In's and out's of personal injury

The cost of motoring has steadily been on the rise over the last few years, the recent AA index showed that a further £45 has been heaped on to the average insurance premium one can expect to be quoted.

How is that when the number of motor casualties has been steadily falling?

A possible answer can be attributed to the cost increase of individual motor accidents and this does not necessarily reflect the cost of repairs.

Insurers have new numbers to crunch out to calculate premiums and the new numbers reflect the cost of legal cover in the event that personal injury claim is lodged against you following an accident.

It seems the culture of court cases rages on and no industry is immune.

Simon Douglas, director of AA insurance comments that "insurers are...concerned about rising legal costs and personal injury claims". He continues to express his worry and that of the car insurance sector as a whole when he states that he expects that as long as personal injury claims continue to increase then the "upward trend in premiums" will "continue".

The ‘no win no fee' approach to legal affairs has popularized personal injury claims to the point that it seems everyone is looking to get a slice of that profit pie! The result of such hunger has proved to be more costly than most imagined, rather than cashing in they have had to shell out more than they bargained for.

One such instance was brought to the attention of a West Midlands branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau, the agents were shocked to see just how far people's greed can take them. A claims management company had made their services available to a couple who had recently been in a car accident. The husband had been driving his wife's Motability car when the accident occurred, the claims management company subsequently advised the wife to sue her husband as she had suffered some injuries.

Ultimately the only party looking to benefit from such a mish mash case would be the supposed professionals, as with most cases there were deductions to be made from her compensation. The total amount she was awarded was £2,500, £1,400 was deducted to cover the costs of her fees, leaving her with a measly £1,100.

In addition as the losing party her husband was contacted via mail to pay insurance fees of £800. After all was said and done they made a grand total of £300. Before going through with a personal injury case it is important to look ahead at the potential outcomes in its entirety.

Personal injury claims can be lengthy and time consuming, not only that they can be heart wrenching as the details of the negligence of others invariably led to your injury, disease or disablement. One such example is that of the miners who have lodged personal injury claims under the Government's coal health compensation scheme. These individuals have been invited to attend an event to find out how their cases were handled.

This may prove to be a pivotal event for some of the families as the event may in fact unveil that their cases were not in fact handled as rigorously as they could have been, potentially meaning they could be entitled to more in the way of compensation.

To date the figures from the department of Business and Regulatory Reform show that some 760,000 sick miners and their families across the nation have made personal injury claims. These have come about as a result from two main illnesses that arise after working long periods of times in a mine.

The first being chronic respiratory disease; mine shafts are notorious for their lack of ventilation which inevitably led to the deterioration of the worker's respiratory system. The second being white finger, an illness directly caused by repeated use of vibrating working tools.

In the era of accidents becoming cash cows local authorities it seems are opting to hold on to some of their budget for legal costs as opposed to investing it into the community's development. One Welsh council employed legal and insurance officers at a cost of £73,000 to help deal with the claims coming from the public regarding paths and walkways.

Rather than take that money and invest it into keeping the pavements safe, they are holding onto it in order to protect themselves. Tara Melton a worker from Help the Aged noted that the local councils should pay more attention to the health and wellbeing of the over 75's who are likely to break bones, and fracture body parts following a fall on a pavement.

Another Welsh council spent approximately £620,000 on fixing pavements as and when they were declared hazardous, an impressive approach it appears to be, not when the same council is found to be holding onto £948,000 to cover your backs in case an individual wanted to make a personal injury case against them.

Some of the funds being used to cover the costs of legal protection surely would be better spent on anticipating problematic pavements and fixing them before they are being slapped with personal injury claim from someone who has tripped and fallen, dislocating if not breaking bones. In the event of personal injury being caused by the pavements no doubt the council will have to make use of their pricey protection in the form of lawyers.