Serious Injuries Procedure
After the accident
If you or a loved one has suffered a very serious injury when cycling then early intervention is key.
As soon as we’re instructed, we can both help with the rehabilitation process, and we can also start the vital process of preserving evidence, and ensuring that you get the best possible result in the case.
The amount you get in damages is a combination of the “value” of the claim, but also the apportionment of blame. That’s why a specialist cycling accident solicitor is so important.
By instructing Cyclinglawyer early, we can make sure that while you’re focusing on your recovery, we’re working from an early stage to maximise the damages that will secure your financial future.
During this phase we will liaise with the police, secure witness statements and preserve evidence that are the vital to a successful claim.
Recovery
Rehabilitation in serious injury claims is key, and proactive, well-funded, rehabilitation can make all the difference to the recovery, and how the injured person can live the rest of their life. While NHS emergency care is second to none, after a serious injury they often don’t have the funds to provide the level of rehabilitation which would be available in an ideal world.
We focus on early interventions and work with insurers to ensure that, where private rehabilitation is likely to lead to a better recovery, then the funds are available for that provision.
Building the evidence
The best settlements are always achieved by the strongest evidence. We will work with top medical experts to to get the most accurate prognosis possible so that we know what your future holds.
In serious injury claims, multiple medical experts are required to fully document the effect of your injures for the court.
Once we have the medical picture then we’ll use non-medical experts to document the losses that your injuries have caused. Care, occupational therapy, accommodation, employment, transport, prosthetics, adaptive technologies and many other areas can be explored to evidence your losses, and therefore increase the value of your claim.
We will also use forensic collision experts at where liability remains in dispute.
Valuing your claim
Once we’ve gathered all the evidence, it’s time to value your claim. In financial terms, you’re entitled to claim everything which can be shown to have been lost as a result of the accident.
We will use the evidence we’ve gathered to generate a list of all your losses (called a Schedule of Loss) which we’ll then present to the other side, and invite settlement discussions.
Formal proceedings
If the other side isn’t willing to come to a reasonable settlement then this is the point where we bring the claim to the attention of the court by “issuing the claim”. We’re still a long way from having to go to a trial, but the court will start to case manage the claim and will set a date for an eventual hearing.
Timescales
In a serious injury claim we’ll be seeking a life changing amount of money in damages. The best way to maximise that amount is to follow the medical evidence, and not settle until we can be reasonably certain that we have an accurate picture of what your future holds.
This means that in serious injury cases its hard to work out how long the claim will take, because all injuries are different.
As the case progresses you might receive offers from to settle from the defendant’s insurer. We’ll provide advice on those offers if and when they’re made. Where appropriate, we’ll also instructing leading barristers to provide advice on your claim.
Interim payments
Because medical evidence can take a quite a long time to collate, we know that you or your family may find yourself in financial difficulties as a result of the accident, particularly if you’re unable to return to work.
We will always seek to establish liability early on, and to push for interim payments as soon as possible That way you get some of your eventual damages paid early, so you don’t have to worry about financial problems and can focus on your recovery.