Archive for Finance

What Are The Best Tips For A Successful Personal Injury Lawsuit?

September 25, 2011 admin No comments

Making a claim for an injury received in an accident is not nearly as hard as it used to be. Because the costs are awarded against the losing party engaging a no win no fee solicitor is an economic way of getting legal assistance which allows people with limited means to access justice when otherwise they might be inclined to lose out, both to compensation and justice.

If you’ve been the victim of an accident and you feel some-one else was at fault then there are a number of things you should do if you think you are going to need to make a claim for lost earnings, expenses, distress and to ensure that a similar misfortune doesn’t befall some-one else.

First of all, get the contact details of any witnesses. Unless the accident was a serious road accident they are unlikely to have to give up any of their time attending court, far more likely that they just have to write a statement detailing what they saw. If there was no one around or nobody stops to give you their contact details take photos. Even if it’s just a few snaps on your phone, this evidence is better than none at-all.

Call The Cops!

You should always call the police to any road traffic accident and if this was the incident you were involved in, make sure you get an incident number from the investigating officer. If you have to go to hospital make sure you get a full examination from the doctor treating you. Some injuries only show up after an interval but a doctor will know what to look out for. Again, photograph any bruises or lesions that appear on your body as a result of your accident. If you have to go to court to contest your case and your injuries have all healed photographs are compelling evidence to present to a court.

Keep Records Of Everything That Happens

Keep all of your receipts for everything that you have to pay for as a result of your injuries. If your claim is going to be successful at recouping your losses thanks to the injuries you received having a vague idea about the bills you’ve paid isn’t going to be as convincing as printed evidence for medicines and painkillers, buses and cabs if you’ve been left unable to drive, car rental if you can but your own vehicle is no longer road-worthy. You might have to take on childcare while you attend treatment and physiotherapy, again, keep the receipts.

The entire point of compensation is that you recoup the money that you lose thanks to an injury that was the responsibility of some-one else, either due to their negligence, their lack of foresight or their lack of attention. If you can’t prove how much the accident has cost you, you can’t expect to be fully compensated.

@DanCash is a features writer on the south coast of England. If you need to make a no win no fee accident claim make sure you keep as much evidence as you can and consult a reputable lawyer

 

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Reduce Food Waste, It’s Good For Your Balance Sheet And The Environment

September 19, 2011 admin No comments

Sixty percent of people eating at hotels and restaurants site being “too full” as being the reason they leave food on the plate when they have finished dining new research has found which leads to a few points: Are restaurants serving too big portions which not only add to the 3,000,000 tonnes of food waste that goes into landfill each year but also has to be paid for. You might think ‘once it’s paid for it’s the customer’s problem,’ but that’s not quite how it works: a diner will pay the same for a plate of food that they can comfortably eat as they will for a plate of food that they try to force down until it makes them feel uncomfortable. That means that you could cut portion sizes by about a quarter and you’d still earn the same money for it.

A poll of 3,000 younger people in 29 towns and cities throughout the UK it was found that they were more likely to order more food than they really needed and then feel the most guilty when they were unable to finish their meals. Unilever, who own PG Tips, Knorr and Marmite commissioned the survey, conducted by OnePoll which also found that 80% of those surveyed would decline food they knew they wouldn’t eat if asked at a restaurant.

Would You Like To Go Small With That?

If your service staff ask “would you like a large or small portion?” or whether there’s anything the customer would prefer left out then the results show that 80% of diners would let them know if they weren’t ebbing away on the point of starvation!

This is borne out by another research poll, similarly commissioned by Unilever which found that 82% of diners said that they thought it was important that restaurants, pubs and grilles should cut down on the amount of foods which went into landfill sites because of the wasteful practices of the industry. Both reports are being published as part of a campaign by industry leaders which is designed to encourage everyone in the food sector to reduce the amount of waste which they throw away each year.

Put Food Wastage Under WRAPs

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) said that the amount of food being thrown away each year is worth around £770,000,000 per year. The more that waste is cut down the more money stays in the tills.

Unilever put the cost higher, if you calculate the amount of food that is thrown away at all levels of production then the figure which they believe would be more accurate is around £2.3 billion per year.

Andy Dawe from WRAP said: “tackling food waste can provide significant business savings for the hospitality industry. WRAP is starting to work closely with businesses to help realise these cost savings and eliminate food wastage wherever possible.

Not only did the research papers find that people wanted less food on their plates, 40% said that they would pay a premium to eat in a restaurant which had a commitment to reducing the amount of food was wasted. 30% said that they felt food waste was the responsibility of caterers to deal with in terms of reduction, a fringe element of 4% believed that it was the government’s responsibility to deal with waste food.

Taking The Battle From The Home Front To The High Street

Unilever say that the results show that the emphasis on reducing food waste is moving from the domestic to the commercial and pressure was increasing for restaurants, be they chippies, burger and pizza chains or hotels and Michelin Starred establishments to reduce the amount of waste that goes into their bins at the end of each shift.

MD of Unilever Food Solutions; Tracey Rogers said that: “We know that the government is committed to moving toward a zero waste society and our actions are going to be under the spotlight. We have the opportunity to take the initiative, and with small, everyday steps, we can reduce waste, respond to consumer concerns, improve kitchen efficiency and help caterers save money too.”

@DanCash Loves a takeaway in Croydon where he lives. Get a big old Chinese takeaway in Croydon and you’ve got lunch the next day. If you’re eating out, why not ask for a doggy bag?

 

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Changes In Legal Aid Could Affect your Right To Justice

August 1, 2011 admin No comments

Courts in the UK are coming under increasing pressure to relegate personal injury claims so that they have less relevance than criminal cases. In most instances personal injury cases have a victim and a culprit, whether through negligence, lack of training or ignorance. However, because no crime has been committed and there is very unlikely to be a prison sentence handed down, the government is proposing that legal aid is withdrawn from such cases. They see the personal injury world of the law as a victim, legitimate or otherwise, chasing money from some-one who’s fails to do their job properly in some way.

While car insurance companies are increasingly becoming drawn into this kind of case with accident victims claiming whiplash and back injuries, injuries which are very hard for doctors to identify and prove one way or another, this would appear to be the case. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to personal injury claims.

The chancellor wants to cut legal aid not only from divorce cases which are being contested but also from people who’ve been victims of medical negligence and people who wish to sue their local NHS Trust or the local authority.

The logic is easy to see; if the government pays for people to sue a hospital or council it’s effectively paying the court to sue itself and in many cases the award which the victim receives is far outstripped by the legal costs which are awarded against the guilty party. If this happens to be the hospital for example, the injured party might get a couple of hundred pounds for their distress and loss of earnings if they had to take a week or two off work but the legal teams might receive several thousands of pounds for their fees.

While this seems unfair and reasonable to stop paying for it, the reality of these circumstances is concealed. If you’re injured and you believe it’s down to a public sector employee’s negligence, if you can’t afford to sue them out of your own pocket then the costs of your medical treatment beyond the basic provision that the NHS and benefits services will have to be covered out of your own pocket. You might be entitled to statutory sick pay or disability allowance but anything beyond the basic will have to be covered out of your savings.

So you’re paying for an injury caused you by some-one else and they carry on regardless, possibly putting many more people at risk.

So, by cutting the number of cases for which legal aid is granted doesn’t just save the government money, it prevents the less well off from achieving justice when they find themselves unable to work through no fault of their own.

And personal injury cases aren’t simply about the victim getting some cash for their inconvenience. Personal injury claims can and do highlight criminal negligence and circumstances where the culprit is systematically endangering public health and even exposing them to the risk of permanent disability or death. Cutting spending on these cases will mean that people will be able to operate negligently until there is a catastrophe.

 

@DanCash is a feature writer living on the south coast. If you’re injured either at work, out on the street or you want to pursue a holiday accident claim or when receiving medical care then you should in the first instance consult a personal injury lawyer. If you want to make a compensation claim then get in touch with a reputable no-win-no-fee lawyer.

 

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