The Pro-Bono team in Leeds has successfully helped a patient recover
over £100,000 from their insurance company. The patient suffered a
severe spinal cord injury in an accident at work at the beginning of
last year.
The Pro-Bono team became involved in this claim after
the patient's insurers, Friends Life, initially rejected his claim as
they felt that the patient's condition did not meet their strict
definition of 'paralysis of limbs' or 'loss of independence' in the
critical illness policy. The patient came to the legal service in March
2013 and the team dedicated many hours to this claim, which included
corresponding with the insurer and obtaining medical evidence in support
of the patient's claim. As a result of this work, the team successfully
persuaded the insurers that, although the patient did make a partial
recovery, the symptoms that remained meant that in reality, the
patient's injuries should fall within the policy definitions and he
should receive the benefit.
On 18 December 2013, the insurer's
confirmed that the patient would receive £111,162.24, the maximum amount
payable under the policy. The patient said, 'Thank you and all your
colleagues so much for all your help, I cannot express how much this
means to me and my wife. It is a massive weight from our shoulders.
