By Stephen Kane. Last Updated 23rd November 2022. If you have had an allergic reaction to nuts, you may have experienced a number of unpleasant symptoms. If you have accidentally consumed nuts, you may have experienced an allergic reaction very soon afterwards. However, if your allergic reaction is due to negligence on a food seller, restaurant or takeaway, you could be eligible to make a claim for compensation. There are legal requirements in place with regard to food packaging and food service, and if these have not been adhered to, you could have the possibility of making a nut allergy reaction claim.
How to claim for an allergic reaction to nuts guide
The item could have been purchased as pre-packaged food and eaten at home, or you may have eaten it in a bar, restaurant, or cafe. Sometimes, allergic reactions could happen because of contamination during food production. Either way, if you have an allergy to peanuts and you have suffered a reaction through no fault of your own, claiming could be a possibility.
In the sections below, we are going to take a look at how personal injury lawyers and the courts could calculate compensation for an allergic reaction to nuts. We will also reveal the different sorts of damages that can be included in your claim, as well as explaining how a personal injury solicitor could assist you in making a No Win No Fee claim without you needing to fund your legal fees upfront.
If you have suffered an allergic reaction to nuts, and you would like some free legal advice or you are ready to make your personal injury claim, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us today. You can reach our team on 0161 696 9685 at any time.
Select A Section
- A Guide On Making A Claim For An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
- Calculating Compensation For An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
- Could You Also Claim Special Damages?
- What Is An Allergic Reaction To Nuts?
- Symptoms Of An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
- Diagnosis And Treatment Of Nut Allergies
- Treatment For Anaphylaxis
- What Are The Dangers Of An Allergic Reaction To Nuts?
- Nut Allergy Reaction – How To Establish Negligence
- Food Allergy And Intolerance Laws
- Make A No Win No Fee Claim For An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
- Talk To Our Team
- More Information
- Statistics On The Prevalence Of Nut Allergies
- FAQs On Allergic Reactions To Nuts
A Guide On Making A Claim For An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
Have you experienced an allergic reaction to nuts? If you have a nut allergy and you have eaten nuts without realising it because of a food business’s negligence, you may be able to make a personal injury claim. However, you would need to make sure you could prove that the other party was to blame.
All food businesses, including takeaways, restaurants, and cafes, have a responsibility to make sure that nut allergy information is communicated to their customers. In order to hold a valid claim, you must be able to establish three key areas. Through evidence, you must be able to prove that you were owed a duty of care, this duty was negligently breached and finally, that you suffered as a direct consequence.
How This Guide Could Help
In this guide, you will learn everything that you need to know about such claims. We will explain the different responsibilities that food businesses have, as well as how affected customers could take action against the eatery if negligence was to cause an allergic reaction.
Calculating Compensation For An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
One thing some claimants may want to know is how much of a compensation payout they could be looking at for their claim. However, compensation amounts are very much case-specific. Courts, solicitors and insurers may need to assess all of the evidence pertaining to your case. They would use the evidence to arrive at an appropriate value. This is why it isn’t possible to get an accurate figure by using a tool such as a personal injury claims calculator. To calculate compensation, factors like the severity of your injuries, mental injuries, and the impact the incident is going to have on your life will be considered.
How To Calculate Compensation
As part of your nut allergy claim, you may need to undergo an assessment with an independent medical expert. They would provide you with a medical report to evidence your injuries. A court/lawyers could use this evidence combined with the Judicial College Guidelines JCG, which is a publication, to come to a value for your suffering. In the table below, we display the guideline payouts for injuries from the JCG.
| Type of Injury/Illness Suffered | Judicial College Guidelines Bracket | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Illness caused by a non-traumatic injury (i) | £38,430 to £52,500 | This payout is for severe cases of toxicosis. Symptoms tend to include diarrhoea, fever, and serious pain. The individual may be admitted to the hospital for a few days or possibly a couple of weeks. Symptoms may continue to impact the injured person in terms of their enjoyment of life and ability to work. |
| Illness caused by a non-traumatic injury (ii) | £9,540 to £19,200 | For an injury to fall into this category, the person will experience serious yet short-lived symptoms of poisoning. The worst symptoms will start to eradicate within a period of two to four weeks. Nevertheless, there may be some symptoms that remain for a few years, for example, an impact on the injured person’s sex life or enjoyment of food, as well as some bowel disturbance symptoms. |
| Illness caused by a non-traumatic injury (iii) | £3,950 to £9,540 | For this type of claim, symptoms could cause a considerable amount of discomfort. Examples include stomach cramps, fatigue, and bowel function alteration. The individual may be required to stay in hospital for a number of days, and symptoms could end up lasting a few weeks. Nevertheless, the injured party should recover fully within a period of one or two years. |
| Mental Anguish | £4,670 | Fear of impending death. |
However, these figures should only be taken as rough ballpark estimates. If you’d like to chat about this in more detail, we could be able to give you free advice and a better understanding of the sort of compensation you may be able to receive for your claim.
Could You Also Claim Special Damages?
There are two types of damages when it comes to making a claim for a nut allergy reaction.
General Damages
The first is what is known as general damages, which relates to the mental and physical injuries you may have experienced. We illustrated these types of payout in the table in the previous section. They are calculated on a case by case basis.
Special Damages
Special damages refer to any costs you may have encountered because of what has happened to you. These could include:
Loss Of Income
Some injuries may require you to stay off work while you recover. If you miss out on income for this reason, you could claim special damages.
Medical Expenses
As you are probably aware, most NHS treatments are free at the point of access. However, if you pay prescription fees or require counselling, for example, these could be claimed as special damages.
Care Costs
You may need someone to provide care to you if you are unable to look after yourself because of your injuries. Care costs could make up part of your claim.
Travel Expenses
If you incur costs relating to transport to a medical appointment or to see your lawyer, you could claim for such costs.
Compensation payouts could typically include both special and general damages.
What Is An Allergic Reaction To Nuts?
An allergic reaction to nuts means that you suffer a reaction when eating them. When a person has a nut allergy, their immune system, which will typically fight an infection, could start overreacting as it believes the nuts are dangerous for the body.
If the person consumes something that contains a nut, the body could think that the proteins are dangerous. As such, the immune system could go into overdrive to fight the proteins off, which is how the reaction occurs.
Symptoms of an allergic reaction to nuts could include sneezing, a runny nose, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, red itchy rashes, swelling of the lips, itchy throat, itchy tongue, itchy mouth, and more.
Could I Be Allergic To All Nuts?
It is vital to recognise that being allergic to one type of nut does not mean that you are allergic to all of them. It would be a good idea to have an allergy test done to see whether or not you may be allergic to all nuts so that you can be safe in the knowledge.
Symptoms Of An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
There are a number of different allergic reaction symptoms, depending on the type of reaction you’ve had.
IgE-reaction symptoms could come on quite quickly and could include:
- Swelling of the lips, as well as around the face or eyes
- Itchy throat, tongue, or mouth
- Sneezing and a runny nose
- Diarrhoea, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting
- Red raised itchy rash, often referred to as urticaria, hives, or nettle rash
Non-IgE reactions tend to come on some time after exposure to allergens, and symptoms could include:
- Constipation
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Dry skin, reddening of the skin, and itching
Anaphylaxis
If you experience one or several of the symptoms below, this could indicate that you have anaphylaxis. This is considered a severe allergic reaction. This should be handled as a medical emergency.
Some of the severe symptoms are as follows:
- Sudden sleepiness in babies, as well as being pale and floppy
- Loss of consciousness, collapsing, and dizziness
- Noisy or difficult breathing
- Persistent cough or a whistling noise/wheeze
- Change in your voice/sounding hoarse
- Difficulty in speaking or swallowing
- Swelling of the throat and/or tongue
Diagnosis And Treatment Of Nut Allergies
You may be wondering how people with a peanut allergy learn about this. If you suspect that you could have an allergy to nuts, you could book an appointment with your GP so you can discuss this. Your GP may organise allergy testing to be carried out or you may be referred to a specialist who can provide specific IgE blood testing and skin prick testing for allergies. These tests are beneficial in determining whether a food allergy is likely to be the cause. They could also rule out any other possible reasons for you experiencing such symptoms.
Should you suspect that you may have an allergy, you may be told to avoid peanuts and other types of nuts until you have it confirmed that you do not have an allergy.
Treatment For Anaphylaxis
If someone has any anaphylaxis symptoms, it is imperative that they get treatment immediately. Once you notice any symptoms, call 999 for an ambulance straight away and state that you believe the person anaphylaxis. The person will need emergency treatment to prevent them from going into a coma. It is vital that action is taken immediately so that the person has the best chance of recovery. The emergency services may ask you to provide certain care and help to the person.
What Are The Dangers Of An Allergic Reaction To Nuts?
A nut allergy reaction is dangerous because it can cause severe injuries, which can even result in death in rare cases. When anaphylaxis is not treated quickly enough, the injuries can be fatal. People with more serious nut allergies could carry their own medication to be used immediately if they have an allergic reaction.
Nut Allergy Reaction – How To Establish Negligence
To figure out whether you have grounds to make a personal injury claim because you suffered an allergic reaction to nuts, there are a few things you need to check. You need to establish that you suffered a nut allergy reaction due to a breach of duty of care. If this is the case, we recommend you gather evidence to prove this. Hiring a solicitor could help you with this.
Whether you’ll be able to claim for a rash or other nut allergy symptoms that may have manifested will depend on the circumstances of how your allergic reaction occurred. Some examples of when you could potentially make a claim include:
- The food establishment where you suffered your reaction failed to disclose the presence of nuts. For instance, they may not have printed this on pre-packaged food or on their menu.
- You asked a member of staff about the ingredients of a meal you ordered because you’re allergic to nuts, but they provided you with incorrect allergy information.
For more advice on gathering evidence for a nut allergy reaction claim, you are welcome to contact our team of advisors today.
Food Allergy And Intolerance Laws
Exposure to nuts can have severe and possibly life-threatening consequences for a person who has a nut allergy. This is something that the government has recognised, resulting in them introducing the Food Information for Consumers Regulations in 2014, which makes it a lot easier for consumers to find out about the presence of allergens, including nuts, in the food that they consume.
As per the new legislation, if a business supplies food to individuals, they must warn them if there are nuts present within the food products. The warning can be given orally by waiters, displayed on the menu, or written onto the food packaging. Establishments need to adhere to this legislation. This includes stores selling pre-packaged foods, hospital kitchens, work and school canteens, caterers, takeaways, cafes, and restaurants. If this has not happened and you have had an allergic reaction to nuts, you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim.
Make A No Win No Fee Claim For An Allergic Reaction To Nuts
Those who may want to pursue a personal injury claim may opt to use a solicitor rather than pursue the claim alone. However, they may be worried about the costs of hiring a legal professional. This is why we advise many claimants to use a solicitor that offers a No Win No Fee agreement.
How Do This Work?
- Before taking on your claim, the personal injury solicitor will send you a No Win No Fee agreement. Within this important document will be details of their success fee. This is a legally capped small percentage of your compensation. You will only pay this if your claim results in compensation.
- When you have signed and sent back the agreement, your solicitor will start to build your claim and negotiate for a compensation payout for you.
- When your payout comes through, the solicitor deducts their success fee, and you benefit from the rest of your payout.
If you’re interested in reading more about No Win No Fee agreement, we have created a handy guide. Although if you’d prefer to ask us questions over the phone, we would be glad to answer them.
Talk To Our Team
If you have had an allergic reaction to nuts as a consequence of negligence, and you would like to benefit from free legal advice, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Our experienced and friendly claims team would be happy to assist. Simply use one of the options below to get in touch for free legal advice.
- Call our friendly team on 0161 696 9685
- Complete the contact form and we’ll call you back
- Use Live Chat to message our team
More Information
Claiming For Children – If your child has experienced an allergic reaction to nuts as a result of negligence, you can use this guide for more information.
Food Poisoning Claims – We also have a comprehensive guide on food poisoning claims, which you can read here.
Making Personal Injury Claims Against Restaurants – If the allergic reaction you experienced occurred because of a meal you ate at a restaurant, you will find this guide very helpful.
Children’s Allergies – If you are a parent of a child with any sort of food allergy, including a nut allergy, this guide is very helpful.
How To Treat Allergies – You can use this guide for more information on the different types of allergic reaction to nuts treatment options.
Allergy Cases In The Courts – Information regarding some of the different allergic reaction cases can be found here.
Statistics On The Prevalence Of Nut Allergies
Did you know that approximately 44 per cent of adults in Britain now suffer at least one allergy? In fact, there are some of the highest prevalence rates of allergic conditions in the UK compared with the rest of the world.
Statistics also show that more than 150 million Europeans suffer from an allergy that is classed as chronic.
FAQs On Allergic Reactions To Nuts
Below, we answer some of the questions we commonly receive when people reach out to us for free legal advice for their allergic reaction to nuts.
How Long Does An Allergic Reaction To Nuts Last?
How long an allergic reaction to nuts lasts depends on the individual in question. For some people, it can take a few hours for the symptoms to disappear. However, for others, it can take a few days. For serious cases, it may even be longer than this.
What To Do After Being Allergic To Nuts?
If a person is allergic to nuts and they have had an allergic reaction, if you suspect anaphylaxis, you should call an ambulance.
What Happens If You Eat Nuts And You’re Allergic?
People should take nut allergies seriously. A severe reaction, which is known as anaphylaxis, could happen. This can cause the individual to feel lightheaded, have trouble breathing, and even pass out. Unfortunately, there have been a number of cases whereby anaphylaxis has been fatal, so urgent medical treatment could be appropriate.
How Long Does A Food Allergic Reaction Last?
How long a food allergic reaction will last depend on your body. It could also depend on the type of symptoms that you have had. For most people, the symptoms they have been experiencing will start to disappear after a couple of hours. However, in some serious cases, it can take several days and sometimes a number of weeks.
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