Personal injury claims

They contacted this retailer to notify them of the incident but was given the cold shoulder. After a week of being fobbed off, they Googled the CEO's name, guessed their e-mail address and sent them a mail about it. They were contacted immediately, product replaced, full refund, restaurant voucher and bunch of flowers. Happy with that but then they were contacted again to say they had been passed to the legal team to arrange compensation.

A solicitor contacted them the other day and practically asked for a figure. They have thought about it and gone back with an amount.

The whole claims culture drives me mad and I don't know where I stand on this one given they haven't been the one to contact a solicitor or pursue compensation. My wife is disgusted that they went back with a figure.

2 questions:

Should they just let it drop?

How much would a pay out for a situation like this usually be?

If not then stop being a f**king pussy and ruining the country, my 2 year old would forget about it in about 10 mns. 

If the company are settling it like that, chances are they're settling for a fair bit less than it might be worth. As ever, it is a question of some money now v the chance of more money later. Without figures or knowledge of the extent of the injuries (and what exactly caused it), no one can be any more specific than that. There are other issues: the company may want to avoid any publicity; your friend may just want the money on offer now.

If there are potentially liability issues (i.e. whether compensation is even due at all), you have to take that into account; it all depends on the case. If you have a case that, on a good day, is worth 50 grand, but there is potentially contributory negligence, or even a risk that there is no liability at all, 20 grand today might be a fair figure to accept; if there is no issue with contributory negligence or liability, you might not want to settle it too quickly. However, if you currently have 5 grand in the bank and a bill for 10 grand due in two weeks, you might bite their hand off for 10 grand today. That depends on personal circumstances.

It sounds like there is no liability issue here (although if you use a garden strimmer, for example, without gloves, even if the product is defective, it is partly your fault if you end up with cut hands). Without knowing more, it's impossible to say more.

However, and make no mistake about it, if an organisation are selling a defective product, or if their quality system doesn't pick up on errors, by bringing a claim not only are you getting something out of it, but you are providing a healthy incentive for the company to stop this sort of thing happening again. If your mate doesn't claim and the product isn't changed, who is to say next time it doesn't take an eye from a three year old?

Maria said a few weeks ago that she had moved on from her Insurance claim fiasco, well I am also moving on,  to unemployment in a few months.  I would like to see if Maria has any suggestions on what I can do.