The truth will out – standing up for the rights of injured claimants

Posted 30/11/2012

Tom Ranson, a personal injury specialist at Ashtons Legal, has successfully obtained compensation for Mr C, from Milton Keynes, who required medical treatment after suffering a ‘whiplash’ type injury in a road traffic accident.

The defendant insurer disputed the claim, alleging that Mr C had caused the accident and failing to offer him any compensation for his injuries. The matter went to trial in Cambridge County Court, where Mr C succeeded in full and was awarded damages of just under £12,000. By refusing to allow himself to be intimidated by the defendant insurer and by ‘sticking to his guns’ Mr C was entirely vindicated on all fronts.

As Mr C said following the trial: “Without the support of Ashtons Legal I would not have seen the case through. If my experience is anything to go by, it seems that defendant insurers rely on intimidatory tactics to try to ‘bully’ innocent victims into submission as opposed to looking to settle cases that they clearly should. In my view, they should suffer a heavy financial penalty for putting people in my position through this.”

Tom Ranson comments: “Unfortunately, Mr C’s case is by no means an isolated example. With the cost of litigation very much at the forefront of all our minds, it remains baffling as to why insurers routinely fail to appraise and value claims realistically. Instead, they often choose to make derisory offers and run cases to trial that they should settle. Needless to say, this only leads to a significant increase in the cost of the litigation process – all through no fault of the innocent claimant. It goes without saying that it is vital to ensure that we are robust and give short shrift to such tactics and support the injured party through the difficult and stressful claim process.”

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