Personal injury news roundup: 7 days ended 31 Dec 2013:
The New Year is upon us, and there are many local authorities that are breathing a sigh of relief based on how many personal injury claims they faced this year!
Whether it’s people just becoming more accident-prone or the number of personal injury lawyers out there knowing how to go after local councils more efficiently, there’s no lack of evidence that claimants are racking up the compensation this year. In fact it’s been a good several years for claimants – and I’m sure many local authorities are hoping that 2014 will be much less costly than the last few!
A good example of this is how it was revealed that Wigan Council ended up paying out £360,000 across the last four years – and that was just in the personal injury claims made by their own staff! Council employees were involved in some 150 road traffic accidents over the time period, if you can believe that figure. It’s a rather weighty expense if you ask me!
Meanwhile, there were even more costs over the last four years for Worcestershire County Council, though it took the form of local residents and not employees this time. In fact, there was an absolutely astonishing £1.7 million legal bill stemming from well over 3,300 personal injury claims made against the county council stemming from school injuries, slips and trips, and of course the ever ubiquitous number of accident claims that were caused by poorly maintained roadways in the county.
Now I’m sure both these councils – and every other local authority in the UK that has had to put up with massive legal costs not just this year but several years going – are praying to whatever Higher Power that might listen that things will be different in the New Year. For what it’s worth though I highly doubt that this trend is going to abate any time soon, especially with smaller maintenance budgets and ballooning costs wreaking havoc with most local councils and their ability to keep their domains in good condition. My prediction for 2014: it’s going to be another expensive year, and there’s little to nothing these local authorities can do about it!