Press Release

NEW GUIDE TACKLES PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS CONFUSION

19 April 2007

Confusion about negligence and personal injury litigation is tackled in a new booklet launched by lawyers today (April 19).

The guide, produced by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) aims to help people understand the difference between an accident and negligence and correct common misunderstandings about how the law applies when someone is injured.

“This is by no means an exhaustive guide, but it is designed to help people understand that the best way to avoid injury and litigation is to prevent negligence from happening in the first place,” said Martin Bare, incoming president of APIL.

“An accident is just that – an unforeseen mishap. We all have them, and we should simply accept it,” he went on. “But there is a big difference between an unavoidable accident and an injury caused by someone else’s negligence. What we are trying to do here is to give people an idea of how the two are interpreted by the law.

“I really hope this booklet will begin to help both individuals and organisations to put this issue into perspective, to understand what the law expects them to do to avoid needless injury, and how to do it without stopping people from living full and active lives.”

“We all have a moral and legal responsibility not to injure people needlessly,” he went on. “This is not new. But people must understand that embracing the need for sensible analysis of risk in certain situations does not have to put the brakes on things like school trips or adventurous activities. It does instead offer a way of doing them without the fear of needless injury.