The victim of a serious HGV accident has praised Slee Blackwell’s Elizabeth Duncan who helped him recover a substantial six figure compensation package, calling her an “exceptional” lawyer.
We have recently recovered substantial compensation for a man who suffered a terrible injury while working as a long distance lorry driver.
His job was to drive an HGV across Europe, delivering lamb carcasses from a depot in Wales to Italy and France.
The HGV accident happened at a depot in France. He had made his delivery as normal. The carcasses hang on hooks from rails in the trailer. After delivery the hooks are pushed to the end of the rail and secured so they do not slide about in transit. He was doing this when one of the hooks jumped off the rail and hit him in the face.
Although he realised it was a very severe injury he knew he was in a deserted depot in the middle of the night. He therefore managed to drive to a nearly service area where he was helped by a member of staff.
He went to hospital in France where he had surgery. The hook had split his cornea which had to be stitched back together. The impact also caused him to develop a cataract.
As well as being left with no useful vision in his injured eye, the HGV driver also started to suffer from terrible headaches, accompanied by altered sensation over the side of his head which suffered the trauma.
Personal injury lawyer Elizabeth Duncan agreed to deal with his compensation claim on a No Win, No Fee basis.
As he had no idea why the hook had come off the rail Elizabeth relied on a legal principle which applies when something has happened that would not usually occur if there was no negligence. It puts the onus on the defendant to show how it happened without negligence on their part if they want to successfully deny responsibility.
This was enough to convince our client’s employer to accept they had not provided a safe method of work and were therefore legally at fault for his HGV accident.
Elizabeth was then able to concentrate on coordinating suitable medical treatment and rehabilitation. A case manager was appointed who arranged for the services of a cleaner to be hired as our client was struggling at home due to his restricted vision. He was also struggling psychologically as a result of his injury and being unable to work and counselling was arranged for him.
Examinations were carried out by an ophthalmologist, a neurologist, an ENT specialist and a psychologist. These experts made various treatment recommendations which were implemented via the case manager and funded by the employer.
The defendant made an offer to settle the claim for £100,000, but we recommended that the offer be rejected and we pressed on with the claim.
Our client’s eye injury meant he could not work as an HGV driver again. We therefore arranged for an employment consultant to help him identify possible future careers, as well as making his CV and discussing interview techniques and job applications.
The defendant made an increased offer of compensation which was again rejected. Following input from a specialist barrister we were able to negotiate an out of court settlement of the claim for more than double the original offer.
Elizabeth arranged for her client to receive expert financial advice to ensure the settlement money will last as long as possible. She also arranged for a Personal Injury Trust to be set up to ensure that her client continued to be entitled to receive means tested benefits, despite receiving substantial compensation.
After the case was concluded our client gave us the following feedback:
“Elizabeth has qualities that I think mark her out as exceptional, instead of just good. She is very easy to talk to, and just as importantly, easy to listen to! Elizabeth explains everything in a way that is easy to understand, and never tires of my endless questions. She obtains clarification on any aspects of the experts reports on my injury, and works really hard on my behalf. I’m really pleased Elizabeth was working for me with this injury, and would have no hesitation in recommending her, or Slee Blackwell. If you want great legal assistance, then look no further.”
If you are looking for experienced and ‘exceptional’ solicitors to deal with your HGV accident or truck claim on a no win, no fee basis then call 0333 888 0404 or send an email to [email protected]