Successful Personal Injury Claim: Howards Solicitors track down witness police failed to mention!
Howards Solicitors Personal Injury Team Track Down Witness Police Failed To Mention!
On the 25th August 2015, Howards Solicitors Personal Injury Team successfully secured judgment for the claimant following trial at the Manchester County Court in the matter of Mr. Dean Sharkey –v- Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited.
The brief facts of the case are as follows:
At 06:37, on the Bank Holiday of Monday, 5th May 2014, the Claimant, as he was crossing Lightbowne Road, New Moston, Manchester, suffered multiple injuries after he was hit by a vehicle being driven by the defendant.
The Claimant, a pedestrian, successfully brought a personal injury claim for damages against the driver who is an off duty police officer employed Greater Manchester Police. The Defendant challenged the Claimant’s case on the basis that the Claimant was drunk and had, whilst crossing the road, unexpectedly turned back and walked into the path of the defendant’s vehicle.
The police attended the scene of the accident and undertook an assessment of the accident. The police investigation concluded that there was no fault on the part of the driver and further the same investigation failed to result in the disclosure of a statement from a key witness.
The Howards Personal Injury team undertook extensive enquiries and discovered the existence of the independent witness who was later identified from the investigating officers pocket note book entry. The accident investigation officer was interviewed extensively by Gavyn Atkinson, the file handler and head of the Howards personal injury Department. The officer sought to explain why this witness had not previously been statemented and why the existence of this witness had thus far been kept from the claimant’s solicitors by asserting that the witness had no useful information to provide. However, our enquiries revealed that the independent witness tended to confirm the off duty police officer was at fault for the accident.
However, the witness who was eventually tracked down by Howards Personal injury department case handlers Elizabeth Wallace and Amy Hilton provided a statement that was, due to the difficulties in locating the witness, served out of time and so an application for relief from sanctions had to be made to the court to allow the evidence of this witness to be relied upon despite it being served late.
Gavyn Atkinson who successfully made the above referred to application was able to establish that for fault of the investigating officer, the claimant had been denied the opportunity to rely upon potentially crucial evidence in support of his claim.
The court duly granted relief from sanctions and the witness was permitted to give her evidence at the subsequent trial.
On the 25th August 2015 following trial, judgement in favour of the claimant was granted and the court, on entering Judgment expressed the view that the officer’s recollection of events was inferior to that of the Claimant and that the defendant’s driving fell ‘below the acceptable standard’ and thus he was not paying proper attention.
The Claimant was awarded £4500 in damages for his injuries and other out of pocket expenses plus his legal costs.
If you have suffered an injury then you too may be entitled to compensation. Even if the facts seemed stacked against you but you are convinced it was not your fault we can help you make a personal injury claim!
Howards Solicitors have offices in Manchester & Macclesfield and specialise in Criminal Defence, Road Traffic / Motoring Offenses & Personal Injury Law.
Details about the author:
Gavyn Atkinson manages the Personal injury department at Howards Solicitors with offices in Manchester and South Cheshire.
Contact details:
Manchester Office, Suite 2 East Wing Westpoint, 501 Chester Road, Manchester, M16 9HU
Tel: +44 161 872 9999
Email: gavyn@howardssolicitors.co.uk
Website: www.howardssolicitors.co.uk