Personal Injury Lawyer/Help Required
Discussion
I'm after a bit of advice regarding an injury my son suffered a short while ago.
To cut a long story as short as possible, we were staying a nice hotel for his 21st birthday, family and friends had travelled from far and wide to be there. We had been in the spa all day and then headed up to the room to get ready for dinner. He rinsed his face in the bedroom sink to remove any chlorine etc from the swimming pool only to find that a residue of bleach (or something similar) had been left in the sink. Cue intense pain and progressive loss of vision that even rinsing under lots of clean water would not halt.
He ended up spending the entire evening being treated in casualty, completely missing his birthday celebrations but very luckily managing to avoid any permanent damage.
Now the hotel have admitted responsibility and offered us a very small sum of money as compensation, but in my eyes it is not enough, it does not even cover the cost of the evening, let alone make up for missing what should have been a very special occasion.
Are there any PH lawyers out there who can give me a ballpark figure of what they would expect in this kind of case? Or can anyone recommend a good lawyer who might be able to advise me? (for some reason I think there might be better options than the ones with all the TV adverts!
)
Thanks in advance.
To cut a long story as short as possible, we were staying a nice hotel for his 21st birthday, family and friends had travelled from far and wide to be there. We had been in the spa all day and then headed up to the room to get ready for dinner. He rinsed his face in the bedroom sink to remove any chlorine etc from the swimming pool only to find that a residue of bleach (or something similar) had been left in the sink. Cue intense pain and progressive loss of vision that even rinsing under lots of clean water would not halt.
He ended up spending the entire evening being treated in casualty, completely missing his birthday celebrations but very luckily managing to avoid any permanent damage.
Now the hotel have admitted responsibility and offered us a very small sum of money as compensation, but in my eyes it is not enough, it does not even cover the cost of the evening, let alone make up for missing what should have been a very special occasion.
Are there any PH lawyers out there who can give me a ballpark figure of what they would expect in this kind of case? Or can anyone recommend a good lawyer who might be able to advise me? (for some reason I think there might be better options than the ones with all the TV adverts!
)Thanks in advance.
Edited by JamesAskew on Friday 29th August 14:28
Check your home contents insurance and see whether it includes legal expenses insurance cover. If it does, call them - they'll appoint a solicitor to deal with it for you.
I think PH-er RichBurley does personal injury work and I know he's been helpful in the past in dispensing advice on here. If he doesn't see this and respond, ping him an e-mail.
(Not my area, otherwise I'd help if I could)
I think PH-er RichBurley does personal injury work and I know he's been helpful in the past in dispensing advice on here. If he doesn't see this and respond, ping him an e-mail.
(Not my area, otherwise I'd help if I could)
TheCarpetCleaner said:
Has it cost you anything in actual loss? Why do you need compensation?
f
king compensation culture...
Well we paid a large sum of money for a birthday celebration that never happened, so that is an actual loss but I do also think that never getting to celebrate your 21st birthday is a loss, even if it is not a physical one, so a small sum of money which can either pay for a big night or go towards paying off his student debts would be fair.f
king compensation culture...Swilly said:
Compensation is for loss or damage suffered.... which sounds like the cost of the event.
What injuries did your son receive ?
True, but it also compensates for pain, suffering and inconvenience occasioned by personal injury. It's not limited to direct actual tangible loss.What injuries did your son receive ?
There may have been no lasting effects but the OP does say that his son suffered pain as a result of the bleach getting into his eyes.
I'm not a PI lawyer but understand that what you can recover for a particular injury is set out in their "bible", Kemp & Kemp on Damages. This lists the "going rate" for any manner of different injuries ranging from getting bleach in your eyes to having your tackle ripped off in a mechanical threshing accident (for instance).
Lurking Lawyer said:
Swilly said:
Compensation is for loss or damage suffered.... which sounds like the cost of the event.
What injuries did your son receive ?
True, but it also compensates for pain, suffering and inconvenience occasioned by personal injury. It's not limited to direct actual tangible loss.What injuries did your son receive ?
There may have been no lasting effects but the OP does say that his son suffered pain as a result of the bleach getting into his eyes.
I'm not a PI lawyer but understand that what you can recover for a particular injury is set out in their "bible", Kemp & Kemp on Damages. This lists the "going rate" for any manner of different injuries ranging from getting bleach in your eyes to having your tackle ripped off in a mechanical threshing accident (for instance).
esselte said:
Wouldn't you smell bleach before it got anywhere near your eyes?
Dunno - but if a court decided that you should and were the author of your own misfortune, it has a discretion to find a degree of contributory negligence and discount the damages awarded accordingly.i.e. if it was 50% your own fault, you only recover 50% of the "going rate" for the injury in question.
JamesAskew said:
TheCarpetCleaner said:
Has it cost you anything in actual loss? Why do you need compensation?
fking compensation culture...
Well we paid a large sum of money for a birthday celebration that never happened, so that is an actual loss but I do also think that never getting to celebrate your 21st birthday is a loss, even if it is not a physical one, so a small sum of money which can either pay for a big night or go towards paying off his student debts would be fair.f
king compensation culture...Money to pay off his student debts???? Jesus wept. Why not just go for some more and buy him a new car... poor lad...
ITS NOT FREE MONEY!
esselte said:
Lurking Lawyer said:
Swilly said:
Compensation is for loss or damage suffered.... which sounds like the cost of the event.
What injuries did your son receive ?
True, but it also compensates for pain, suffering and inconvenience occasioned by personal injury. It's not limited to direct actual tangible loss.What injuries did your son receive ?
There may have been no lasting effects but the OP does say that his son suffered pain as a result of the bleach getting into his eyes.
I'm not a PI lawyer but understand that what you can recover for a particular injury is set out in their "bible", Kemp & Kemp on Damages. This lists the "going rate" for any manner of different injuries ranging from getting bleach in your eyes to having your tackle ripped off in a mechanical threshing accident (for instance).
Lurking Lawyer said:
esselte said:
Wouldn't you smell bleach before it got anywhere near your eyes?
Dunno - but if a court decided that you should and were the author of your own misfortune, it has a discretion to find a degree of contributory negligence and discount the damages awarded accordingly.i.e. if it was 50% your own fault, you only recover 50% of the "going rate" for the injury in question.
JamesAskew said:
esselte said:
Lurking Lawyer said:
Swilly said:
Compensation is for loss or damage suffered.... which sounds like the cost of the event.
What injuries did your son receive ?
True, but it also compensates for pain, suffering and inconvenience occasioned by personal injury. It's not limited to direct actual tangible loss.What injuries did your son receive ?
There may have been no lasting effects but the OP does say that his son suffered pain as a result of the bleach getting into his eyes.
I'm not a PI lawyer but understand that what you can recover for a particular injury is set out in their "bible", Kemp & Kemp on Damages. This lists the "going rate" for any manner of different injuries ranging from getting bleach in your eyes to having your tackle ripped off in a mechanical threshing accident (for instance).
Given the Hotel have admitted responsibility it appears to be a question of agreeing a settlement.
You know what the evening cost you and given there was no lasting injury to your son, the pain element is going to amount to something small (but im no lawyer
)
Id suggest making an offer based on the cost of the event plus a couple of grand. All imho based on the fact it doesnt seem based on the info given to be worth paying for a solicitor to deal.
You know what the evening cost you and given there was no lasting injury to your son, the pain element is going to amount to something small (but im no lawyer
)Id suggest making an offer based on the cost of the event plus a couple of grand. All imho based on the fact it doesnt seem based on the info given to be worth paying for a solicitor to deal.
esselte said:
Who pays for the no win no fee if there isn't a win? Or do the compoanies only take on ironcast cases?
If a solicitor takes a case on a conditional fee agreement basis ("no win, no fee"), they effectively adopt the risk - if they don't win, they don't get paid.So, for that reason, a solicitor will generally only take a case on a CFA if they are satisfied that it has good prospects of success. If it does then succeed, they are entitled to recover their costs from the other side and charge a percentage uplift of these fees as a "success fee" to compensate for the risk in taking it on a CFA basis.
Lurking Lawyer said:
esselte said:
Who pays for the no win no fee if there isn't a win? Or do the compoanies only take on ironcast cases?
If a solicitor takes a case on a conditional fee agreement basis ("no win, no fee"), they effectively adopt the risk - if they don't win, they don't get paid.So, for that reason, a solicitor will generally only take a case on a CFA if they are satisfied that it has good prospects of success. If it does then succeed, they are entitled to recover their costs from the other side and charge a percentage uplift of these fees as a "success fee" to compensate for the risk in taking it on a CFA basis.
So they do only take cases they're more than sure they'll win...esselte said:
JamesAskew said:
esselte said:
Lurking Lawyer said:
Swilly said:
Compensation is for loss or damage suffered.... which sounds like the cost of the event.
What injuries did your son receive ?
True, but it also compensates for pain, suffering and inconvenience occasioned by personal injury. It's not limited to direct actual tangible loss.What injuries did your son receive ?
There may have been no lasting effects but the OP does say that his son suffered pain as a result of the bleach getting into his eyes.
I'm not a PI lawyer but understand that what you can recover for a particular injury is set out in their "bible", Kemp & Kemp on Damages. This lists the "going rate" for any manner of different injuries ranging from getting bleach in your eyes to having your tackle ripped off in a mechanical threshing accident (for instance).
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