A motorcyclist has been awarded £1,420 compensation after he suffered bruising to his arms and a sprained wrist after colliding with a motorist.

The claim

Mr W, a motorcyclist, was in the right-hand lane of a roundabout when a driver changed lanes without warning and collided with him. Mr W suffered bruising and pain to his back, both hips, right shoulder, and a sprained wrist. He decided to make a claim and was put in touch with JMW Solicitors where Ayshea Hafeez-Ahmed handled his claim.

The case

Ayshea sent a letter of claim to the driver of the vehicle that hit Mr W, which the driver then sent on to his insurer. The insurance firm denied the driver of the vehicle was responsible for Mr W’s accident. A witness statement supported Mr W’s version of events, however the police report said that the driver of the vehicle that hit Mr W had been cut up by a van just prior to the collision, and that it was likely that it obscured the two vehicles from seeing each other.

A second witness statement, from the passenger of the vehicle that hit Mr W, supported the police report’s findings that a van had cut the car up just seconds before the accident occurred.

Supporting evidence

Ayshea gathered evidence on Mr W’s case. She got Mr W examined by an independent General Practitioner, who could provide an impartial report on his injuries. The medical report confirmed Mr W’s injuries were as a result of the accident, and that Mr W had suffered from travel anxiety for four months following the accident. However, the medical report also noted that Mr W had injured his shoulder in a separate accident eight months prior to the accident he had on his motorbike, and suggested that Mr W be re-examined by an independent Orthopaedic Surgeon as he was still suffering from pain, which may be linked to the accident having aggravated the injury.

Mr W gave Ayshea information about his financial losses as a result of his accident, so that we could build a picture of what he was entitled to claim for. Mr W advised Ayshea that he had required additional assistance from his partner whilst recovering from the accident, and this was something that could be included within his claim. Mr W also had to take a week off work, and lost earnings as a result. Although he could have made a claim for this, he chose not to.

Court proceedings

As Mr W’s case had reached the stage where it legally needed to be settled or in the Court process, Ayshea issued Court proceedings on Mr W’s behalf.

The independent medical report from the Orthopaedic Surgeon suggested that Mr W have an MRI to resolve the issue with his shoulder and identify whether the pain it was causing him was related to his accident.

At this stage, the insurer of the driver made an offer to split responsibility for the case 50/50. This would mean that any compensation award Mr W received would be halved, to reflect their suggestion that both he and the driver were 50% responsible for the accident. Ayshea advised Mr W to reject the offer, which he did. However, in order to settle the case, Ayshea suggested he put forward an offer to split the responsibility for the case on an 80/20 basis, which Mr W and the driver’s insurer agreed to.

We received the results of the MRI scan, and an updated report from the independent Orthopaedic Surgeon. On seeing the results of the MRI, the surgeon’s opinion was that the accident hadn’t affected Mr W’s shoulder and wasn’t causing the pain.

Final settlement

Ayshea passed the complete set of medical evidence she had received on to the driver’s insurer. When they had it, they made an offer to settle the case, of £1,420, inclusive of the 80/20 split. Ayshea felt that the offer was reasonable and advised Mr W to agree to settle the case for this amount. Mr W agreed, and was happy to conclude the case. He said: “Ayshea Hafeez-Ahmed was always very helpful and patient as it sometimes took me a while to respond to her letters. Thank you.”