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It is not often that we have to take a case to court in order to secure a client personal injury compensation.  However, where the individual or organization we believe to be to blame for an accident refuses to admit liability, or else declines to accept our assessment of the money that should rightfully be paid by way of recompense, then we will not hesitate to run a case to trial in order to obtain judgment and to recover the compensation that the client deserves.

Indeed, this is something we had to do recently when we encountered an insurance company who steadfastly refused to accept liability in an accident at work claim and who turned down not one, but two reasonable ‘out of court’ settlement offers.

The case was handled by Dominic Jones, who is an experienced solicitor in our personal injury team and someone who is used to dealing with claims which are highly contested.

Background

The facts of the case were relatively straightforward.

Our client was employed to work in the kitchen of a local hotel.  He was injured during one of his shifts when he removed his hands from the sink where he had been washing dishes and turned to his side, at which point his left hand came into contact with a large knife which was being held by one of his colleagues in an unsafe position.

The cut he sustained was about two inches long and situated just behind his knuckles.  It was deep enough to require surgery and necessitated him taking just over two months off work to recuperate.

As a result of his injury, the client has been left with a noticeable 6cm scar and continues to suffer from occasional stiffness and aching in the affected area.

Dispute over liability

While the events leading up to our client’s accident were broadly agreed by all of those involved, there was a dispute over who (if anyone) was actually responsible for the incident occurring.

It was our case that the accident happened because the person in charge of the knife was not holding it appropriately and that the reason for this was either because they had not been trained in how to handle knives safely, or, if they had been trained, they had failed to act in accordance with the training they had been given.

The hotel’s case was that appropriate training had been provided and that the person in charge of the knife had acted in accordance with that training at all times. Nothing about the way in which the knife was being held could be said to be unsafe and in their view what occurred was a genuinely unforeseeable event for which neither party was truly to blame.

Offer of compromise

While certain of our position, we advised our client on the merits of trying to negotiate an out of court settlement. He could see the sense in trying to deal with matters amicably and so authorized us to make two successive settlement offers on his behalf.

The first was for liability to be apportioned between our client and the hotel on a ratio of 25/75 per cent – which in simple terms means that our client was willing to accept a small element of blame in return for the hotel accepting the lion’s share of responsibility and paying a fair amount of compensation to reflect this.

The second was for the hotel to simply pay our client the fixed sum of £7,000, together with our legal costs.

Both of these offers were rejected and the insurer acting for the hotel declined to make any offers of their own, which effectively meant that we had no choice but to take the case to trial.

Outcome of the claim

In a welcome judgment for us, the court unequivocally ruled in our client’s favor and in doing so not only found the hotel to be 100 per cent responsible for what had occurred but also ordered them to pay compensation almost at the level that had been previously offered, plus additional compensation and interest to punish them and their insurer for their refusal to accept what turned out to be an eminently sensible and reasonable proposal for an out of court compromise.

Additional complications

The client in this case was Polish, which meant that he had to be expertly navigated through the claims process from start to finish with the assistance of our in-house Polish legal assistant, Agnieszka Kulas. He also required a translator at the trial, which we arranged on his behalf.

The trial itself was also put in jeopardy, due to Covid-19 restrictions on the number of people who could attend at court at any one time and given that the circumstances of the case meant that it was unsuitable for being dealt with via a  ‘virtual’ hearing.

This problem was successfully overcome by us liaising with both the court and the hotel’s solicitors to ensure that appropriate social distancing measures could be put in place, thereby enabling the client to have his day in court and achieve justice this year, as planned, rather than facing the prospect of having his case postponed until some date in the future.

Comment

Speaking shortly after the case was concluded, Dominic observed that:

“While it was unfortunate that we had to take this claim all the way to trial, the effort it took to have the case determined by the court was entirely worth it given the fantastic result that we were ultimately able to achieve.”

It is true that the case took longer to resolve than it would have done if an out of court settlement could have been negotiated, and that things got pretty hairy for a while when we thought that the trial might have to be postponed because of Covid-19.

However, as Dominic goes on to say:

“Sometimes, you just have to push on and strive to overcome the difficulties you face,  because the reality is that it is not always possible to keep a claim outside of the court arena and in this scenario the best thing you can do is to stand your ground, fight your client’s corner and present the most compelling case that you can.”

“That is what we did in this particular matter, and I think the outcome speaks for itself.”

Want to find out more?

For further information about the work of our personal injury team, and to speak to us about how we can help you to pursue your own compensation claim, please call us now on

0800 1956412.  We offer a free initial interview, so it costs nothing to find out if a claim is possible, and in most cases where it is we can usually act for you on a no win, no fee basis.