Motorcyclist Overtaking Stationary Traffic
We have recently completed a personal injury claim for a young motorcyclist who was injured when a car pulled out from a stationary queue of traffic which he was in the process of overtaking.
Our client suffered a back injury, which required him to take 3 months off work. Fortunately, he made a good recovery thereafter.
The main issue in the case was liability. The car driver’s insurers’ initial position was that they would only accept 20% of the blame for the accident and they sought to argue that our client was 80% to blame for overtaking the stationary line of traffic.
The Police Report contained some favourable witness evidence for our client but as the case progressed, it became clear that the witnesses weren’t very willing to assist further in the case and were starting to change their favourable evidence to say that each party was equally to blame for the accident.
It was necessary to issue court proceedings in order to move the Defendant’s representatives from their position on liability. A gradual improvement in the liability offers were made, at first 60/40 in the Defendant’s favour and then 50/50. Our personal injury solicitor decided there was a significant risk that the case could have settled 50/50 at court, particularly in view of the lack of assistance from the previously favourable witnesses. However, as the Claimant had made a good recovery, he felt it best not to get drawn into liability discussions but to try and reach an overall settlement of the claim. After negotiation, a settlement was agreed at £12,500, which was in the region of what our client might have expected to receive had his case proceeded to court and been wholly successful.