Earlier this month, the Queen gave her annual speech at the state opening of Parliament, in which she outlined the government’s plans for the year ahead.

This included a Mesothelioma Bill, in which Her Majesty stated:

“Legislation will be introduced to ensure sufferers of a certain asbestos-related cancer receive payments where no liable employer or insurer can be traced.”

Essentially, this Bill will allow sufferers of the disease to receive compensation even if they cannot put forward an employer, or employers’ liability insurer, that is at fault for their illness.

The scheme is set to begin in 2014, and will see investment of £355 million in the first ten years. Anyone diagnosed with mesothelioma after 25 July 2012 will be eligible to claim.

Her Majesty’s speech, which is drafted by the government, suggests that the new plans will correct “an insurance market failure” that saw insurers fail to keep adequate records of Employers’ Liability Insurance during the time workers may have been exposed to asbestos.

Any payments under the scheme would be in addition to the reported £200 million already given out to mesothelioma sufferers by the insurance industry.

The Bill is due to begin passing through the House of Lords, after which it will be debated in the House of Commons and then by a Committee before the final version can be passed into law.

Legal advice for industrial disease victims

If you believe you have fallen victim to mesothelioma as a result of poor or unsafe working conditions, it is important you act in the same way as any other victim of an industrial disease. By contacting experienced personal injury solicitors, you stand a good chance of finding the employer who is responsible for your illness.

The time limit on such cases is three years from the date of your diagnosis, and as such there will only be a relatively small window in which to search for the relevant employer. The proposed government Bill is a last resort, and it is often the case that you will be able to pinpoint the employer at fault.

Your solicitor will look to establish that your employer should have done more to prevent you being exposed to the asbestos that eventually led to your mesothelioma. Common cases include a failure to provide a safe working environment, relevant training for working with dangerous chemicals or the correct protective equipment.

Once this fault has been established, your industrial disease solicitor will look to reach a settlement with the employer and their insurance company. If this is not possible, they can also represent you at any subsequent tribunal.

If you’d like more information on this matter, contact Sheldon Davidson Solicitors today.

MPs have suggested that proposed changes to UK dangerous dog laws need to go further in order to alleviate the risk of attacks.

Since 2007, eight people have been killed by dangerous dogs in private residences, and often the police cannot legally place the blame on anyone for these attacks. In total, there are around 200,000 dog attacks in England every year, a figure which includes dog bites, and this has led to calls for a review of legislation that was last looked at in 1991.

The biggest proposed change would see owners liable to prosecution if their dog attacks someone in their own home, i.e. a ‘private property’. At present, they can only be held to account if their dog is found to be out of control in a public place or private land where they are not permitted, for example the property of a neighbour.

Commons environment committee members proposed increasing the minimum jail term for owners responsible for a dangerous dog from six months to two years.

Additionally, they indicated they wished to see more done to target badly behaved animals and their owners earlier in order to reduce the risk of incidents further down the line.

However, the committee also stressed that it was important to look at all circumstances, such as ensuring owners would not be liable if a dog owner attacked an intruder on their property. However, even this has its own problems, as it may be that someone has trespassed by mistake, for example a child retrieving a ball from a garden.

What to do if you are a victim of dog attacks

Dog bites are a common cause of personal injury claims, and naturally they vary in severity. If it can be shown that the owner of the dog that attacked you failed to properly control the animal, you could be entitled to compensation.

Until any proposed change to the law is passed, this only applies if the attack occurs in a public place. It is also further complicated by the many rules surrounding certain breeds of dog. Certain dogs are classified under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 as dangerous, and as such may be required to be muzzled, neutered, tattooed, registered, insured or micro-chipped. This means you are likely to be awarded higher compensation if you are attacked by one of these animals.

Much like any personal claim, your case will be assessed on a number of factors. For example, you may have missed out on earnings due to a forced absence from work, while for more severe injuries you may need to be compensated for the cost of medical treatment.

Sheldon Davidson Solicitors have helped many victims of dog bites, so you can contact us at any time and ask about the possibility of making a claim.

Sheldon Davidson Personal Injury Solicitors in Manchester

We specialise in Personal Injury, Accident, Clinical Negligence and Industrial Disease claims.

Sheldon Davidson are your leading local, professional, caring personal injury solicitors and are here to help you.

‘PROUD TO BE INDEPENDENT’

• Our team of personal injury solicitors in Manchester will work for you on “No Win No Fee” and our initial advice is always free of charge and without obligation.

• Our expertise will help the innocent and unfortunate victims of accidents successfully claim the maximum compensation they deserve. We always fight hard on your behalf.

• We ensure you receive the best treatment at an early stage to help you make a speedy recovery. Our personal injury solicitors are committed to helping you recover from your injuries and ensure you get the treatment you need.

• Our dedicated personal injury, industrial disease and clinical negligence solicitors in Manchester are recruited from the best local legal talent, and pride themselves on their professional approach with a personal touch.

• Making a claim is easy with Sheldon Davidson Solicitors. We will help you from start to finish achieving the best result. With us, your claim is in safe hands.

Recent government changes to legislation around personal injury have permanently altered the way personal injury claims are brought, managed and compensated.

While Sheldon Davidson Solicitors was well prepared for these amendments and will continue to offer the same high standards of service, the new regulations have left many solicitors fearing for what the future holds.

What has changed?

Recent alterations to regulations have drastically affected the way personal injury solicitors can approach their handling of personal injury claims.

By far the most significant change for claimants concerns the way compensation is allocated, with personal injury solicitors now able to claim up to 25% of the compensation amount awarded to successful clients. Until the start of April, solicitor fees had been paid for by the losing side, but the controversial government changes have now blocked this route.

It has increased the amounts awarded to victims by 10% in an effort to offset this new legislation, but the move has left many victims worried that they will receive less compensation than before and has also cast doubt over the future of ‘no win, no fee’ claims.

What Sheldon Davidson Solicitors can do

Fortunately for claimants, Sheldon Davidson Solicitors will still offer ‘no win, no fee’ in selected cases, based on the likely success of the claim. You can be sure that our experienced team of personal injury solicitors will always act in your best interests, whether you have suffered an injury at work, been involved in a road traffic accident or suffered as a result of clinical negligence.

At a time when personal injury claims are undergoing a lot of changes, we can provide you with a friendly, reliable service that ensures you receive the maximum compensation possible. Contact us today to ask about your claim.

I would like to thank you for all your effort’s and time in which you have taken in dealing with my personal injury claim your company has been very professional in everything you have done and I would recommend your company to a friend or family member if they were so unfortunate in having a road traffic accident because good professional help is hard to find these days and I am very grateful in which help I have received thank you.

G Smith

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An NHS review of the UK cosmetic surgery industry has warned the government of serious inadequacies in the way certain procedures are regulated.

Medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, who led the study in the wake of the much-publicised PIP breast implant scandal, voiced a lengthy list of concerns on a wide range of topics.

Among the subjects to attract his ire included the use of ‘dermal fillers’, injectable anti-wrinkle treatments which can have serious side effects. Sir Bruce described the lack of regulation surrounding these treatments as “bizarre”, and was particularly critical of the way they are regulated in the UK and Europe.

No fewer than 190 dermal fillers are on general sale in the continent, compared with just 14 in the US. The report recommends that such items be made available by prescription only, and administered by qualified medical professionals.

Patients should receive clearer guidelines on risks

However, the report’s wider concern was for the general state of the industry, with calls to ban financial inducements and limited time offers associated with cosmetic surgery products. Reality television was also brought into the debate, with shows such as The Only Way Is Essex criticised for their frivolous portrayal of cosmetic surgery.

Above all, a lack of information on the risks of treatment was blamed for causing many of the clinical negligence cases which often arise when cosmetic procedures go wrong. Many claims involve patients citing a lack of knowledge of the risks involved as the reason for pursuing compensation to help fund the corrective surgery.

The Department of Health is set to respond to the recommendations over the summer, agreeing new legislation that it is hoped will improve the safety of the cosmetic surgery industry.

What to do if cosmetic surgery goes wrong

If you are the victim of a cosmetic surgery procedure that has gone wrong, Sheldon Davidson Solicitors can advise on you on the likely success of any clinical negligence claim.

It will need to be shown that the surgery has caused you physical or psychological pain and that the negligence of the surgeon in charge of your treatment was at fault for this. In particular, it is vital that you speak to medical negligence solicitors if your health has been damaged as a result of your cosmetic surgery.

The procedure may have been performed incorrectly, or you may not have been given all the information required to make a decision on whether to proceed, such as the risks involved. You may also subsequently have needed to take time off work to correct the problem, which will have caused a loss of earnings.

In every case, the key factor is some form of negligence. It is not enough to simply state that you are not happy with the aesthetic outcome of your treatment, and this will not be seen as grounds for a clinical negligence claim.

Our team of experienced medical negligence solicitors will assess all the details of your case and keep you fully informed every step of the way, representing you in the pursuit of compensation for your injuries.

A report by Robert Francis QC into the events at Stafford Hospital has set out plans to deal with medical negligence within the National Health Service.

The medical facility became headline news after figures showed between 400 and 1,200 more deaths occurred there than the expected national average. Subsequent inquiries revealed that those patients may have been neglected in favour of the hospital pursuing government targets and cost cutting measures.

Reports included receptionists deciding on which A&E patients to treat, nurses lacking the training to use medical equipment and inexperienced doctors being placed in charge of the critically ill. Several senior staff members resigned or were fired in the wake of the incident.

The Francis Report studied the events at Stafford and has come back with no fewer than 290 guidelines as to how the NHS can improve care and reduce the risk of medical negligence.

It looked at how staff had allowed such poor care to take place, why the concerns of patients and their families had been ignored and why it took the hospital so long to recognise and react to the problems.

Among the most crucial recommendations put forward were:

• The need to apologise to patients and families
• Make the implementation of high quality care a national priority, particularly for older patients
• Recognise that Stafford is not an isolated problem and that these issues are relevant throughout the NHS
• Develop an action plan to address the concerns outlined in the report

The report also seeks to make it a criminal offence for hospitals to attempt to hide instances of poor care or mistakes in made during the course of treatment.

What should you do if you are the victim of medical negligence?

While there are plenty of hospitals in the UK that do a good job and provide an excellent standard of care, what this long running case has shown is that many patients throughout the country have been the victim of medical negligence.

If you feel that your care was not up to the required standard, and that this resulted in you becoming ill or injured, or made a pre-existing condition worse, you may be eligible to make a medical negligence claim.

Our team of personal injury solicitors can help with a wide range of medical issues, including misdiagnosis, surgical errors, pharmaceutical mistakes, poor hospital care or hygiene leading to illness or infection and defective medical equipment.

Contact Sheldon Davidson Solicitors today for free, no obligation advice to see if our solicitors can help with your medical negligence claim.

If you have suffered an injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault, our team of highly qualified personal injury solicitors in Manchester can deal with compensation claims both locally and nationally.

Sheldon Davidson Solicitors have the expertise and experience to assess the merits of your personal injury compensation claim, advising you on the risks involved and your likely chance of success.

Common types of personal injury claim

Our solicitors deal with a range of cases, from minor strains, cuts and bruises to more serious injuries or clinical negligence. Certain personal injuries can restrict your mobility and independence, significantly affecting your everyday life.

In some cases, you may need to take time off work to recover from your injuries or need help looking after family members.

Some of the most frequent cases we deal with include:

• Slips, trips and falls
• Accidents at work
• Road traffic accidents – whether you’re a driver, passenger, pedestrian or cyclist
• Injuries to victims of violent crime

In all of these personal injury claims, the key aspect is that someone else must be to blame. This could be an individual, your employer or another organisation, and the fault could be due to negligence, carelessness or a criminal act.

Get help from personal injury solicitors in Manchester

With so much to think about in each separate personal injury claim, it is vital to seek advice from experienced personal injury solicitors as soon as possible. Sheldon Davidson Solicitors can offer advice on your personal injury claim.

We will ensure your claim, and any associated medical rehabilitation, progresses as quickly and smoothly as possible, as we know what a stressful situation it is for those pursuing personal injury claims.

Our Manchester-based personal injury solicitors will liaise with insurance companies, medical professionals, the police and the courts to ensure every aspect of your case is thoroughly and fairly considered.

It’s vital that claimants seek advice from specialist personal injury solicitors, as failing to do so could result in you receiving less compensation than you deserve. Our professional negligence solicitors often deal with cases of victims who did not see a personal injury specialist, and consequently found that their claim was not handled correctly.

We can revisit the situation for you and, if we find you should have received more, we will take on the case again and seek not only the correct compensation for your injury, but also from your previous solicitor.

If you think you may be entitled to make a compensation claim, contact Sheldon Davidson’s dedicated team of personal injury solicitors in Manchester.

From April 1st, the way in which compensation is awarded to personal injury victims is set to change dramatically. It is vital that you see a solicitor about your claim without delay, as once you miss this deadline you are likely to receive far less compensation than you would under the current system.

What do the changes mean?

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will allow personal injury solicitors to claim up to 25% of the compensation awarded to their clients if their claim is successful. As it stands now, any costs due to your solicitor come from the defendant, leaving all your compensation intact.

Ministers have risen the amount of compensation victims receive by 10% in a bid to help them pay their fees, but it is likely that many will still lose out. As such, there is a clear advantage to be gained from claiming as soon as possible.

Furthermore, the small claims limit will rise from £1,000 to £5,000, meaning a great deal more people will have to find the funds to cover their own costs in those less severe, but still important personal injury cases.

Speak to our personal injury solicitors about your claim

There is very limited time left available for you to get your case considered using the existing system, so Sheldon Davidson Solicitors’ advice to act as soon as possible after your injury has never been more relevant.

The time limit of three years for you to register your claim will remain the same after the changes come into force, but it is not a consideration at this stage for those who want to be sure they keep hold of all their compensation.

So, whether you have been injured in a workplace accident or wish to make a traffic accident compensation claim, get in touch with Sheldon Davidson Solicitors without delay on 0808 9000 990 for free initial advice with no obligation.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has rejected a suggestion from a leading insurance company that whiplash claims should be handled directly by insurers.

What the insurance company is claiming

Aviva blames an 80% rise in motor insurance premiums since 2008 on an increase in personal injury claims. It claims that whiplash is one of the main contributors to this figure, suggesting the number of cases has risen 32% since 2009.

It suggests whiplash claims from those injured in road traffic accidents account for an extra £118 in the average driver’s annual insurance, and contends that allowing such claims to be handled directly by insurers of the ‘at fault’ party would take £1.5 billion off the annual UK premium.

APIL’s response

An APIL spokesman contested these claims, saying that leaving injured parties in the hands of the ‘at fault’ insurer would leave them in an “incredibly vulnerable position”.

They added that such an arrangement had the potential to create a serious conflict of interest that could jeopardise the prospect of a fair outcome for the claimant.

This is a topic that has been on APIL’s agenda since last year, when its ‘Whiplash Report 2012′ was put before Parliament in November with the aim of ensuring an equal debate between the injured drivers and those defending themselves against whiplash claims.

This report directly addressed a long-standing insurer claim that lawyers are responsible for the rise in whiplash compensation claims. APIL surveyed 4,000 drivers and found that 28% said their whiplash claim was encouraged by an insurer, compared with just 21% who pursued compensation on the advice of a solicitor.

It also highlighted the fact that UK roads are busier than anywhere else in Europe. This increases the possibility of low velocity accidents, which are a major cause of whiplash injuries.

In a direct challenge to insurers, APIL also claimed it was irresponsible for them to offer compensation without first seeking medical evidence to support whiplash claims. It argues that this in turn gives rise to a number of fraudulent cases brought by those who have not really suffered an injury. APIL President Karl Tonks says all parties must work together on this issue in order to ensure only honest whiplash claims are compensated.

Why you should get help from personal injury solicitors

At Sheldon Davidson Solicitors, we are able to provide assistance from vastly experienced road traffic accident solicitors who will work hard to secure the best possible compensation for you.

The main advantage of working with personal injury solicitors instead of allowing an insurer to handle your whiplash claim is that you can be certain there is someone who is working in your best interests. If you allow the ‘at fault’ insurer to handle the claim, then of course there is the chance that they will simply seek to limit the damage to them rather than obtain the compensation you are owed.

Our team will help deal with all aspects of your whiplash case. As well as the pursuit of compensation, there may also be other factors to deal with depending on the severity of your injury. Some people think of whiplash as a minor inconvenience, but the reality is that the effects can often last several months.

We can help you recover any medical fees required during your rehabilitation, as well as any lost earnings you incurred as a result of forced absence from work.

If you’d like to hear more about how Sheldon Davidson Solicitors can help with your traffic accident compensation claim, whether you wish to claim for whiplash or a more serious injury, you can call us on 0808 9000 990 for further information.