Richard is the Head of the Injury Department and joined Crosse + Crosse in 1987. He has undertaken injury and accident related work for the last 20 years.
Richard has been a member of The Law Society's Personal injury panel since 1994 - shortly after its inception. He is a member of the Headway referral panel
Richard has specialist knowledge and expertise in all aspects of personal injury practice. He is regularly instructed on behalf of both Claimants and Defendants. He has wide experience in difficult cases and those involving catastrophic injuries. He provides fast, easy to understand, straightforward advice in high value complex personal injury cases. He also handles clinical negligence claims.
An important part of Richard's work is providing representation to families at Coroner's inquests where he works closely with his colleague Penny Evans. These cases can often last for several weeks and have a high volume of paperwork. Many clients have expressed their appreciation at their sensitive approach combined with their determination to establish the facts of what occurred and to bring those responsible to account.
Richard has considerable experience in handling Coroner's Inquests and some recent notable cases have included:
Re: Jamie Hague and others
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1507520/Coroner-ordered-review-after-three-died-in-death-pact.html
Stacey is an experienced Solicitor with over 18 years Litigation Experience.
Stacey has specialised in Personal Injury claims since 1994 and has been a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers for over 10 years. Stacey was the Regional Co-ordinator for the South West Region of APIL for a number of years. Stacey is an admitted APIL Litigator and a member of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel. Stacey was recently appointed a Court of Protection Deputy.
Stacey deals with high value claims, including brain and catastrophic injuries. Stacey have a variable caseload of RTA, Employer's Liability, Occupiers and Public Liability claims. Stacey has taken multi-track cases to Trial and is a skilled negotiator and advocate. Given the complex nature of the claims Stacey deals with, she is familiar with PI trusts, periodical payments, provisional damages, future Care and Loss of Earnings claims, as well as Pension Loss claims. Stacey have defended MIB claims.
Stacey recently dealt with an Occupiers Liability case where there was an early admission of liability, and an early offer of £8,000. The Defendant applied to resile from their admission late in the proceedings. Their application was rejected in the first instance, and went to appeal. Prior to the appeal, Stacey was able to negotiate settlement in excess of £425,000 - plus costs.
In a recent brain injury case, Stacey had been appointed as a Deputy by the court of Protection. Liability was aggressively denied for over two years post accident. Settlement has been reached at just over £1 million with part periodical payments/part lump sum.
Another RTA claim Stacey had settled recently involved serious physical injuries rendering the Claimant unable to return to his pre-accident employment. The defendants made a payment into Court of £78,000. The case eventually settled for more than £235,000.
Karen is an experienced Solicitor with over 15 years litigation experience. Having completd her finals at the College of Law in Guildford, Karen trained and qualified as a Solicitor in London. She spent the early part of her career engaged in the filed of general litigation, later specialising in personal injury work. She worked in London for some years gaining much advocacy experience appearing in various County Courts and the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court on many occasions.
Karen joined Crosse & Crosse in 2001 specialising in personal injury claims and was made an Associate in 2004. She has specialist knowledge and expertise in all aspects of personal injury practice and has dealt with a number of high value complex claims. In addition Karen undertakes clinical negligence claims. Many clients have expressed appreciation for the understanding and sensitive approach Karen takes when conducting their claims. Karen is a member of the Exeter Medico-Legal Society.
Nicola is an experienced Solicitor with over 18 years in the field of litigation. She is a member of the Devon & Exeter Law Society, APIL and the Exeter Medico-Legal Society.
After achieving a First Class Master of Law Degree at Cambridge University, Nicola spent the early part of her career engaged in Civil Litigation, specialising in Employment Law, Contract and Commercial disputes and Landlord & Tenant matters for both individuals and companies. Nicola has appeared before employment tribunals and in the Magistrates Court. She is a confident advocate and conducts the majority of her own hearings.
Nicola moved into Personal Injury work from 1997 and then specialised in this when joining Crosse + Crosse in 2004. Nicola deals mainly with RTA and Employer's Liability claims, ranging from straight-forward Fast Track matters to complex liability claims. She also conducts Clinical Negligence and Fatal Accident claims. In addition to liability disputes Nicola has dealt with large Pension Loss claims, requiring specialist knowledge and expertise. Her work is both Claimant and Defendant, and she has represented private clients in defence matters. Nicola is frequently recommended by an In house Legal team in respect of RTA personal Injury claims for fleet drivers and their families.
Nicola attends regular professional development courses the most recent concerning limitation issues, road traffic claims update, and industrial disease claims.
Expanding on her background in Civil Litigation, Nicola has conducted Utility Damage claims with the firm, working closely with Nigel Parker in that regard. This is a unique type of litigation involving considerable evidence gathering and investigation work; accurate and precise statement-taking and commercial assessments of the litigation risks in order to secure a successful outcome.
Nigel has over 25 years experience of litigation. Shortly after gaining a BA (Hons) in Economic History from Liverpool University he joined the in house legal department of a major public utility where he worked for 13 years. He dealt with a wide range of litigation work including significant amounts of personal injury, public liability and employers liability claims.
Nigel has made a particular name for himself in the specialized area of claims for damage to underground apparatus dug up in the course of street works. The value of such damage runs to several millions of pounds every year and the resulting claims are frequently contentious. One of his most important achievements was to win a leading case on technical aspects of repairs to fibre optic telephone cables.
Nigel joined Crosse + Crosse in May 1997 and has continued to be instructed in his first love of apparatus damage claims. Since joining the firm he has also continued to work in the area of personal injury litigation and is often complimented by clients for his conduct of their claims.
Penny joined Crosse & Crosse in 2002 as a Litigation Executive. Shortly afterwards she successfully completed her National Certificate in Legal Practice and became a student member of the Institute of Legal Executives.
Penny has a wide range of experience in injury related claims and routinely handles cases arising out of road traffic accidents, injuries caused in the workplace, and slipping or tripping accidents. Penny's keen interest in horses has been of great assistance when handling a number of equestrian claims and other cases which have arisen out of farming accidents.
Penny also works very closely with Richard Stevinson, in relation to cases involving fatal accidents and Inquests. Many clients have been appreciative of their sensitive approach combined with their determination to establish the facts of what occurred and to bring those responsible to account. Penny and Richard also work closely together in claims involving catastrophic injuries.
Penny and Richard have been involved with a number of high profile and complex Inquests. They have continued to act for the families where a civil claim has been pursued after the Inquest has concluded; this has involved issues arising out of the Human Rights Act.
Penny is a Committee member for the Exeter Medico-Legal Society.
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Diana is a Litigation Executive with a particular specialism in defendant RTA work. This involves initial data gathering and interviewing witnesses, and then providing liability, quantum and costs assessments to insurer clients. Dianas involvement in these cases is usually post-issue, and so is experienced in procedural matters. It is not uncommon for these cases to proceed to Trial. Diana has succeeded in obtaining costs orders against Claimants in several cases where the Claimant has withdrawn at the last minute, or failed to prove his case at Trial.
Prior to the focusing on defendant work, Diana managed a caseload of Claimant personal injury cases for four years, ranging from standard RTA's, to disputed Public and Employer's Liability claims. Diana has dealt with cases involving multiple injured Claimants and has assisted on complex multi-track claims. In addition to her RTA Defence work Diana also assists Senior Solicitors with preparing quantum valuations, obtaining statements, researching rates, sourcing experts and costing files.
Prior to working for Crosse + Crosse Diana spent two years working as a Case Handler in an in-house Uninsured Loss Recovery unit dealing with damage claims for RAC clients. The workload was high volume and involved considerable liaison between clients, and insurers. Court proceedings were often issued, and Diana is familiar with the Small Claims procedure both for securing Judgment, and for enforcing the same.
Diana has also been involved with BT Cable Damage claims approximately, and has experience of these niche claims from pre-issue to Trial and costs negotiations thereafter. Diana is familiar with the basic mechanics of BT's underground apparatus and the procedures for obtaining the documentation necessary to evidence a claim.
Diana has handled many RTA claims for BT injured drivers, including recovery of expenses due to BT.
Crosse + Crosse Solicitors incorp Charles Hope & Co, 14 Southernhay West, Exeter, EX1 1PL Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority - SRA number 45764 Tel: +44 (0)1392 258451 - Fax: +44 (0)1392 278938 - DX: 8313 EXETER - Email: mail@crosse.co.uk