The Importance of having specialist motorbike accident solicitor on your side

The Incident

Our client who was a keen biker, suffered an accident whilst riding his motorcycle on the road. He was riding and encountered slow moving traffic, as a result he was then filtering through traffic to proceed with his journey. Whist traveling through the traffic a rear car door was opened which resulted in him being knocked off his bike and injured. Our client sought medical treatment and reported the incident to the police, but he was unable to remember the details of the car involved in the incident. In these cases, we can bring a claim through the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB).

The Case

We submitted the claim to the MIB and having completed their enquiries, the MIB’s stance was that our client should bear some responsibility for the accident as they were filtering through traffic and had placed themselves in a position of danger by doing so.  The MIB made a formal award for compensation based on a 50/50 split. This is known as contributory negligence, i.e., our client was also partially to blame for their accident.

Michael Taylor, who represented the client, has a huge amount of experience in dealing with motorcycle claims and he did not agree with this decision and advised his client that they should reject the offer and appeal the decision from the MIB.  As part of the appeal, we not only cited case law which back up our position but also the intricacies of the Highway Code which we stated also supported our position to appeal.

The Outcome

The matter went to the Arbitrator to consider the appeal and our arguments as to why our client was not partially to blame. On reviewing the case, the Arbitrator agreed with our opinion.  They confirmed they were entirely satisfied that no contributory negligence should lie with our client, and they ruled that our client should be awarded 100% of the compensation.

This is an example of where having a specialist solicitor who knows an area of law so well can lead to a more positive outcome for the client. There are times when this knowledge is invaluable and can provide a quicker response to the defendants or in this case the MIB. If you have suffered an accident and would like the advice of a specialist motorbike claim solicitor then call us for a Free initial chat to discuss if we can help you.