Personal injury & medical negligence

Why Morrisons?

• We have more than 30 years of experience in personal injury claims. This means we can take the positive steps necessary to hasten the successful conclusion of your claim.
• We are happy to act on a ‘no-win, no-fee’ basis where there is no risk to you if you were to lose.
• We are fully aware of the financial stresses and strains caused by a personal injury and we will press for an early interim payment of damages, through the courts if necessary. 
• We will also do whatever possible to obtain early funding for rehabilitative treatment at no cost to you.
• Morrisons will always aim to secure maximum damages for you.

FAQs

1. When can I make a claim?
You can make a claim until the third anniversary of your accident. In most circumstances claims cannot be made after this period. 

 2. What is a no-win, no-fee agreement?
It means, in the unlikely event your claim is unsuccessful, you do not have to pay your lawyer’s fees and expenses. As part of the agreement, we would obtain insurance cover so that you will not have to pay your own expenses and your opponent’s costs.

3. Will I have to go to court?
Very unlikely. More than 95% of our cases settle without the need to go to court.

4. Can you take over my claim from my current lawyers?
There is nothing to prevent you from switching solicitors. Not all solicitors are specialists in personal injury and if you are dissatisfied with the way your claim is being handled, you should raise your concerns with your solicitor. If you are unhappy with the response we would be happy to discuss your case with you.

5. Will I have to pay your fees out of my damages?
No. We will recover our fees and disbursements (expenses) from your opponent. In the vast majority of Morrisons cases, our clients receive 100% of their damages.

Personal injury accidents

If you have  suffered accidents in any of the following circumstances, it is vital to contact us for advice in helping assess your personal injury claim

Road Traffic Accidents
This is the most common form of injury. According to the Department of Transport, 290,000 people were injured in road traffic accidents in 2003.  If you have been the innocent victim of a road traffic accident - whether as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian - you are very likely to be entitled to compensation.

Slips, Trips and Falls
These are the most common types of injury suffered by people when at work or out in public places. They are often caused by poorly maintained, wet or slippery pavements, roads, floors or other surfaces.

Accidents at Work
Employers are legally bound to provide a safe place of work for their employees.  If you are injured at work, you may have a claim against your employer. It is important to report any accident and record it in an ‘accident book’, which all employers are required to keep.

Accidents in Public Places
The most common accidents in public places are caused by people tripping on roads or pavements. Other public places in which accidents frequently occur include schools, shopping centres, supermarkets, play areas and car parks. In all such circumstances, a duty of care towards pedestrians is expected to be maintained.

Accidents abroad
The risk of suffering an accident while on holiday and in unfamiliar surroundings can be great.  Since the introduction in 1992 of the consumer protection measures known as the Package Tour Regulations, someone on a package tour can claim against the tour operator for injuries sustained in hotels, and other accommodation, abroad without suing the hotel itself. We have considerable experience in assisting clients in such claims, as well expertise dealing with claims relating to more general personal injury claims as a result of suffering an accident while overseas.

Industrial Disease
Industrial or workplace diseases cover any disease or illness contracted as a result of your employment. This can relate to any sector including office, retail, agricultural and not just heavy industry.

Disease caused by your employment range from stress, repetitive strain injury and dermatitis to deafness, asbestosis, and pleural plaques.

Product Liability
Most product liability claims involve consumer goods, food products, pharmaceutical products, or bio-medical devices.  The Consumer Protection Act 1987 allows anyone to bring a claim without showing that the manufacturer was at fault. Product liability law also allows anyone injured to make a claim whether or not faulty goods were sold to them.

Face, head and brain

Head and Brain
Compensation for this type of injury varies greatly from what is classed as ‘very severe brain damage’, where the victim displays ‘little or any response to environment’, through to ‘minor brain damage’, when the injured person has made a good recovery with only minor persisting problems.

Payments for the first, more serious, kind of injury range from £180,000 - £260,000. For more minor damage, the sums are typically between £9,875 and £27,500.

Facial Injuries
Awards in this category can vary from fractures of the frontal bones (£15,250 - £23,500), to various fractures of the nose, resulting in payments from £1,100 - £14,750. Compensation for injuries to jaws depends on the severity of any fracture and range from £4,000 - £29,000.
Paralysis

Compensation for this injury ranges from paraplegia (£140,000 - £182,000), to the more serious quadriplegia (up to £260,000).

Dental
Compensation for this injury varies greatly depending on whether several front teeth have been lost or seriously damaged, in which case it is between £5,600 and £7,250. If it is only one front tooth, the figure would be from £1,400 to £2,500.

The final award depends on the extent of treatment and discomfort suffered during each treatment. Any difficulty with eating increases compensation.

Sight, hearing, taste and smell injuries

Sight
Injuries involving total blindness and vision rank as one of the most serious kinds of injury. Awards of up to £255,000 can be made.

Loss of sight in one eye, with reduced vision in the other, can result in awards from £41,000 to £115,000, depending on the circumstances.

If your accident has resulted in the total loss of one eye, the award ranges from £35,000 - £42,000. Damages for the complete loss of sight in one eye attract awards of between £31,500 and £35,000.

For minor injuries such as being struck in the eye, exposure to smoke or being splashed in the eye, or transient eye injuries where you are likely to recover completely, the award range is £1,400 - £5,600.

Hearing
When considering hearing loss, the term deafness is used to describe both total and partial hearing loss.

Total deafness and loss of speech can result in an award of between £70,000 and £90,000. For the total loss of hearing in one ear, the award range is £20,000 to £29,000.

Partial hearing loss is often combined with tinnitus - a ringing in the ears. Tinnitus is usually related to exposure to noise over a period of time. Awards for partial hearing loss and tinnitus range from £4,750 - £8000 for slight damage, through to £19,000 - £29,000 for severe cases.

Taste & Smell
Injuries that affect your ability to taste can result in compensation of between £12,250 and £16,000. Sums of up to £25,000 may be awarded for a total loss of both taste and smell.

Neck Injuries
Compensation here also varies greatly. What are classed as ‘severe’ injuries, where there could be permanent spastic quadriparesis, ruptured tendons, or less severe injuries that require spinal fusion range from £16,000 - £95,000. 

‘Moderate’ injuries, resulting in compensation between £5,000 and £16,000, include cases involving whiplash or wrenching type injuries with little recovery.

‘Minor’ injuries include ‘soft tissue and whiplash injuries with less severe symptoms’ from which you might recover from between a few weeks and about two years. Compensation in such cases varies between £750 and £4,250.

Arm injuries

Compensation for arm injuries relates to the degree of loss of use. Awards vary greatly.

Amputation
The value of this award depends on whether both arms are lost (£154,000 - £191,500), or only one arm. If one arm is lost, the award varies depending on whether amputation occurs at the shoulder (not less than £87,500,) above the elbow (£70,000 - £83,500), or below the elbow (£61,500 - £70,000).

Other arm Injuries
These types of injuries vary from ‘severe’, meaning cases where, although the arm was not amputated, the loss of use is almost as bad as if it had been, to ‘simple fractures’. Severe cases can expect from £61,500 - £83,500, while simple fractures tend to result in awards between £4,250 and £12,250.

Wrist, elbow and hand Injuries

Wrists
Wrist injuries fall into one of five different categories. They are an injury that results in ‘complete loss of function of the wrist’ (£30,500 - £38,000), through to an injury that involves minimal ‘displacement’ of the wrist with recovery in a matter of months (£2,250 - £3000).

Elbows
Compensation for this injury varies greatly from ‘a severely disabling injury’ (£25,000 - £35,000), to ‘moderate or minor injury’ (up to £8,000), where the injury is a simple fracture of the elbow or tennis elbow.

Hand and Finger Injuries
The loss of a hand is considered almost as severe as the loss of the whole arm and awards are not far short of those for arms. The range of awards varies from ‘total or effective loss of both hands’ (£90,000 - £129,000), to ‘trivial thumb injuries’ (up to £1,400). There are many categories in between.

Back and shoulder injuries

Back
Some back injuries can lead to paralysis (in which case see ‘paralysis’ for details). Otherwise back injury is classified as ‘severe’ (£25,000 - £108,000), ‘moderate’ (£8,000 - £25,000), or ‘minor’ (£5000 - £7,500).

Shoulder
‘Severe’ injuries (£12,250 - £30,750) are those resulting in significant disability. ‘Serious’ injury (£8000 to £12,250) causes pain and weakness of grip, while ‘moderate’ injury (£5,000 - £8,000) results in discomfort with symptoms persisting for about two years. ‘Minor’ injury (£2,750 - £7,750) is associated with soft tissue damage which causes considerable pain but results in almost complete recovery.

Internal injuries

There is a wide range of injuries related to internal organs that are best summarised in the following table. The Minimum Award column shows the likely award for the least severe injury, whereas the Maximum Award shows the range for the most serious.

Part of the Body - Minimum Award and Maximum Award
Chest - up to £2,500 - £64,000 and £96,000
Lung Disease - £1,400 - £3,450 and £64,000 - £86,500
Asbestos Related Disease - £4250 - £7000 and £52,500 - £81,500
Asthma - up to £3,250 and £27,500 - £42,000
Male Reproductive System - up to £4,250 and up to £95,000
Female Reproductive System - up to £6,500 and £73,500 - £108,000
Digestive System - £4,250 - £8,000 and £27,500 - £39,500
Kidney - £19,750 - £27,500 and £108,000 - £134,000
Bowels - £8,000 - £15,500 and up to £96,000
Bladder - £15,000 - 20,000 and up to £90,000
Spleen - £2,750 - £5,500 and £13,250 - £16,750
Hernia - £2,150 - £4,750 and £9,500 - £15,400

Ankles, feet and toe injuries

Ankles
The vast majority of ankle injuries are worth significantly less than £15,000.

However, compensation for this injury is across a large range.

‘Very severe’ injuries - £32,000 to £44,500, involve complex fractures and soft-tissue damage ‘resulting in deformity that might lead to amputation’.

‘Moderate’ injuries - £8,500 to £17,000 - involve cases of less severe disability such as ‘difficulty walking on uneven ground’.

‘Modest’ injuries - up to £8,750 - depend whether or not complete recovery is likely.

Achilles tendon
Compensation for this injury varies from ‘most serious’ (up to £24,500) where the tendon is ‘severed’ through to ‘minor’ injuries (£4,750 - £6,400), where there is a feeling of ‘being unsure of ankle support’.

Feet
The value of this award depends on whether both feet are lost (£108,000 - £128,500), or just one foot (£53,500 - £70,000).

Then there is a range of awards from ‘very severe’ (£53,500 - £70,000), where the injury must result in ‘permanent and severe’ pain, through to ‘modest’ (up to £8,750), for a simple ‘metatarsal fracture’.

Toes
The value of this award depends on whether all toes are lost (£23,250 - £36,000), or just the big toe (up to £20,000).

Then there is a range of awards from ‘severe’ (£8,750 - £12,250), where the injury may have been caused by ‘severe crushing, but not necessarily requiring amputation’, through to ‘moderate’ (up to £6,150) for a simple ‘fracture’.

Stress and psychological injuries

In all cases various factors have to be taken into account such as the injured person's ability to cope with life and work, the extent to which any treatment would be successful and the overall prognosis.

This category of award can include the following types of psychological injury.

Psychiatric Damage
Compensation for this injury varies from ‘severe’ injuries (£35,000 - £74,000), where there is a long term inability to cope with life and work and future vulnerability, to ‘minor’ injuries (£1,000 - £3,750), in which daily activities such as sleep are affected.
 
Temporary anxiety would come within this category.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Cases within this category are those where there is a specific diagnosis of a reactive psychiatric disorder as a result of a psychologically distressing event, which was outside the range of normal human experience.

Compensation for this injury varies from ‘severe’ injuries (£40,000 - £64,000), where there are ‘long term or permanent effects’, through to ‘minor’ injuries (£2,500 - £5,250), where a full recovery is expected.

Burns and scarring injuries

Facial Disfigurement
Awards for these types of injuries vary from males to females. The range for a female is from ‘very severe scarring’ (£31,000 - £62,000), to ‘trivial scarring’ (£1,100 - £2,200).

For males the range is from ‘very severe scarring’ (£19,000 - £42,000), to ‘trivial scarring’ (£1,100 - £2,200).

Scarring of other Body Parts
There is not much guidance on this type of injury. However, where a number of noticeable laceration scars or a single disfiguring scar is present the award range is £4,750 - £9000.

Legs and knee injuries

Compensation for leg injuries relate to the degree of loss of use.

Amputation
The value of this award depends on whether both legs are lost totally (£154,000 - £180,000), or whether both legs are lost below the knee (£128,500 - £172,500).

If one leg is lost, the award varies depending on whether amputation occurs above the knee (£61,500 - £90,000), or below the knee (£58,000 - £83,500).

Severe leg injuries
These types of injuries vary from ‘most serious’ (£61,500 - £86,500), where there has been no amputation but the loss of use is almost as bad as if it had been, to ‘moderate’ (£17,750 to £25,000).

Less Serious Leg Injuries
Vary from ‘fractures from which an incomplete recovery is made’ (£11,500 - £17,750), to ‘simple fractures’ (up to £5,750).

Knee Injuries
Awards for knee injuries range from ‘severe’ (£44,500 - £61,500), involving significant disruption of the joint, to ‘moderate’ (up to £8,750), which could involve torn cartilage or twisting of the knee.

Pelvis and hip injuries

Injury to the pelvis or hips can be very serious and will attract a similar award to a leg amputation.

• ‘Severe’ injuries (£25,000 - £83,500), involve damage to other organs and considerable disability
• ‘Moderate’ injury (£17,000 - £25,000), applies when permanent disability is not major and any future risk not great
• ‘Injuries of limited severity’ (£8,000 - £17,000), may result in a hip replacement
• ‘Lesser injuries’ (£2,500 - £8,000), are cases with no residual disability

Chronic pain

These are cases where there are symptoms of pain without any, or commensurate, organic pain. The range is as follows:

Type of Pain and Award Level
Chronic Pain Syndrome - £7,000 - £41,000
Fibromyalgia - £21,750 - £41,750
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - up to £32,000
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy - £16,250 - £64,000
Somatoform Disorder - up to £29,000

Client case studies

Unusual effect of trauma to arm
A client was injured working at a golf course as a greenkeeper.  She was knocked down by a four-wheeled off-road vehicle known as a ‘Gator’.  She sustained an injury to her arm.

Subsequently, the arm became swollen and the client was diagnosed with lymphodoema or damage to her lymphatic system. She was unable to return to her job, which she loved.

Insurers for the golf course admitted liability but denied that the injury caused the lymphodoema.

After issuing proceedings, the claim was settled for £180,000.

Injury from sun bed
Ms D was badly burned on her back and legs after using a sun bed in a beauty parlour. She had been under the bed for 10 minutes.  Mrs D had pale skin which was susceptible to sun-burn but had never used a sun bed before. She received no instructions on how to use the bed or warnings that she should only be under it for a few minutes.

Fortunately, the client was not left with permanent effects. 

With medical evidence from a dermatologist and negotiating, we were able to settle her claim for £2,000.

From a molehill to a mountain
Mr B was involved in what seemed to be an all-too-common road traffic accident. His vehicle was hit in the rear and he sustained whiplash injuries to his neck and back.

Mr B, 33, received physiotherapy and 11 months after the accident was offered £3,000 by the defendant’s insurer to settle his claim. Mr B’s medical report had estimated he would make a full recovery within 12 months from the date of the accident.

It became clear our client was not on the mend and would not recover in line with that prognosis. His back condition began to deteriorate, and eventually he was forced to give up work as a labourer.

Our advice was to wait until the 12 month expected recovery time had passed. If he was still suffering, we would arrange for him to be re-examined by an orthopaedic back specialist.

Mr B was subsequently seen by a specialist who confirmed that he had an underlying back condition. The specialist believed the accident had caused the early onset of this condition.

We were able to settle for £15,000.