insurance just for the rich to benefit from a claim ?

[richy1963]

I had an accident 03/08/2012, I was rear ended while stationary on the M25

 

The other driver accepted full liability as did his insurance company.

 

2 days after the accident my foot ballooned and I was unable to walk without crutches until December 2012.

 

In February 2013 I was given a £1000 interim payment by the insurance company.

 

In May 2013 the insurance company made an offer of £74000 but I queried that as I have no long term prognosis and may never be able to walk on uneven ground ever again (suspected complex regional pain syndrome to my ankle) I will lose much more than £75k in the 17 years that I have left to work.

 

My fee earner passed my case onto the top solicitor with the company as he said they don't make 1st offers of that amount unless my foot was seriously injured (I already knew it was knackered) the solicitor put in for an interim payment of £10000 to help offest some of my losses in wages (nothing earned from August 2012 until May 2013 so far losses of £20k plus ), I now have a job but the wages are significantly lower than what I received as a builder.

 

They have said that they are disappointed that I had rejected their offer and that there would be no more interim payments.

 

What they are effectivly saying is you must be skint and desperate so take the £75k or wait for what your entitled to and get your house repossessed and go bankrupt while you wait.

 

This is not fair and gives me the impression that only the rich can wait long enough to get what they are entitled to.

 

It is unfair that I am now not only disabled possibly for life but I will soon be homeless and skint how is this fair ?.

 

I find it hard to believe that since last August I have only received £1000 as an interim payment but they offer £75000 (74K plus the 1K I have already had) so they already know that this isn't a fraudulent claim from the medical evidence but they are legally allowed to withhold interim payments to starve me into accepting their offer even though I have said i'm not willing to settle at all until I know my prognosis for the future.

 

I have already lost over £22k in wages and they have the proof of this.

 

I think that as car insurance is a legal requirement that they should have a legal requirement to ensure that my suffering is minimised which should include my financial situation.

 

If I took the £75k then within 3 to 4 years I would be unemployed (and unemployable) so the tax payers would need to pay to keep me, this would be wrong as up till the accident I could pay my own way, the insurance pay out should ensure that I am financially independant of the state as I was before the accident.

 

This current method allows the insurance companies to transfer their requirements onto the state so they can expand their profits and at the expense of the poor genuine claimants like myself.

 

I know it's a ramble/rant but I'm really frustrated over this.

I'm new to the site am I allowed to name and shame the insurance company ?.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. I'm sorry to hear about your problems and hope the guys here will be able to help you. They should be along soon, but weekends are always quieter here.

 

I'll flag this thread to the site team to see if it's advisable to name the company concerned.

 

My best, HB

[unclebulgaria67]

Not my area of expertise. Think you will need to obtain advice from a specialist Solicitor who deals with such cases. This is far too technical for any online forum, as you would need to go into full details of what is contained in the medical reports and full details of your finances, so they can see the consequences of the accident. As far as I know, Solicitors who deal with these cases, will know what you are likely to be able to achieve if this went to court and can advise you how far to take this.

 

Did you have any other type of personal injury Insurance, that might help you ?

[honeybee13]

Thank you for the reply, UB. If you don't know, then there may not be too much advice forthcoming on this one.

 

Richy, we think it's OK for you to post the insurer's name if you want to.

 

HB

[richy1963]

@unclebulgaria67

 

Hi

 

I have a specialist solicitor my problem is that London Victoria are allowed to withhold interim payments and starve me into accepting an offer that isn't fair for them to even offer when I am not yet in possession of a full medical prognosis though at this time my prognosis doesn't look good.

 

They accepted full liability but refuse to help me with basic living expenses unless I capitulate to their bullying and accept their offer.

 

My specialist solicitor will make sure that when my full medical prognosis is clearer that I get exactly what I am entitled to but that could be years away and I have bills to pay now.

 

Liverpool Victoria have treated me terrible and I am sure that I am not their only claimant that they treat in this manner to bully into taking a sum while not in possession of all the facts where as they have years of experience so though know when they offer £75k with the threats of no interim payments that a large percentage will roll over and take the money.

 

In truth I would prefer a full recovery but in reality I don't believe this will happen and a £75k offer tells me that London Victoria do not believe that I will make a full recovery either but instead of being a caring company they are being petulant financial bullys.

.

[unclebulgaria67]

You can probably go to court to force LV into an interim payment. I don't have that much knowledge of such claims, but someone I know was injured in an accident and they went to court to obtain an interim payment, with a full assessment to follow. So an urgent application to a court could be made, if you have a Solicitor willing to do this for you.

[unclebulgaria67]

Thank you for the reply, UB. If you don't know, then there may not be too much advice forthcoming on this one.

 

Richy, we think it's OK for you to post the insurer's name if you want to.

 

HB

 

I think that Ganymede is more knowledgeable about liability claims, if they are around. Perhaps, if you send them a PM, they may pick it up.

[Ganymede]

This is an interesting one and too complex to sort out without details of what was in the medical report as UB said.

 

The vast majority of the offer on the table will be for past and future loss of earnings. But bear in mind you will still be able to work, just not at the same job so you won't get the full wage you are on now for the equivalent of the next 17 years.

 

Does the medical report recommend and further scans or investigations? I ask as there is no obligation to make an large interim payment and you can only issue Court proceedings and apply for one in certain circumstances.

 

Ultimately the OP is paying a solicitor for this so he needs to speak to them.

[richy1963]

My solicitor is as frustrated as me London Victoria have made an offer of £74k plus £1k I have had as an interim. This was declined as until a full medical prognosis has been obtained I don't know what my future is so how can it be reasonable for me to accept an offer without the facts ?.

I said to my solicitor if they accept that there is £74k possibly on the table why can they not give me £10k to help with my costs while I await further medical diagnosis she said that they have refused any interim payments and that she cannot force them to make one. So as far as I can interpret they are saying take whats on offer or starve.

 

I understand I have a responsibility to mitigate as much as possible my financial position and since the 13th May 2013 when I was allowed to start a new job with light duty work I have been doing this unfortunately for the month of May I earnt £140 at my new job (self employed document courier). This month to date I have earned £270 but for lets pretend I am earning £200 per week to keep the maths simple.

 

I was netting an average of £519 per week and London Victoria have the proof of this and have not disputed it. I will round it down to keep it simple to £500 per week

£500 take away £200 leaves £300 but lets remove a 3rd as my new job may get better so this leaves £200 per week

I am 50 in July so lets forget the £25k for the last year and just do £200 x 48 weeks (self employed I don't get holiday pay) so thats £9600 per year multiplied by 17 years would equal to £163200 and I have been very generous with what I have disallowed.

On these very basic maths I stand by my statement that London Victoria are starving me into a situation where I will be forced to take a lesser amount than they may have to pay me if my future prognosis is not as good as I would like it to be.

I would be over the moon if I made a full recovery tomorrow and could return to my old job but it doesn't look very likely .

 

My last hospital appointment paperwork says

DIAGNOSIS Soft tissue injury left foot 9 months ago

Suspected regional pain syndrome

I have been referred to the pain management team and they tried to re-organise physio but under nhs guidelines I must wait 6 months from my last course before I can have it again.

[Ganymede]

Thanks for the additional information.

 

What does your medical report say from the medico-legal expert that your solicitor wouldn't have arranged for you? Have you even had one yet?

 

Speak to your solicitor about getting private physiotherapy as they should be able to sort it.

[richy1963]

If you mean the person from speed medical in the summing up by my solicitor

"The Expert has confirmed that you have sustained an injury to your ankle as well as psychological trauma due to the accident. The expert cannot place a prognosis at this point and would like to see you again in 4-6 months. In the meantime he has referred you to a psychiatrist and a pain management specialist."

 

I am awaiting the psychiatrist report and my pain management starts 29h July.

 

They made the offer of £74k after receiving this report and an interim schedule of special damages for £19,885,44 once I had been off work for 32 weeks

as a break down

fares £50

medical (painkillers) £20

care/service £3,136

Loss of earnings £16,629,44

other losses £50

total £19,885,44

 

After this and the independent medical report they decided to offer £74k and refuse interim payments to starve me into submission, They will deny this but that is because they have no morals or ethics.

 

It's not my fault that the independent advisor will not make a prognosis for 4-6 months is it and only a retard would take an offer without all the facts (or someone who is desperate and willing or forced into taking an offer without all the facts).

[ericsbrother]

You are expected to mitigate your losses by claiming benefits, geting another job etc and then hit them with all fo your losses once substantiated. You are right, if you have something to lose these delays are absolute hell and that is why so many people DONT bother with working, saving, planning for the future etc because then you get a lovely safety net to catch you and you have nothing to lose anyway.

They dont want to pay out money that they might not have to and they wont be able to claim it back so they treat you badly. Speak to your lawyer to try and get financial restitution added to any settlement, such as mortgage interest, bank charges, your extra heat and light bill etc.

[steampowered]

This has been bundling along for ages.

 

If you want to speed the insurance company along you should sue them. My understanding is that, in personal injury cases where liability is not disputed, the court can order interim payments. The longer you wait to start litigation, the worse position you will be in.

 

You do not have to wait for the expert report before starting litigation. It will take some time to reach that stage of the litigation anyway. If necessary the court can put the proceedings on hold until the prognosis has been obtained.

 

Obviously there will be legal fees - potentially on a no-win-no-fee basis - but these are probably worth it.

[Ganymede]

You do not have to wait for the expert report before starting litigation. It will take some time to reach that stage of the litigation anyway. If necessary the court can put the proceedings on hold until the prognosis has been obtained.

 

 

If there is an interim medical report then that can be used when issuing proceedigns but you cannot issue without any medical report at all.

 

-CPR 4.3