Other lawyers turned down his case
“On the basis of the above evidence, it appears that you have commenced your overtaking manoeuvre after the JCB was already established on the road in his right turn manoeuvre and you have carried out this manoeuvre when it was unsafe to do so. Accordingly, it is unlikely that we will be able to prove fault on the part of the JCB driver. If we are unable to prove fault, it follows that we will not be able to recover any damages for you.” And so it was that Gordon Luke asked Motorcycle Law Scotland to help.
Horrific injuries and no memory of the event
Gordon had received the above letter from his Personal Injury lawyers turning down his claim. He had been involved in a motorcycling collision on the 20th March. He had been so badly injured in the collision that he had no memory of the event at all. All he knew was what he had been told by others. He had been riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle on the B815 overtaking a line of traffic, when a young tractor driver had turned right across his path. Gordon was thrown from his motorcycle and struck a fence.
He suffered the following injuries:
• Head injury
• Blow-out fracture of his left eye socket
• Multiple rib fractures
• Fracture to left arm
• Multiple left-hand fractures
• Spinal fractures
and most devastating of all, a traumatic below left knee amputation.
Important images uncovered
Gordon had instructed a well known PI firm to take on his case but, following investigations, they told him he had overtaken when it had been unsafe to do so.
We took up the challenge and started from scratch re-visiting evidence. It became apparent that the previous solicitors had not spoken to all the police officers and most importantly they missed out the collision investigator. We arranged to meet with him and uncovered the following images.
Even if Gordon had been executing an overtake, there was no conceivable way the tractor driver turning right and looking in his mirrors would have seen Gordon as they were completely caked in mud. As Gordon was overtaking, he would not have seen the indicators as they were in the wrong position. When travelling on the road, the indicator cluster must be positioned horizontally so that any signal can be easily seen.
Armed with this new evidence, we then got to work on all the medical investigations instructing no less than 7 different medical experts, a needs and care expert and a specialist road collision expert. This was set to be a battle with an insurer who was convinced we had a poor case against them.
Always go to a specilaist lawyer!
Determined to fight for Gordon, we raised a case for him in the Court of Session and pulled in some of the best Counsel at the Scottish Bar to bolster his legal team. The insurer and their instructed solicitor held firm and the case was set down for a final 8-day hearing on the 24th August 2021.
Liability was denied and at a pre-trial meeting we were told there would be no offer. With one week to go in a frank discussion with the defenders, we were told that their instruction was to fight the case. We were ready. All our preparations were complete and although we couldn’t rely on Gordon to tell us how the accident had happened, we took the view the tractor driver had turned right without checking his mirror and if he had tried to look in it before turning right, he wouldn’t have seen a thing.
At the 11th hour, a substantial offer came in – we refused. It wasn’t good enough. A second offer was made and still we held out. Finally, with just two days to go, we received the offer we wanted and Gordon accepted. He was awarded a substantial 6 figure sum that will enable him to get the surgery and the prosthetic he needs. No doubt Gordon will use some of his compensation to buy a new trike!
Lesson learned - if you’ve been injured in a motorcycle crash, please always go to a specialist lawyer. If your lawyer doesn’t know how to ride a motorcycle, they are likely to make the same decision that Gordon’s first lawyer did.
It’s a happy ending to a case that could have ended up with a massive miscarriage of justice had Gordon not been told about us and all for want of proper investigation and believing in the motorcyclist.
Our Award Winning Team
Brenda Mitchell
Senior Partner
Brenda has been a Personal Injury Lawyer for over 38 years and for the last 20 years has specialised representing injured motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Jodi Gordon
Partner
Jodi is a Partner at RTA Law LLP with 14+ years’ experience in catastrophic injury claims for vulnerable road users including cyclists and motorcyclists.
Thomas Mitchell
Partner
Thomas represents clients who have been involved in road traffic incidents and he specialises in representing vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Our Recent Case Studies
Audi pulls out into motorcyclist’s path
Arthur’s case demonstrates how we ensure that those with complex injuries are given a fully funded rehabilitation package at an early stage.
Driver pulls out in front of motorcyclists
Drivers exiting junctions into the path of motorcyclists is a frequent cause of collisions. At or near junctions, motorcyclists perhaps need to alter their road position and be very aware.
Van reverses into motorcyclist
Van reverses into motorcyclist at traffic lights and the driver apologises. However, the following day, he denies the incident occurred and instead blames the motorcyclist for riding into the back
Panel solicitor undervalues motorcycle claim
John’s insurer-appointed panel solicitor valued his motorcycle accident claim at just £3,900–£4,900. After Motorcycle Law Scotland took over his case, detailed investigation and independent medical evidence identified losses that had
Is it worth 5 minutes of your time?
A quick phone call allows us to ask you a few questions about what happened to you and determine whether we can help.
This form collects your name and phone number so that we can contact you. Check out our Privacy Policy for more detail on how we store, process and protect your submitted data. If you choose not to consent, please use an alternative contact method shown on our Contact page.