You may have guessed on our blog that we have a bit of a bee in our bonnet about a few things we see in our every day work. Don’t get us wrong we are not perfect (but we aspire to be ) but boy do we see some horrifying practice out there.
One that gets us really seething is third party capture. Well the good old insurance industry has responded to the bad press its got and how you cry ? Well its no longer third party capture - its now called third party assistance!! Phew – well that’s all right then……… Well actually its not and far from it.
Take a client of ours Mrs R. from Nottingham. Elderly sitting in a car as a passenger she was given a ruddy good shaking in an accident. The kind insurers phoned her and offered her £950 compensation. She never even thought of a claim. Her sensible son (a policeman no less) suggested she take a bit of advice before she decided and so she called us.
We saw her at her home for a no obligation assessment and from her description of her problems we recommended she said no thanks to the offer and that it was worth more. Anyway the offer went up slightly as a result when were mentioned to the insurers and then we got involved.
We secured £950 fairly sharpish as an interim payment and then on our clients instructions settled the claim for £6000. Yes £950 to £6000 in a matter of months. The insures also have to pay our legal bill so the client gets the full compensation with no deductions. Makes you think doesn’t it – How many injured children or vulnerable elderly are being diddled?
So if its too good to be true it usually is but there is always an exception to a rule. Us !
Its rare I ever feel compelled to review a book much less on this site but this is an exception. Babybarista was initially a blog published by the Times newspaper. The identity of the author was kept confidential and the blog was widely read. I came to it late. The authors identity was recently revealed and he is a widely and well respected Barrister in his own right.
The book is a “rollicking read” and it to my mind exceeds the hype on the cover. Personally I thought the story a promising hybrid between the great works of John Mortimer (Rumpole) infused with a feel of James Herriot. When finished I wanted to read the next instalment and I hope one arrives darn soon!
The plot is as one would expect from a Barrister tight and precise. The characters are sharply and quickly defined and that’s good because it leaves the story to concentrate on the central theme which is the unnatural selection fight between the central character “babybarista” and the three other young hopefuls. In the story we see how the dog eat dog world of the advocate is played out and how on occasion the skills that will keep this barrister afloat in the career ahead start to take shape in a world of hidden alliances and submerged risks. Somehow even though some of the things babybarista does are darn sneaky you still kind of think that he’d have survived anyway……
By the first chapter I was hooked and a few chapters in chuckling out loud expecially where some of the exchanges between the senior barristers and the Judges took place. I always wondered what happened to those whom in a sort of Harry Potter manner had the “sorting hat” of life select them for a life at the bar. I do hope this is not how it really is but yet how some of the barristers treat the Solicitors in the book makes me wonder if its not a bit more honest than it pretends. Tell you what …you buy a copy and let me know. Its a veritable bargin and worth every penny. I hope the author reads this and whats more some television producer does too because I could see this as a TV program I really could. The link to amazon is below:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BabyBarista-Art-War-Tim-Kevan/dp/0747594643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251750589&sr=8-1
The Department of Work and Pensions has announced that osteoarthritis of the knee in coal miners will be added to the industrial injuries disability benefit scheme. The changes will take effect on 13 July 2009.
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers reported that “the change means that any miner who worked underground for more than ten years prior to 1986 and has developed osteoarthritis will be entitled to claim the benefit.” Full details can be accessed from pasting the following link into your web browserhttp://research.dwp.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2009/apr/124-09-150409.asp . If in doubt please contact your local citizens advice office for assistance.
From 6.4.09 in personal injury claims where the claimed value is above £1000 but not £25,000 will (unless there are other relevant factors) fall to be allocated to the fast track proceedure. With this in mind this is what the President of the Association of Her Majesty’s District Judges wrote this in the Law Society Gazette this week……..
“I believe there are worrying aspects in the way some fast track cases are handled. It is understandable that many insurance companies who are really the main players in road traffic claims ,instruct certain firms to conduct these cases in bulk…..what is less understandable and excusable is the low standard of preparation and of the service provided to the client in some firms.
A large volume of fast track road traffic cases is now handled remotely with the solicitors office possibly hundreds of miles from where the client lives. There is nothing instrinsically wrong in that,provided the service provided is satisfactory.But time after time,judges see litigants in court whether claimant or defendant,who have no idea of what is going on,and have not been properly advised about what to expect.
Usually they will be represented by Counsel and he or she will be the first lawyer they have engaged with since the litigation began…….surely doing high volume work using low grade fee earners should not mean selling the clients short by sloppy preparation.
The experience of going to court is not something clients are used to and the last thing they need is to feel they have been let down by their lawyers…. ” We agree totally!
(c) The Law SocietyGazette
Remember you do not have to use the lawyers the insurance company tries to divert you to for your claim and this is even if you have legal expenses insurance cover. So why use a lawyer who may not even be legally qualified and that you may never even meet? Call us on 01623 821531 .
A fib or a little white lie can be intended to create no offense and to do no harm – yet often the harm arises.
Yet white lies can end a career. That’s what happened to a widely respected former federal Judge in Australia. Fined as a result of a speeding camera for going a reported 6 miles or so over the limit (according to Reuters) the Judge who faced a minor fine of £30 or thereabouts denied he was the driver and named another person. The case was thrown out initially but astoundingly it emerged the person named as the driver had a slight problem – they had died years before the speeding event.
Not content to admit an error of judgment the judge who has held a significant number of distinctions including the United Nations Peace Award to name but one of very many compounded the error by then suggesting his elderly mother had been driving.
Needless to say the evidence discredited that too. In short the Judge was charged with a number of counts of perverting the course of justice. The result reported in March 2009 on the BBC website is that the eminent Judge was found guilty and sentenced to prison for 3 years. It was an error of judgment that was not capable of appeal and which brought to an end a Judges distinguished career. He forgot the ultimate rule in law and in fact in personal injury claims too – honesty is always the best policy.