Posts Tagged ‘personal injury claim’
A lorry driver who drove into a sozzled reveller is having a personal injury claim brought against him on the grounds that the trucker should have realised that he was drunk. South Croydon reveller Carl Heaven has filed a claim for an “unlimited” amount of money in damages from Brian Williams and Containerlift Services after suffering multiple broken bones. This was after he was hit by the back of the 44 tonne lorry being driven by Mr. Heaven.
Mr. Williams, a plumber is claiming that he was hindered from returning to work for over seven months as a result of the pain from his injuries. Mr. Heaven’s team of lawyers argue that Mr. Williams should have realised “given the time of night and their appearance”, the plumber and his friend “were likely to be drunk and likely to behave unpredictably”.
Mr. Heaven’s solicitors contend that he should have “stopped completely or reduced his speed to a point where he was almost stationary”, so he could observe the pair of revellers using his wing mirrors. The legal team also added that the trucker should have realised the probability that his rear wheels could have collided with Mr Heaven.
At the time of the accident, Mr. Heaven, a 32-year-old plumber and his friend were both drunk on the High Street in Abingdon, Oxon at about 2.45am on June 20, 2007.
An employee at the Essex-based Containerlift Services, Mr. Williams was at the time of the accident taking a left turn from Bridge Street into the High Street. According to the police statement, this is when he says he saw the revellers “larking around” in the middle of the road.
After “waving” at Mr. Williams, a resident of the Isle of Wight, the revellers moved on to the kerb on the left side of the road, as the trucker drove past them. Mr. Heaven then claims that the back wheels of the lorry caught him and dragged him “a significant distance” along the road, leaving him with injuries including a broken left arm in three places, a broken right arm and right leg.
Having filed his personal injury claim on June 18 this year, Mr. Heaven could win damages worth thousands of pounds.
A date for the case to be heard has not yet been set.
Duncan Gibbins will shortly be implementing the latest version of its case management system, Proclaim V 3.2.
At Duncan Gibbins, our IT department are always keen to implement new software and upgrades as soon as possible. The latest version of Proclaim, represents some major changes, to which we were picked to receive the early roll out of.
Some of the enhancements include:
• Integration with Microsoft outlook
• Quicker data access
• More flexibility when creating multiple documents
• Secure E-mails and documents directly to the client
These upgrades will help our solicitors run cases more efficiently and allow greater use of e-mail correspondence, to also cut down the amount of paper generated on a day to day basis. With a growing number of firms, implementing paperless offices, Duncan Gibbins hopes to be a paperless office in the next 18 months. The developments in the case management system will speed up this implementation.
MOJ – A2A (Application to Application)
In April 2010, the way in which a Personal Injury claim, following a Road Traffic Accident changed and a central reporting portal was set up. The portal meant that the Claimants solicitors needed to log the claim on the portal, and also on their own case management system.
At Duncan Gibbins, we have used Proclaim for over 5 years. We are now ready to implement, in conjunction with Eclipse an Application to Application claims submission process.
It is now possible for our Case Management system, to send the Road Traffic Accident claim directly to the new portal, at the touch of a button. It is estimated that this will save our First Response team over 30 Minutes per file on the initial set up, a major advancement for Duncan Gibbins.
Duncan Gibbins Solicitors believe that training and support to the Legal profession is vital with regards to the continued development and growth of the practice. They are therefore pleased to announce that Training Contracts have recently been offered to 5 of the firm’s legal assistants. The contracts commenced on the 1st February and it is expected that all 5 will go on to qualify as Solicitors in the next 2 years.
Naomi Holland, Vicky Grant, Louise Beckett, Samuel Harland and Victoria Collard joined Duncan Gibbins Solicitors in the summer of 2009 as Legal Assistants having all successfully completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. During the past 7 months each individual trainee has undertaken various roles and tasks from carrying out risk assessments on new cases to preparing Trial bundles for court. The Training Principal, Matthew Dean has high hopes for them all, stating that each one has already become a valued and respected member of the team at Duncan Gibbins Solicitors and he fully expects them to become first rate personal injury Solicitors upon qualification, dealing with the full spectrum of accident claims and compensation settlements.
The Role of the trainee solicitors comprise of providing essential assistance to the Legal Professionals and Fee earners within the firm to ensure caseloads are effectively managed. Further responsibilities include drafting court documents, attending hearings alongside experienced Barristers, and each trainee has played a major role in the development and maintained success of the First Response team.
Duncan Gibbins Solicitors believe training, development and personal growth are crucial factors in maintaining high client care standards and to uphold the firm’s reputable status.
Support financially has been provided to trainees to progress their legal career. Each trainee will undertake their Professional Skills Course and are encouraged to adopt a broad approach to ensure maximum experience and knowledge is gained. The firm are keen to expand the areas of law in future years and believe that the trainees provide the basis to enable this to occur.
Once qualified trainees will be welcomed into the ever changing world of the legal profession, and will handle a caseload comprising of Road traffic accidents, Public liability and occupiers liability claims.
The firms trainees will also undertake further work in general Civil Litigation and in the Wills and Probate department. All work will be supervised and fully supported by the training Principle and Partners Matthew Dean and Duncan Gibbins.
In addition to supporting the trainees, the firm undertakes regular in house training seminars and communications with Barristers, Costs Professionals and other legal professionals to ensure that all members of the firm are kept up to date with current affairs, events and rule changes affecting the industry and to enable the best advice to be given to all of Duncan Gibbins Solicitors at all times.