NEWSLETTER. 1. Court award damages for two footed flying tackle - Integrum Law recently succeeded in recovering damages

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1 INTEGRUM LAW IN THIS ISSUE NEWSLETTER 1. Court award damages for two footed flying tackle - Integrum Law recently succeeded in recovering damages 2. Government gets it wrong on referral fee ban - The Government has recently declared it s intention to. 3. Pre-medical Offers - It is becoming increasingly common for some insurance companies to attempt to settle. Winter 2011 edition ISSUE 5

2 IN THIS ISSUE Welcome Court awards damages for two footed flying tackle 04 - Government gets it wrong on referral fee ban Welcome to our latest newsletter. I can t believe that we are now well into our third year, it seems like only yesterday that we opened the doors of a brand new legal firm. In this addition of our Newsletter you can read about one of our recent successful cases, we discuss some of the many changes that the government are currently proposing and we explain about pre-medical offers which are becoming increasingly common in injury claims. If you have any queries or concerns in relation to any of the articles please do not hesitate to contact us. Finally, looking ahead to the end of the year all of us here wish all of our clients and friends a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Martyn Brown 05 - Pre-Medical Offers Winter 2011 edition - Issue 5

3 Court awards damages for two footed flying tackle Court award damages for two footed flying tackle Wirral solicitors, Integrum Law, recently succeeded in recovering damages for an amateur footballer who was injured whilst playing in a local league. The player, whose side was wining 5-1 at the time, was subjected to a flying two footed tackle in the 78 th minute of the game. The offending player was immediately shown a red card and sent off. He was later fined by the league and forced to serve a period of suspension. However the tackle resulted in the injured player suffering fractures to both of the bones in his lower leg and he required surgery to insert pins into the damaged bones. On his behalf, Integrum Law brought a claim against the opposing player and his club, the claim was defended and came to trial in the Liverpool County Court on 30 th and 31 st August At the trial the opposing player claimed that he had made a clean tackle and made no contact with the injured player. He also claimed that the referee was wrong to send him off and only did so because of complaints from the injured players team. Numerous witnesses were called to give evidence, including the referee, and at the conclusion the judge agreed with the injured players version of events and awarded him substantial damages. Commenting on the case Martyn Brown, the solicitor who conducted the case, said This claim should serve as a warning to anybody participating in sports at any level that whilst injuries do happen, when those injuries are caused by serious foul play the courts are prepared to award compensation.

4 Government gets it wrong Government Gets it Wrong on Referral Fee Ban The government has recently declared its intention to abolish the payment of referral fees. These are fees paid by solicitors to intermediaries for passing on personal injury claims. The government says that abolishing these fees will stop insurance premiums, particularly motor insurance premiums, rising. However the government appear to have got themselves into a muddle. The fact is that a large number of referral fees are actually paid TO insurance companies and so the effect of abolishing them is likely to be to increase insurance premiums. Insurance companies admit that they generate a large amount of income by selling accident claims to solicitors. Again, mistakenly, the government says that referral fees are driving up legal costs however as the vast majority of personal injury claims are dealt with for fixed legal costs this is simply not the case. Whilst there may be many good reasons for abolishing or controlling referral fees it is simply not the case that the proposed ban will reduce insurance premiums nor will it reduce legal costs.

5 Pre-medical Offers It is becoming increasingly common for some insurance companies to attempt to settle personal injury claims before medical evidence is obtained. The offers which they make are called pre-medical offers. For the insurance companies this means that they save money because they do not have to pay for an injured person to be examined by a medical expert. For the innocent accident victim it means that they get a compensation payment quickly, with some claims being settled in just a few weeks, but there are risks associated with this type of offer. When a medical expert provides a report it not only deals with the injuries which the injured person is aware of but also injuries which they are unaware of or injuries which have not yet become apparent. One common situation is when an expert suggests that an accident has made it more likely that an accident victim will suffer from arthritis or osteoporosis and so is more likely to develop health problems in the future. The risk in accepting an offer like this is that it may not reflect the pain, suffering and loss of amenity which the injured person is likely to suffer and so they will be under compensated. Martyn Brown, solicitor at Integrum Law comments We always advise against settling injury claims before a medical report is obtained because there is no way of knowing how serious an injury may be without advice from a medical professional. However pre-medical offers are becoming increasingly common, particularly in road traffic accident claims.

6 Recommend a friend with a valid accident claim and we will pay you 150 cash See website for terms and conditions Our recent tweets SEE WHAT INTEGRUM HAVE TO SAY ABOUT PRE-MEDICAL OFFERS 7 days ago CHECK OUT OUR BLOG ABOUT COMPENSATION CULTURE 42 days ago JUST FINISHED A TWO AND A HALF DAY TRIAL OUR CLIENT WAS 100% SUCCESSFUL AWARDED DAMAGES OF OVER 15, days ago CHECK OUT OUR LATEST BLOG ABOUT UNINSURED DRIVERS 87 days ago 72 Argyle Street Birkenhead Wirral CH41 6AF T: F: E: mail@integrumlaw.co.uk W: Are you a Social Networker follow us on:- Click the links to get started