Insurers refuse to pay compensation to injured mum

Our client was walking her children home from school when she tripped on a defective path which aggravated a pre-existing injury.

“I’ve been having issues since I was 18-years-old. Every so often my knee would swell up and be really sore. I’d already had one operation to fix it and I knew eventually I would need to have another. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to think about it for a few years until the kids would be old enough to walk home themselves and I could afford to take the time off work to recover.

“The accident definitely made it worse, a few hours after it had swollen up and it didn’t go back to normal.

“I contacted the council as I’d seen kids fall there before but they said it wasn’t their problem. It was funny though as not long after they fixed the problem.”

Solicitors in Kirkcaldy take on her injury claim

She decided to contact our Kirkcaldy office who agreed to take on her injury claim.

“I’d seen adverts on the TV before and I didn’t want to go with a company I hadn’t heard of. I decided if Digby Brown isn’t able to get a claim then nobody will.”

Lianda Barnes, Partner in our Kirkcaldy office investigated who was responsible for the path where our client had fallen. After being passed to different organisations the local council finally accepted liability for causing the accident.

“Lianda was great, she took care of everything.

“She broke everything down in to stages so it meant that I never felt like there was too much going on at once. It was all very clear.”

Insurers allege client is faking her injuries

After submitting expert medical reports the insurers for the council refused to offer any compensation as her knee injury existed before the accident took place. They alleged that she was faking her injuries.

To move things forward our solicitors raised court proceedings using a No Win No Fee agreement from our funding company Compensate.

“I was really nervous when I found out we were going to have to take it to court but Lianda put my mind at rest.

“She was very up front with everything and really approachable. She invited us into the office to talk everything through and we were made to feel really comfortable.”

Lianda put forward a Pursuers Offer of £3,000 to settle the case before it would be heard in court. The insurers, despite initially refusing to pay before court proceedings were raised, agreed to the offer.

“We were delighted when we heard that our offer had been accepted. Before we started we thought that it was going to be too much hassle but Digby Brown took care of everything. It took up hardly any of our time.

“I would tell anyone in a similar situation to go for it as the service we received was excellent, 10 out of 10!”