The Cycling Lawyer
Active Member
I’ll speak to my solicitor as my claim for that is still ongoing. I’m not sure I’d be able to anything tho as it’s a pre-existing condition. The arthritis hasn’t just pooped up because of the accident. Cheers for the thought tho.
I don’t want to trump the advice you are already getting from your solicitor , but generally speaking there’s a couple of main avenues to take here.
If you have pre-existing medical condition which is made worse by the accident, then the “thin skull” rule will apply, which basically means the defendant will be expected to “take you as they find you”.
If your accident has made your pre-existing condition worse (known as an exacerbated injury), and this was the reason had to leave work, then you may well have a loss of earnings claim. You may also have a claim future loss of earnings too…. Oh and loss of pension! It can result in a very tidy sum.
Provided your decision to leave work was reasonable consequence of your injury, and this is supported by the medical expert(s) then it will be a viable claim to make.
The defendant will likely argue that your pre-existing medical condition would have eventually deteriorated to the point where you would have stopped you working anyway, and seek to reduce the claim on this basis, which may or may not be a reasonable outcome.
Hope this helps 👍