Phil was thrown 150ft down the road
On the 27th September, Phil was riding his Triumph Tiger motorcycle south on the A82 when a driver pulled out from The Three Sisters car park onto the road in front of him. He couldn’t do anything and had no time to even attempt evasive action or brake. He collided with the car and was thrown approximately 150ft further down the road landing heavily on his left side.
Phil was rushed to hospital in Fortwilliam, but due to the severity of the injuries, he was transported to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where he remained for one week. His left femur had been badly fractured and the surgeons had to pin it back into place. He was then transferred to Lancaster Hospital nearer his home.
Disillusioned with panel solicitor's performance
Through his insurer Bennetts, legal representation was outsourced to their panel solicitor. Phil thought he had no choice in the matter and assumed he had to accept the panel solicitor’s appointment. Within a matter of weeks, Phil was utterly disillusioned with the panel solicitor's performance.
Communication was slow. He was told that the third party insurance company had offered rehabilitation but his solicitor did not know what that meant. Feeling concerned, Phil approached MLS advising that his immediate priority was to get some rehabilitation in place in order to help him recover. He was unhappy with the lack of initiative of the panel solicitor and nothing seemed to be happening.
Motorcycle Law Scotland get to work
We got to work immediately securing an interim payment for Phil. By that time, Phil was on an NHS pathway and his recovery initially seemed to be going to plan. However, within a short period of time, it became clear that the NHS was struggling with the Covid 19 situation. Our client was on a waiting list for surgery for bone graft to his left wrist, a fracture that hadn’t been diagnosed at the time of the injury.
We asked the insurers to engage in joint instruction of a rehabilitation Case Manager and treatment costs were agreed for private consultations with medical experts.
Phil suffered considerably in the initial stages as he had fractured his left wrist, left femur mid-shaft and a fracture of the neck of the femur near the hip which had gone into non-union. These are serious injuries and unfortunately common injuries for motorcyclists. If left on waiting lists for medical intervention, the outcome is usually poor.
Early rehabilition to improve outomces
Thanks to our quick response and knowing exactly the benefits of rehabilitation we secured funding from the third party insurance company to pay for treatments recommended by the Case manager. This included: private physiotherapy treatment to improve pain and function, orthopaedic consultations and re-imbursement of treatment costs to assist with non-union of his leg fracture. Without the intervention and rehabilitation, Phil would not have received timely managed treatment through the NHS provision and his recovery would have halted. On completion of rehabilitation, we instructed specialist medical experts to provide reports. We then valued the claim and secured a considerable offer for Phil from the third party insurer.
This demonstrates the difference in the service we offer from that of a panel solicitor. We have our clients best interests at heart and those best interests have to be addressed by way of rehabilitation at the early stages to improve outcome. Insurers know of our reputation of putting the client first and identifying their needs. We have the requisite experience and specialist knowledge and that’s not something Phil felt confident his panel solicitor had.
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.
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