The claimant’s details have been changed but this is indeed a true case
Phil Mulryne acted for Mr G, the Claimant, to pursue a personal injury claim following an accident at work.
The Claimant was emptying a large bag of gritting sale into a gritter. He had been provided with a makeshift tool with a knife attached to a piece of wood to cut the large gritting bag.
He could not reach the bag from his standing position so he had to stand on a vehicle wheel arch to enable him to undertake this task. In doing so he slipped, falling onto the ground sustaining an injury to his hand/wrist.
When the claim was put to the Claimant’s employers liability was denied on the basis that it was the Claimant’s own fault that the accident had occurred and that he should not have stood on the vehicle to carry out the task despite the employers not giving any explanation as to how the Claimant could have carried out the task safely.
Medical evidence was obtained to support the Claimant’s injuries which established that the Claimant had suffered a 2 year injury to his wrist. He was also off work for a period of a few months following the accident so a loss of earnings was claimed as well as some medication costs and travelling expenses in attending medical appointments.
As no agreement could be reached court proceedings were commenced.
A trial window was allocated for the final Court Hearing although in the meantime discussions to settle the claim were carried out between the parties.
An offer at just over £5,000.00 was put forward by the Defendants which was rejected. This was then increased to £6,000.00. Again the offer was rejected and eventually settlement was agreed in the sum of £8,000.00.
It was our view that there was likely to be a reduction in the total value of the Claimant’s claim to represent contributory negligence as there was likely to be some criticism levelled against the Claimant for his actions in standing on the vehicle to undertake the task when this was clearly an unsafe process to undertake.
It was considered that a deduction of up to 25% would be appropriate to represent the Claimant’s possible contribution to the accident.
The Claimant’s claim for personal injury damages was valued in the region of £6,500.00 to £7,500.00 with loss of earnings and additional expenses in the region of £3,000.00.
Settlement was reached in the sum of £8,000.00 with the issue of contributory negligence factored in.
