Our client was a cyclist who was travelling along a road on an industrial estate when a dog suddenly ran out from behind a vehicle, chasing a ball which its owner had thrown, and ran straight into his bicycle causing him to fall into the road.  He sustained injuries to the left side of his chest, left shoulder and left leg, suspected broken ribs and suffered symptoms from his injuries for several weeks following the accident, requiring rehabilitation treatment to assist his recovery.  We were able to recover Personal Injury compensation for him of £2,000.

A brief summary of events is set out below.

Date of Accident:  May 2016

Time between formal instruction and successful conclusion:  We took on the case in June 2016 and settled it just 4 months later.

How the claim proceeded: The circumstances of the accident were that the dog owner was visiting her father at his work premises and decided to exercise her dog by throwing a ball for it.  After our client was injured, she explained that she did not have either pet insurance or household contents insurance which could potentially consider his claim for compensation.  Her father asked his insurers to consider the claim under his business policy, as the accident had happened whilst his daughter and her dog were on his premises, but they refused to do so.

With no form of insurance in place, either commercial or personal, to consider the claim this left the dog owner directly responsible.  At that time, she was on maternity leave, so her only income was a small amount of maternity pay, which would soon cease and as she was unlikely to return to work, her financial situation was unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future.  Whilst she admitted liability for the accident, she felt she had no option but to place the entire issue before a court, explaining that she would only be able to pay any damages and costs a court may determine in modest instalments.    She also explained that she had no means by which to fund a medical examination for our client, to determine the full extent of his injuries and a prognosis for his recovery.

At the time of the accident, the dog owner had paid the £30 taxi fare to take our client to hospital and £300 towards initial physiotherapy treatment, with an agreement to pay a further £300 for the remainder of the course.  She claimed this was on the basis that our client would accept this in full and final settlement of the claim, but our client strongly denied that any such agreement was made with the dog owner.

In October 2016, solicitors representing the dog owner’s father contacted us with a final offer to settle the claim.  He was willing to pay damages to our client of £2,000 (less the £330 already paid by his daughter) in full and final settlement, but if rejected, he would leave the matter for the court to decide.  This was a very difficult case, as our client’s claim was clearly worth more than the sum being offered.  However, with both the dog owner and her father having no insurance with which to consider the compensation claim and the dog owner herself without the means to satisfy any potential Court judgement, we advised our client to accept the offer being made.

Were Court proceedings necessary?:  No.

Outcome:   The client secured £2,000 compensation and received his monies within 5 months of us taking on his case.

Comment: Clearly the dog owner should not have thrown a ball for her dog into the road, however quiet it may have appeared.  The dog was clearly excited to be playing and was focused only on retrieving the ball for its owner.  It was the owner’s responsibility to ensure that the dog be exercised in an appropriate place and restrained by a lead in areas where there was a risk to others.  In these circumstances, the owner failed to take adequate precautions and exposed our client to unnecessary risk of injury, which is why she was ultimately responsible for paying him some form of compensation.

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM SOLICITORS:-

If you have suffered any form of accident or contracted an industrial disease contact personal injury claims specialists Hinchliffes Solicitors for immediate legal advice, to find out if you are entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation.  All cases are conducted on a No Win No Fee and No Risk basis.

Call now on 01684 580900 to speak direct to one of our specialist claims lawyers or go to our Start Your Claim  page to submit details of your accident compensation claim online.

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