Bob’s Compensation Claim for an Injury at Work

Bob suffered an injury at work when he attended the scene of an accident. A driver had lost control of his vehicle and his car ended up in a ditch. Bob was injured as he rescued the driver.

In October 2009, Bob was a serving police officer. He attended the scene of a road traffic accident after a driver had been negligent and lost control of his vehicle. The car ended up in a ditch with the unconscious driver trapped inside. The initial call to the police indicated that the vehicle was on fire. Bob scrambled down to the ditch to get to the vehicle then he slipped and suffered injury to his elbow. Despite his own accident Bob rescued the car occupant. Afterwards he could not drive so a colleague drove him away from the scene.

He initially thought that the injury was all just in the course of his duties. Unfortunately Bob did not recover quickly from his injury so he spoke to Barratts Solicitors in January 2010.

Doctors examined Bob and diagnosed that he was suffering from tennis elbow.  Experts do not usually describe this as a post traumatic condition. Normally tennis elbow is associated with repetitive activity. Nevertheless, we proved on the balance of probabilities that Bob’s right elbow symptoms were caused by the accident.

Claiming for Bob’s injury at work

We submitted a claim to the insurers of the driver who had negligently lost control of his vehicle. The driver’s actions put Bob in a position where he sustained injury. The insurers denied liability in full. They stated that no offers or payments would be made by them. The insurers also said that there was no claim because there had been no contact between the vehicle and Bob. They stated that they failed to see how their insured, who was unconscious within a stationary car, could have any liability.

We explained the law to the insurers and they spent several months reconsidering the matter. Eventually they admitted liability. However, the insurers argued that Bob was partly to blame. They also disputed that Bob’s elbow problems had been caused by the accident.

Unfortunately, Bob’s duties as a police officer sometimes exacerbated his injuries. Experts advised Bob that he might be able to have an operation. In the meantime, he found the injury was slow to improve. Before he made a decision about surgery, Bob retired from the police. He found that his symptoms diminished and he decided that it felt so much better that he did not need surgery. Once he had made his decision, we proceeded to agree a settlement.

The insurer never withdrew their allegations with regard to Bob’s contributory negligence and causation. Despite this we negotiated a settlement which compensated Bob on a 100% basis for the consequences of the accident.

Bob said to his solicitor afterwards “Jill “you are simply the best” thanks for all your hard work and guidance”.