I was pleased to finally settle a case this week which had been running for nearly four years. The client was delighted as she was fully prepared to attend a court hearing to prove that she was right, but I was disappointed that a multinational insurance company had made her wait so long for the compensation she was clearly entitled to.
The client suffered a broken arm when she fell over when walking along a corridor at work. The floor surface was an old, worn and sticky lino-type covering in an old building into which her employers had recently moved her and her colleagues. On the day in question one of her safe, flat, rubber-soled shoes stuck on the floor surface as she was walking at normal speed to the office kitchen, causing her to fall heavily and suffer the injury.
Supported by several colleagues, the injured client thought that making a claim would be a formality and approached the insurers directly. They sent an inspector to view the premises and then wrote to deny the claim, stating that the floor surface was “in excellent condition”.
We received instructions soon after that and the insurers maintained their denial. We obtained statements from six of our client’s work colleagues, all of whom confirmed that the floor surface was dangerous and sticky. Presented with those statements, the insurers refused to make any offers of settlement.
We arranged for an engineer to inspect a sample of the flooring. His report supported the claim but the insurers would not budge, so we issued Court Proceedings.
The insurers appointed a firm of solicitors and Defence was served, again denying that there was anything wrong with the floor, so we advanced the case towards a final hearing as quickly as possible. A crucial point was the exchange of witness statements. We served seven on behalf of our client and the Opponents only disclosed one witness statement. At that point we could almost hear the penny dropping as the solicitors approached us with an offer and the claim settled very quickly after that, with our client recovering the full value of her claim. She deserves considerable praise for her persistence as many people in her position would have given up or been very reluctant to be involved in court proceedings.
For years, the Insurance Industry has been criticising Claimants’ lawyers for incurring unnecessary and excessive legal fees, yet they never concede that they waste thousands of pounds in legal fees in cases like this. Had they admitted liability when we initially approached them, they would have paid legal fees amounting to a few hundred pounds. Now, their bill for two firms solicitors is going to be in excess of £15,000.00 in a case where the client was always going to win. Are the insurers going to criticise themselves in public? I suspect not.
I hope you enjoy the Bank Holiday. Sheffield City Centre is bathed in sunlight as I am typing this and I hope that it continues for all those who like to visit beer gardens occasionally!
If you would like to discuss any type of personal injury claim, please call us on 0114 218 4000 or email me at jonathan.stittle@tayloremmet.co.uk
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