Liability Disputed Pedestrian Claim
The claimant and her husband were walking along a pavement and were approximately 60 yards from their house when the client suddenly felt a sudden thud on her right side.
The defendant had mounted the curb at a speed and hit our client from behind.
The client was knocked to the ground and so does not remember much about the accident but her husband saw that there were 2 witnesses in a vehicle travelling behind the Defendant who tried to follow the Defendant in a bid to get him to stop and exchange details.
The claimant’s husband managed to get the third party registration and so we could trace their insurance details.
The Defendant’s insurers disputed liability and confirmed that their insured was not at the scene of the accident at the time. We argued not only did we have witnesses who could clarify the Defendant’s details but we also had the client’s husband who actually saw the Defendant’s vehicle and managed to get his registration number.
The third party insurers continued to state that their insured was adamant that he was not at the scene, despite the fact that we had sent the witness statement to them who confirmed that he would attend court if needs be.
We decided that we would not delay the claim any further and would proceed with medical evidence.
The claimant’s injuries were completely consistent with the accident circumstances and we disclosed the medical evidence to them and made a Part 36 offer.
The third party insurers responded quickly with a Part 36 offer to settle the claim. They confirmed that they were struggling to get hold of their witness and so were willing to deal with our client’s claim on a ‘without prejudice’ basis.
We responded with a further Part 36 offer to try and get a higher award for the injuries sustained and the inconvenience of the arguments over liability.
The claim settled for £3100.00 for a 12 month injury and £360.00 worth of specials.