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What is a personal injury
A personal injury can be:
physical injury, disease or illness, or
psychological injury or illness.
personal injury could result in death.
Examples of personal injuries are:
injury at work. This includes work-related illnesses such as a disease caused by working with asbestos
psychological illness caused by stress at work
injury caused in a traffic accident
injury received as a result of faulty goods or services
injury caused if you trip over paving stones
psychological illness suffered as a result of abuse as a child
injury caused by errors in hospital treatment or by vaccinations
physical or psychological injury sustained by a victim in the course of a crime
psychological illness caused by discrimination or harassment in your work-place.
If you have suffered a personal injury, or if you are acting on behalf of someone who has died because of a personal injury, you may want to consider the following:
do you want to make a complaint to the person or organisation you believe was responsible for the injuries (see under heading Making a complaint)
do you want to make a claim for compensation to cover losses you have suffered as a result of the injury
are there any immediate financial problems arising because of the injury, for example, you are unable to work (see under heading Financial problems)
do you want to contact an organisation that could offer support or counselling
Action to be taken
Whatever you are intending to do about your personal injury, actions you could take include:-
inform the police if, for example, the injury resulted from a road accident
if the injury resulted from a road accident, report it to your insurance company. The insurance policy may be invalid if an accident is not reported
report the injury to your doctor because it could become more serious. You should do this even if the injury seems minor. If you subsequently go to court to get compensation for the injury, the doctor will be asked to provide a medical report
gather evidence about the accident and injuries. For example, it may be useful to take photographs of the scene of an accident and of what caused the injury. You should also, if possible, write an account of the incident while details are still fresh in your mind. If there are witnesses, you should make a note of their names and addresses.
Accidents at work
If the accident happened at work, it should be recorded in an accident book. If your workplace does not have an accident book, you should write out brief details of the accident and injuries, send them to your employer and keep a copy. Your contract may say that you have to report an injury at work to your employer. If you are self-employed, you have a legal responsibility to report some accidents resulting in injury to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or to the local authority environmental health department.
Making a complaint
If you have had an accident or suffered an injury you might be able to get an explanation of what went wrong and to receive an apology. In some cases, there may be an official complaints procedure you can use.
One disadvantage of using complaints procedures is that they are often time consuming and the final result will be no more than an apology. If you have suffered a personal injury and you also want compensation, you should be aware that there are time limits for taking legal action (see under heading Taking legal action) and going through a complaints procedure may delay matters.
If you decide that making a complaint will provide a sufficient remedy, here are some examples of the organisations you can complain to:
government department
local authority
your employer
the police
your school or other educational institution
your hospital or other National Health Service institution
Compensation
There are several ways of getting compensation for a personal injury:
using a claims assessor (see under heading Claims assessors)
taking legal action in a civil court (see under heading Taking legal action)
making a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (see under heading Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority)
through a criminal compensation order (see under heading Criminal compensation orders)
special Government compensation schemes for some injuries and losses such as vaccine damage or asbestos-related disease – see under heading Special compensation schemes
in Wales, using the NHS Redress Arrangements.
Amount of compensation
If you have sustained a personal injury you may be able to claim two types of compensation, general damages and special damages.
General damages are paid as compensation for an injury, for example, a payment for pain and suffering or loss of future earnings. The court will decide on the amount to be paid.
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Special damages are paid as compensation for actual financial loss caused by the accident up to the date of the hearing. These can include damage to clothing or other belongings, the costs of care, travel costs to hospital, medical expenses (including the cost of private treatment) and the cost of hiring and/or repairing a car if it has been damaged in the accident.
If a court decides that you were partly to blame for the accident, it may reduce the amount of damages you receive. An example of this would be if you were not wearing a seat belt when you were involved in a traffic accident.
In England and Wales, for more information about claiming compensation for personal injury, see Claiming compensation for personal injury – no win, no fee agreements in Legal fact sheets.
Deduction of social security benefits from compensation
If you have been receiving certain social security benefits because of an accident in which you sustained a personal injury, you may have to pay these back out of any compensation you get.
Claims assessors
If you have sustained a personal injury you may be considering using the services of a claims assessor (sometimes known as a claims manager). Claims assessors offer to take up cases on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis but there may be some disadvantages, including:-
a claims assessor will not usually be a solicitor and may not have a solicitor taking responsibility for the case. If this is so, the assessor will not be able to claim compensation through the courts and if you have suffered the injury you may receive less compensation
the claims assessor may ask you to pay a percentage of whatever compensation you receive to the assessor. you should be aware that while paying 50% of £1,000 damages may be acceptable to you, paying 50% of £10,000 may not.
All claims assessors must be authorised by the government to carry out business. They must stick to a strict set of rules which cover how they advertise, take on business, deal with and represent clients.
If you aren't happy with the service you get from a claims assessor, you can make a complaint. They must have an internal complaints procedure which they must tell you about.
Taking legal action
If you want to take legal action to claim compensation for a personal injury you will need to get advice from a solicitor specialising in these types of cases. This must be done as soon as possible as there are strict time limits on taking legal action (see below).
Time limits
There are different time limits within which you must begin legal action in a personal injury claim. You should therefore get legal advice urgently if you wish to claim compensation.
The most common claim in a personal injury case is negligence and the time limit for this is three years. This means that court proceedings must be issued within three years of you first being aware that you have suffered an injury.
In some cases, a court may decide to extend a time limit, depending on the circumstances of the case.
Paying for legal action
Legal action for compensation for a personal injury can be expensive. You may be able to get help with legal costs from, for example:-
a solicitor or organisation providing legal aid
For more information about legal aid, see Help with legal costs.
a conditional fee agreement (see below)
an insurance policy. Many house contents policies, car insurance or travel insurance policies have legal expenses cover attached.
Conditional fee agreement
A conditional fee agreement means that your barrister/solicitor/lawyer will receive no fees if you lose your case. You may, however, have to pay the legal fees and expenses of the other side. Your barrister/solicitor/lawyer will normally ask you to take out insurance to cover this situation. If you win your case, your barrister/solicitor/lawyer fees and expenses will normally be paid by the other side.
For more information about conditional fee agreements, see Using a barrister/solicitor/lawyer.
Choosing a barrister/solicitor/lawyer
If you want to take legal action over a personal injury you should consult a solicitor who is a member of the Law Society’s personal injury accreditation scheme or clinical negligence accreditation scheme, depending on the nature of the injury.
Types of Accidents covered:
The construction work site are:
Construction Site Falls,
Crane Accidents,
Scaffolding Accidents,
Run-Over by Operating Equipment,
Electrical Accidents,
Trench Collapses,
Fires and Explosions,
Welding Accidents,
Unsafe/ Dangerous Equipment Accidents,
Logging Accidents,
Brazing Accidents,
Cutting Accidents,
Elevator Accidents,
Structure Failure,
Building Collapse,
Supervisor Negligence,
Punch Press Malfunctions,
Fork Lift Accidents,
Dumpster Accidents,
Nailgun Accidents,
Compressor Accidents,
Exploding Compressor,
Gas Explosions,
The types of injury you can incur from the accident:
Injuries included on this page:
Head Injury,
Severed Nerve,
Coma,
Cumulative Trauma Disorder,
Spinal Cord Injuries,
Paralysis,
Death,
Severe Gashes,
Burn Injuries,
Loss of Limb,
Infected Wounds,
Dislocations,
Broken/Fractured Bones,
Blinding Injuries,
Hearing Loss,
White Finger Syndrome,
Raynaud's Syndrome.
Other types of personal injuries and headings:
Personal Injury,
Accident Injuries,
Animal and Dog Bite,
Assault Victim,
Birth and Child Injuries,
Brain Injury,
Burn Accident,
Construction Accidents,
Defective and Recalled Product Injuries,
Head and Spinal Cord Injury,
Injuries and Law,
Injury Claim Defense,
Injury Law Guide,
Insurance Claims,
Intentional Accidents and Injuries,
Lead Poisoning,
Libel and Slander,
Medical Injuries,
Motorcycle Accident,
Pedestrian Accident,
Personal Injury Claims,
Personal Injury Litigation,
Pharmaceutical Injuries,
Premises Liability,
Slip and Fall Accident,
Stress Injuries,
Work Related Injuries,
Wrongful Death Claims,
Things to consider when making a personal injury claim:
Special Damages,
Past Losses and Interest,
Multipliers,
Future Losses,
Variable Lifetime Costs,
Loss of Earnings,
Loss of Pension,
Roberts v Johnstone,
General Damages,
Heil v Rankin Uplift,
Fatal,
Fatal Multiplicand,
Dependency,
Others,
ONS Life Expectancy,
Interest,
Quick Multipliers,
Tax and NI,
Age,
Duration,
VAT,
The amount of money you may obtain from making a persoanl injury claim: the estimated value of the claim:
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - minor to severe £2,000 to £5,200
Complete loss of sight in one eye £27,000 to £30,000
Hearing loss – minor to severe £4,000 to £25,000
Whiplash – minor - £1,000 to £4,000
Whiplash – moderate - £4,000 to £14,000
Whiplash – severe - £14,000 to £82,000
Hip or pelvis moderate - £15,000 to £21,000
Fractured shoulder - £2,500 to £6,500
Broken Arm – simple fracture - £3,500 to £10,500
Wrist injury with ongoing problems - £6,500 to £13,500
Fractured Index finger - £5,000 to £6,500
Simple forearm fracture - £4,000 to £11,000
Severe Crush big toe - £8,000 to £11,000
Simple nose fracture - £1,000 to £1,500
Loss of two front teeth - £5,000 to £6,500
Back injury - £5,000 to £60,000
Brain / head injury - £1,300 to £16,500
Asbestos related - £4,000 to £75,000
Hernia Injuries - £2,000 to £14,000
Spleen injury - £2,500 to £15,000
Knee injury - £8,000 to £56,000
Body scarring - £1,300 - £1,800.00
Hair damage - £2,500 - £6,500
Leg injury - £5,000 to £79,000
Elbow injury - £7,500. to £32,000
Chronic pain
For severe chronic pain syndrome the amount you may be entitled to could be in the region of £25,000 to £37,000
Moderate chronic pain - £6,500 to £19,000
Pain in muscles
Ligaments and tendons known as fibromyalgia the amount may be £20,000 to £37,000
Chronic fatigue syndrome – compensation could be up to £28,750
Work related Upper Limb Disorders
For conditions such as carpol tunnel syndrome or severe inflammation of tendons compensation may be £12,000 to £13,000
Whiplash injury
There are many different types of neck injuries and many are found in conjunction with back and shoulder problems, the most devastating cases may have a value of £86,500
On the lower end of the scale where claimants may only suffer minor strain and only suffer for a few weeks the amount could be as little as £750.00
Severe neck injury up to £86,500
Injury which caused severe damage to the soft tissues and/or ruptured tendons could be up to £32,000
Moderate neck injury - £8,000 to £14,500
Minor neck injury - £2,500 to £4,500
Brain Damage
Severe brain damage - with very severe brain damage your award would be in the region of £165,000 to £235,000
Moderate to severe brain damage - £130,000 to £165,000
Moderate brain injury - £25,000 to £125,000
Minor brain injury - £9,000 to £25,000
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