The claimant worked as an engineer and was attending a customer’s site to perform maintenance work to their vehicles. He slipped whilst walking across the customer’s work-yard on ice. The ice had formed from water that had collected as a result of a leaking tap.
Liability was admitted but, despite the claimant suffering a clear and significant shoulder injury, the defendant’s insurer was not willing to fund or assist with the surgery that was recommended by the consultant orthopaedic surgeon expert.
Therefore, interim payments for the claimant’s injury compensation and loss of earnings had to be secured to prevent the claimant from falling behind with his rent whilst he waited for NHS surgery and for the post-operative recovery period.
The claimant found that he was unable to return to work following the surgery and so, after the claimant reached an amicable settlement with his employer for retirement on medical grounds, we were then able to ensure that the total compensation recovered also included damages for future loss of earnings, although this was limited as the claimant accepted that there was a very reasonable chance that he may have retired in the near future in any event for non-accident related reasons.
Without legal representation, it is very likely that the claimant would have ended up accepting a much lower settlement figure much earlier on. By not funding private surgery early on, the defendant insurer prolonged the claimant’s time off work and increased his loss of earnings. Without interim payments being secured, the claimant would not have been able to afford his rent and meet his monthly expenses meaning that he would have most likely had to take a lower lump sum payment to see him through.
