Circumstances of claim
Our client was injured when her vehicle was struck by a foreign campervan on a roundabout close to her home in Inverness in April 2018. Our client sustained soft issues injuries to her neck and shoulders which were initially presented to be minor with no hospital attendance required.
However, as our client presented with continuing right shoulder pain, further investigations revealed she had suffered a rotator cuff tear affecting her right shoulder. This injury required surgery which took place approximately one year following the accident. Our client had also experienced a reoccurrence of low mood and depression following the incident.
How we helped our client
We had to carry out extensive enquiries with the Motor Insurers Bureau and our client’s own motor insurers to identify the foreign insurer of the third-party vehicle and their respective UK handling agents. The third-party insurers failed to engage so we required to raise a court action to progress our client’s claim to settlement.
In order to accurately value the claim, we instructed expert reports from orthopaedic and psychiatric consultants who linked our client’s shoulder injury and depressive symptoms to the accident. Our client continued to present with continuing pain and restricted movement in her right arm six months following surgery. She was trained as hairdresser and expert evidence concluded she may be unable to return to this occupation in its full capacity. Our client had not worked for a year prior to the accident due to family circumstances and earlier income had been low. She had also regained new employment as a home carer. This presented us with difficulties in establishing any real loss of earnings claim. Despite this, we argued that our client was disadvantaged on the open labour market should she find herself unemployed again.
Settlement
We ultimately agreed a settlement for our client in the sum of £40,000
