Personal Injury – Video Transcript

In this video Dominic Moss presents why Stonehewer Moss is Cheshire’s leading personal injury solicitors and what sets them apart from the competition. Explaining about their qualifications & experience and why the APIL accreditation that they have is significant. He goes on to give examples of successful outcomes for clients.

Personal Injury

What is your background and experience in the field?

My name is Dominic Moss, I am the senior partner here at Stonehewer Moss solicitors. I’ve been dealing with personal injury claims for well over 20 years now; from when I first started as a solicitor to today. I am an APIL fellow, which is a senior position within the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. There is only 108 APIL fellows within the country and I am proud to be one of them. The practice is also accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and it is one of the few practices that locally are accredited. I have a post graduate diploma in Personal Injury Law, which again is not something that you generally find. I’ve dealt with cases of all sorts of value and all types of claims, from relatively modest value to very high value claims involving serious injuries to the injured person. As I say I have been doing this for 20 years and during that time I have personally helped literally 1000s of injured individuals am proud to have done so and I hope I have made a difference to their lives.

Can you give us examples of successful outcomes for clients?

I am very proud to say we have lots of success stories that we can point to. Big value and small value claims. A recent very large value claim was one where the chap in question had an injury which was not apparent to the medical experts and in fact the defendants. But, having got to know that client I knew there was something wrong with him that was not being picked up. We ended up getting three separate medical reports on this particular injury before finally, the third report did show what I suspected was the case. That comes from two things, getting to know the client and then actually being persistent and not being put off by things that don’t quite sit correctly. Because of that the claim that would have been worth the value of say X was worth a 6-figure sum more than that. So that client was obviously extremely happy, and I really do believe that had he gone elsewhere the settlement he would have been looking at would have been woefully inadequate.
Smaller value claim which is an example I often trot out is a lady who was a keen dancer and she liked to go on her cruises and sit at the captain’s table and all those sorts of things. I was very fond of her and she had had an injury that prevented her from dancing. She broke her ankle and she was at an age where that was unlikely to change. the offer from the other side was derisory for someone who has spent her life working and then wanted to spend their retirement doing something they loved. By getting to know that client and by getting photographs of her on the cruises, dancing, evidence that she went to classes etc. we were able to show to the defendant and the insurers the effect that this had had on this lady. And by doing so were able to get some remedial help to enable her to get back into dancing as some sort of level and also to be some proper sort of compensation for the injury she had suffered.

What expertise do you have in serious injury claims?

Sarah Allison is the head of personal injury at Stonehewer Moss Solicitors and she deals with the higher value cases anything ranging from between £25,000 to £1000,000. She has an interest in prosthetic limbs. Where that might be appropriate is for people who have lost the use of, or lost completely a limb in an accident. That can be a very difficult conversation to have with clients especially where the limb itself is present but not functioning. That isn’t just a matter of sending someone off to a doctor and saying, ‘would you like a prosthetic limb?’ It is very involved, there is an emotional aspect and Sarah is absolutely excellent at taking people through that journey, to come to the right decision about what is best for them. As you can imagine prosthetic limbs today are very complicated. The cost of them is something that insurance companies are not keen to pay out for, especially in the younger person who may require a refit fitted limb every few years. You can perhaps imagine how expensive that is or how costly that will be in terms of compensation to the defendant’s insurers for someone who may live for another 50 years or so. It might be important for that person to be able to go back to work, it may be import for that person just to live the life that they want to lead.

What sets you apart from your competitors?

Well primarily we’re accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers which means you can rely on our standards and accreditation process. As a practice our ethos really is to get to know our clients and that’s the big thing that makes us different. By getting to know your client you can ensure that you understand their problems. That might be to do with the injury, it might be to do with their financial situation. We will go out and see clients in their house, they can come here. On occasion we have even been asked to attend in hospital in order to get the ball rolling. For example, one chap was so badly injured, there was no money coming in, he needed to get an interim payment for his loss of earning as quickly as possible. Ostensibly it is getting to know your client that is important. If you are dealing with a larger practice with many thousands of clients, then it is much more difficult for those businesses to be able to get to know you as well as ourselves who will make a real effort to understand all your problems.

What do I do if I want to make a claim?

So, if you or a loved one have an accident and you want to see a solicitor about it please don’t hesitate to get in touch. There is no charge for the initial consultation weather that’s at your home, here in the office or even at hospital. At Stonehewer Moss we will let you know where you stand.