Expert lawyers prove fault for construction accident

Read this case study in Polish at Eksperci prawni dowodzą winy za wypadek budowlany

Krzysztof Sliwinski injured his right shoulder after falling from scaffolding on a construction site where he was working in Edinburgh. He was off work for six weeks recovering.

“I lost wages because of the accident and my shoulder will never be the same again.”

Mr Sliwinski decided to get in touch with Digby Brown and Izabela Wosiak, Polish lawyer at Digby Brown, pursued an injury claim on his behalf.

“I don’t feel a 100% confident using English as it is my second language so it was important that I had a lawyer who could speak Polish - and this helped a lot.”

However, this was not a straightforward personal injury case. The accident happened after he stepped off a ladder and the scaffolding boards moved due to a missing transom clip, which caused him to lose his balance and fall through a gap between the boards.

There was one company contracted to put up the scaffolding - and inspect and maintain it - and another company with overall control of the site.

Both were not forthcoming with admitting fault for the accident, and blamed each other for what happened, and claimed Mr Sliwinski should have been more careful.

Izabela Wosiak had to establish who was responsible for the safety at the construction site in order to successfully secure fair compensation for Mr Sliwinski.

In the end, our Polish lawyers raised the case in court using no win no fee funding. With funding through Compensate this meant that Mr Sliwinski was not in any financial risk.

Shortly afterwards, our lawyers were able to secure an admission of guilt and fair compensation for Mr Sliwinski, totalling £9,000. This meant there was no need for the case to go to court.

“It was a top of the range service, first-class. Every step of the way Izabela would let me know what was happening and explained what they were doing.

“I would like to say thank you very much to Izabela and her colleagues who helped, it was a hassle free service. If I was ever in an accident, or someone I knew was, I would highly recommend Digby Brown.”