. He was a passenger in a car when it left the road and hit a lapmpost. The problem was that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and also had a friend sat on his lap. Even though his injuries were probably made worse by not wearing a seatbelt we obtained a judgment in his favour for 85% of the full value of the claim.

Miss Charcol from the Reading area suffered dreadful leg injuries in a motorcycle accident when a car emerged from a garage forecourt into her path. The difficulty was that she was overtaking standing traffic and riding on the wrong side of the road. However, we obtained a judgment in her favour for 50% of the value of the case and helped her recover more than £200,000.00.

If you’d like some free advice please contact us.

Go to Top