Man badly injured in motorcycle accident awarded £400,000

Digby Brown’s specialist motorcycle accident lawyers helped a man after he was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in Fife as he was travelling along the A911 road, Glenrothes to Leven.

“Without warning, the car pulled out of an embankment on my left and continued to drive towards me on my side of the road, colliding with me.”

What was the impact of the motorcycle accident?

As a result of the motorcycle accident, our client broke both his legs and his left wrist along with various ligaments.

Our client was unable to return to work as a result of the injuries and was not paid whilst he was off work either.

“I still have a grinding sensation in both knees so I wouldn’t be able to get up and down ladders and my wrist injury hinders my grip and securing things.”

Motorcycle accident claim

Our client came to Digby Brown’s motorcycle accident lawyers to pursue a claim for compensation for his injuries and lost income.

“I knew it wasn’t my fault and I was injured. I wanted a decent lawyer with a good reputation to move things forward.”

“Previous solicitors left me in the dark”

Our client had been involved in a minor road accident a few years before and his insurance company referred him to lawyers that didn’t know what they were doing.

“The previous lawyers refused to raise a court action and I was always chasing them for information - it was only then I would find out about any updates."

How did Digby Brown’s motorcycle accident lawyers help?

“At the start I called the local office in Kirkcaldy and they came out to speak to me at the hospital. I really appreciated that they put effort into coming to see me, rather than the other way around.

“An immediate needs assessment was done as the other side was not playing ball. This helped with physiotherapy and so on.”

Insurers refused to pay any compensation early on

Although the other driver admitted fault, the insurance company refused to make any interim payments where our client would receive some of the compensation early on before the case is settled.

As our client was unable to return to work and was suffering financially, our motorcycle accident lawyers raised the case in court at an early stage to secure an interim payment to help alleviate the financial hardship caused by being unable to work because of the injuries sustained in the accident.

Early compensation offer of £200,000

The insurers’ solicitors initially opposed the request for interim payments and instead proceeded to offer him compensation of £200,000 in full and final settlement of his claim.

Unable to fully assess injuries and value of case at this early stage

However, at that early stage, our client’s injuries were still only just beginning to heal. Only an initial medical report had been obtained and the medical expert needed to re-examine our client at least a year after his accident to provide a more accurate assessment.

Settlement of an injury case is usually made on a ‘once and for all’ basis. It was simply too early for the medical experts to say what was likely to happen with our client’s recovery.

Digby Brown’s motorcycle accident lawyers advised not to accept offer

It was clear that the insurer’s solicitors were trying to apply pressure to our client to settle his motorcycle accident claim and the compensation offer was tempting but our lawyers knew that it may not correctly compensate our client for his injuries.

Court found insurers liable and made to pay early compensation payment

An early compensation payment of £10,000 was secured from the insurers after the court found them liable. This gave our client some breathing space and helped financially.

Compensation claim properly valued

Our lawyers instructed skilled teams of medical experts and vocational consultants to allow a full and proper value of the motorcycle accident claim. The main part of our client’s claim was his future loss of earnings.

Insurers tried to use pre-existing injury to lower compensation amount

As our client had injured his left knee in a previous road traffic accident a few years before, the insurers’ solicitors attempted to argue, the day before the settlement meeting, that this earlier injury meant he was always going to have to change his career.

Our motorcycle accident lawyers anticipated that the insurers may take this approach and had already asked medical experts to address this point.

The experts confirmed that our clients’ inability to continue with heavy manual work was due to the injuries sustained in this motorcycle accident and not his pre-existing left knee injury.

Motorcyclist receives £400,000 compensation

There were several compensation offers made as the case progressed, which undervalued our client’s claim, and which were rejected. After negotiations and counter offers, the case settled at £400,000, over double the initial offer.

In addition, the insurers were persuaded to fund all private medical treatment costs incurred by our client.

“The service was really good, I would definitely use Digby Brown again if I was in another accident - although hopefully that won’t happen.

“I spoke to my solicitor often and if there was any progress they were straight on the phone. It was easy to speak to anyone.

“The compensation helped put money down on the house and re-train. I’m thinking of re-training in electrical installation.”