£60,000 for client advised by Manchester firm to expect settlement at £4,600

Miss S suffered a car accident in which her vehicle was struck from behind. She immediately experienced pain in her right shoulder due to seatbelt impact, as well as neck pain and tingling in her arms.

She sought medical attention at the time and no significant injury was diagnosed. The tingling was put down to hormones in her system following the shock of the accident.

A family friend put her in touch with a large Manchester personal injury firm who accepted her case. Although the Defendant’s insurers admitted fault, they alleged that the force of the impact was too minimal as to cause injury (what is often known as a “low velocity impact” defence – an allegation that the forces involved in the collision could not cause significant injury).

Unfortunately, her previous solicitors viewed the case throughout as a minor injury case and only obtained evidence from a GP expert witness and a general orthopaedic surgeon. Worse, when she told the orthopaedic surgeon about her psychological injuries the firm advised her that she cannot claim for these and requested that the orthopaedic surgeon remove those references from his report. When she requested to be seen by a spinal surgeon expert witness they advised her that the report might not be supportive and if it was not she would have to pay for it personally, which left feeling anxious and unsure what to do.

Fortunately, her daughter worked for our firm at the time and sought an informal second opinion from senior solicitor Mr James Winterbottom who advised that there could be a chronic pain injury and that evidence from a spinal surgeon and a psychiatrist expert witness should be obtained. She tried requesting this with her previous solicitors but they were resistant and advised her that she should be considering offers in the region of £4600.

Having lost hope she transferred instructions to Aston Knight Solicitors. Following detailed review we concluded that the expert evidence obtained was not sufficient for the severity of her injuries and urgently instructed both a spinal surgeon and a psychiatrist expert witness. The spinal surgeon diagnosed chronic back pain due to the accident and also discovered a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder.

We then obtained further expert evidence from a shoulder surgeon who concluded that the rotator cuff had been torn in the accident and she was also suffering from chronic neck pain which was linked to the tingling sensation in her arms. The psychiatrist expert witness diagnosed depression, and later post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of what she had been through. Expert evidence was also obtained from a pain management consultant regarding the chronic pain.

Whilst the Defendant had only made lower value offers previously, after receiving this new expert evidence, and our application to increase the claim value, a settlement of £60,000 was secured, being over £55,000 more than what her previous solicitors had advised her to settle at.

Following the case she commented that Aston Knight Solicitors were prepared to listen to her whereas her previous solicitors were not. She felt that her previous solicitors did not believe what she was saying and that she was exaggerating, hence why they were willing to instruct a spinal surgeon expert witness and to obtain evidence regarding the psychological injuries.

Solicitor James Winterbottom who dealt with the case comments:

“Each year our firm receives many transfer requests from clients with other personal injury firms and it is very rewarding to be able to turn cases around and secure justice for injured people who have often lost hope.

A common theme is that of firms not being prepared to listen to clients and consequently being unwilling to explore their full losses. On this occasion the client was describing shoulder and arm issues from the outset, as well as significant ongoing back pain, together with psychological injuries and therefore evidence from a spinal surgeon, upper limb surgeon and psychiatrist should have been obtained much earlier in the case.

Whilst this client was fortunate enough to have a family member in our firm, unfortunately many clients will not be aware of these issues and risk substantial under-settlement of their claims.”

Managing Director Mr Ayoub Khan adds:

“This is yet another example of the need for a proven senior solicitor who is able to draw upon their past case experience to identify early the key components in a case and the necessary tactics to secure the right result for the client.

Aston Knight Solicitors continue to buck industry trends of employing junior and unqualified staff in order to reduce staff costs and instead only employ senior specialist solicitors with proven track records of success.”

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