The claimant’s details have been changed but this is indeed a true case
Phil Mulryne acted for Mr M, the Claimant to pursue a claim for personal injuries following an accident which occurred during the course of the Claimant’s employment.
The Claimant was working at a construction site working for the sub-contractor. He was working inside the building when a part of an internal wall that was being built fell onto him. Part of the brickwork fell onto his left ankle and as a result of him falling, he suffered a fracture to his left ankle and fracture to his middle finger, together with some general cuts and bruises.
When he was assessed at hospital, it was also noted that he had suffered a fracture to his ring finger.
The Claimant underwent physiotherapy and was left with a very small reduction in grip strength which was likely to be permanent.
As regards to the Claimant’s left ankle, he was put in a plaster and supplied with crutches. The plaster was removed around 6 weeks post-accident and subsequently he underwent physiotherapy treatment.
The Claimant continued to have pain and weakness in his ankle and had physiotherapy off and on for the subsequent 12 months.
He made a good recovery, but still complained of some aching and weakness in the ankle which the medical expert indicated was likely to be permanent.
The Claimant was off work for around 9 weeks, and it was assessed that he had lost earnings at around £3,300.00.
There was a claim for care and assistance provided by his wife due to his restrictions in carrying out his own personal hygiene care and unable to undertake his share of housework duties for around 5 weeks or so. Care was claimed for just of £600.00. There was also a claim for travelling expenses attended medical appointments.
When the claim was submitted to the main contractors of the building project, liability for the accident was admitted.
After submission of full details of the claim, an offer of £20,000.00 was put forward by the Defendant’s representatives.
We put forward a counteroffer of £25,000.00 with a view to achieving a settlement figure in the region of £22,000.00. It was my view that the personal injury claim was worth in the region of £19,000.00, i.e., a valuation somewhere in the region of £10,000.00 for the injuries to his fingers, and £9,000.00 for the ankle injury. Where there are multiple injuries, the value is not calculated by adding up the individual injuries, but a discount is applied to represent more than one injury.
The claim for loss of earnings and other losses totalled in the region of £4,000.00.
It was anticipated that the Defendants would value personal injury damages at the slightly lower amount and the loss of earnings calculations may have been challenged, bearing in mind the Claimant was a self-employed worker and there was always some uncertainty as regards to whether work would have been available to him at his pre-accident post-accident.
The Defendant’s increased their offer to £23,500.00 which was accepted.
