How to win claims for injury compensation if liability is in dispute

Having a liable person or organisation to make a claim against is a key element of being entitled to compensation. For the majority of personal injury claims it is usually easy enough to see who is liable. In such cases, if you’re not at fault, a no win no fee solicitor will likely take on your case.

However, a denial of liability is not uncommon, even in what can appear to be a straight forward case. The good news is you can still often claim personal injury compensation if liability is in dispute.

What happens to an injury claim when liability is denied

When liability is denied, a solicitor will discuss the denial with the claimant. They will investigate what response can be made to force the denial to be withdrawn and replaced with an admission of liability.

Then one of four things will happen:

The claimant solicitor will review the denials and consider them to be so strong that they close the claim. Whilst this would be disappointing, you should bear in mind that you will not have to pay any costs for your claim as it will have been managed on a no win no fee basis. You also have the option of finding another solicitor for a second opinion.
They may take the view both parties share some blame and proceed with the claim under what’s known as split liability.
They may seek a barrister’s opinion to pursue the claim further and bring the decision on liability to a judge in court.
Otherwise, they will consider the denials weak and without legal standing. In which case they will work to force an admission of liability.

How split liability affects your claim

In some cases, a claimant may have to accept a percentage of the responsibility for an accident. This is called split liability or contributory negligence. In this situation you can still receive compensation but it will be lower than if the defendant was 100% liable.

For example, when asking if you have a valid slipping accident claim your condition at the time is relevant. The 3rd party responsible for where you slipped may admit the floor was dangerous and wet with no signs erected. Therefore admitting to an element of liability. However, if they can prove you were drunk at the time, they can argue this contributed to the slip. In such a case, the claimant may have to accept that they are 25% or 50% responsible for the accident. Which leads to a similar reduction in the amount of compensation offered.

Taking your claim to court

Neither side would wish to go to court if they didn’t feel that they were likely to win. Going to court is unlikely in most personal injury claims, but you should always be aware that it is a possibility.

It is frustrating when a defendant does not admit liability when there is compelling evidence to support a claim. However, the courts system is here for such situations. If you have a strong claim a judge will likely find in your favour.

If you are of the view that statements issued by the defendants are misleading and factually incorrect, you can attend court to contest this. You could well succeed with your claim if you can provide factually correct responses the Judge is minded to accept. If you can provide evidence to substantiate your version of events, you will succeed!

Proving liability for your injuries

Whether you go to court or not, to maximise and win any settlement you will need to prove the 3rd party is liable for your accident and injuries. This can only be done with evidence that the accident took place, of what caused it, and how you were impacted. Accident reports, witness statements and medical reports can all be used to provide evidence.

Liability for accidents at work

Employers will often deny liability if they believe they have fulfilled their legal responsibilities to provide a safe environment. For example, that they have given you the relevant training, guidance and risk assessments to work safely. To prove otherwise, the injured employee must be able to demonstrate the employer was liable. Crucially, that they exposed the employee to an avoidable risk of injury, rather than it being their own fault. Consider the following:

Did your employer give you the correct training?
Were you given an induction to the workplace?
Were you provided with personal safety and protective equipment (PPE) to complete your job safely?
Did your employer adequately maintain equipment and service machines?
Were you advised how to report accidents and how to access the accident book?
Did your employer ensure correct staffing levels and an adequate amount of first aid trained staff?
Did your employer act upon reports of potential risks of danger to employees?

Liability for road traffic accidents

Even if your vehicle was written off, it’s not guaranteed you’ll be eligible to claim injury compensation. As well as evidence of the damage to your car, you would need medical evidence of your injuries. Medical reports from a Hospital or GP can be used to force an admission of liability.

In cases of car accident claims where one car crashes in to the rear of another stationary vehicle, it is usually easy to apportion blame. But it’s important to note that admitting liability for a road accident does not mean admitting liability for any injuries. The defendant’s solicitors may not be denying there was an accident or that it was caused by their driver. They may, however, be arguing the force of the collision was not consistent with sustaining personal injury.

Low impact collisions

Unfortunately, insurers have started fighting claims where the speed of collision or force of impact is low – even if they admit to liability for the accident and vehicle damage. There is evidence to support both sides in this scenario. Evidence shows that whiplash and typical injuries associated with road traffic accidents can occur at very low speed. On the other hand, counter evidence states that such injuries cannot be sustained at lower speeds. As such, insurers are using so called ‘low impact collision’ as a defence.

Untraced or uninsured drivers

In the UK, victims of untraced drivers (hit and run incidents) can still pursue a claim. This is done through the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) scheme. The criteria to make such a claim requires the claimant to report the incident to the Police at the earliest opportunity. You’ll need to obtain a crime reference number and seek medical attention for any injuries sustained.

Passenger claims

For an injured passenger, it does not matter which party is liable or whether both parties are held partially liable. Passengers can make a claim for personal injury compensation providing you have medical evidence of your injuries.

Liability in claims against a local council

Local authorities and landowners rely on area inspections when it comes to identifying potential hazards that need attention. The courts have essentially stated that if a local authority inspects an area every 6 months and finds no hazard, and if there have been no reports from the public of hazards in between inspections, they will not be liable for any accidents that may happen.

Therefore, to prove that the council is liable it has to be shown the inspection was inadequate or didn’t happen. Or that they have not acted on reports of hazards.

To maximise your chances of success you will first need to prove that the accident happened. This can be done by gathering:

Witness statements
Video or CCTV footage

What you will then need to do is demonstrate that the incident is consistent with the nature of the injury you are claiming for. This should be possible by providing your medical records.

Then if it can also be proved the council failed in their required inspection duties and are therefore liable for your accident, your claim should be successful.

The reality is that it is becoming harder to successfully pursue slip, trip or fall claims against local authorities. The courts tend to lean towards defendants in such claims. If there is any scope to deny liability, no matter how tenuous, local councils will do so.

How we can help

The fact that a third party or local authority have denied liability should not make you give up on claiming. Our solicitors would be happy to advise as to whether or not they can take your claim further.

If you have any questions about liability or whether or not your accident scenario warrants a claim, please call our team on 01225 430285, or if you prefer, we can call you back. We know your rights and can help you to understand them. We’ve successfully helped many clients claim compensation for their injuries and we’d love to help you, too.

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming...

hi I slipped in a supermarket in may 2017. I was advised by the the store first aider that there was a pool of liquid by me which I had skidded on. There were no wet floor signs and I slipped by the pharmacy desk where there were 3 cctv cameras in operation. The staff on duty asked if I wanted the incident reporting to their incident line and they did this in my presence whilst I was awaiting the ambulance.
I was taken to the AE department where I was diagnosed with a fractured elbow, likely fractured bone in my spine and severely sprained ankle, I spent 2 nights in hospital and I am still undergoing physiotherapy now.
The supermarket have denied liability and in their words, they have provided the appropriate documentation to demonstrate that they have safe systems of work in place, however they state that they have no CCTV footage of the event.
My solicitor has indicated that there may be no way of telling how long the liquid was on the floor. I have received the cleaning schedule from that day and there was only 1x housekeeper on to clean a superstore in conjunction with this on the incident report it states initially that they had retained the CCTV footage and then further down that they hadnt, giving no rationale for why they did or did not retain it. The incident report also states the area I fell in was not cleaned and the area I fell in is not made referance to on the cleaning schedule. I would be really grateful for any advice you could give me on this matter.

You have certainly suffered some very nasty injuries in this accident and the severity of them proves that what can initially appear to be an innocuous accident can lead to very serious injuries in slipping accidents.

The issue that is causing problems in your claim is a common one that affects many slipping accident compensation claimants in that the lack of a hazard sign being on display is not in and of itself enough to enable a claimant to succeed. Previously, the courts have been fairly lenient with the defendants in slipping accident compensation when it comes to a claimant having to prove that the spillage or item on the floor was there for a sufficiently long period of time that the defendant ought to have been able to notice it, place a sign out and arrange a clean up. It is for this reason that businesses such as supermarkets maintain a hand written log of cleaning inspections and housekeeping work. To summarised, the courts have basically said that as long as a business can demonstrate that it has an adequate cleaning regime and regular inspections of each area of their premises they will not be held liable if someone were to slip and fall. In essence, this is usually taken as the supermarket having to check each aisle of their store at least every 30 minutes. If they can provide a log that shows this, it is unlikely a claim will succeed against them. The courts have found that if a shopper were to drop an item and caused a spillage, it would be unreasonable to expect the store staff to notice, erect a hazard sign and begin clean up unless the item had been on the floor for more than 30 minutes. Of course, without CCTV, it is very hard to have the evidence to support your claim as it cannot be proven that the spillage was on the floor for 30 minutes or more.

How to win injury compensation claims when liability is in dispute