This guide will detail how serious injury claim lawyers can help you claim compensation. Moreover, we will discuss the eligibility criteria for making a serious injury claim and what evidence can support your case. We will also discuss the benefits of making your serious injury claim on a No Win No Fee basis and the settlement that could be awarded if your case wins.
How Could Serious Injury Claim Lawyers Help You?
Serious injuries can include both physical or psychological harm that leave lasting consequences, such as permanent mobility issues. They can be extremely traumatic and impact several areas of the affected person’s life. We will provide examples of how these could occur due to a third party breaching their duty of care. Also, we examine the legislation that these third parties, including employers, road users, and occupiers, must adhere to.
Continue reading to see if you can work with our panel of serious injury claim lawyers. Alternatively, contact us for free using the below details.
- Telephone 0161 696 9685.
- Our ‘Contact Us‘ page.
- Our live chat box.
Jump To A Section
- How Could Serious Injury Claim Lawyers Help You?
- When Are You Eligible To Claim For A Serious Injury?
- Evidence That Could Help You Claim Serious Injury Compensation
- How Much Serious Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
- Make A Personal Injury Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Learn More From Our Serious Injury Guide
How Could Serious Injury Claim Lawyers Help You?
If you are eligible, one of the serious injury claim lawyers from our panel could assist you in seeking compensation. Some of the services they could offer include:
- Help collecting evidence.
- Speaking with potential witnesses to get their statements.
- Update you about your case throughout the claims process.
- Value your claim.
- Send important claims correspondence on your behalf.
Additionally, the lawyers from our panel can offer these services nationwide, meaning you don’t need to worry about location. Instead, you can focus on finding a lawyer who has experience handling serious injury claims, such as those on our panel.
To find out whether they could help you, please contact an advisor on the number above.
When Are You Eligible To Claim For A Serious Injury?
You may be eligible to claim for a serious injury if you can prove the following criteria:
- A duty of care was owed to you by a third party.
- That duty of care was breached.
- As a result of the breach, you were injured.
In personal injury claims, the three points above lay the foundation of negligence. If you can prove negligence occurred, a serious injury claim lawyer may be able to help you seek compensation.
Below, you can find information on the duty of care owed by different third parties, and how a breach of their duty could lead to a serious injury.
Accidents At Work
Under The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers owe their employees a duty of care. This means they must take reasonable and practicable steps to ensure the workplace and its facilities are safe to use in order to prevent an employee from getting injured. A failure to do so could lead to a serious accident at work.
For example, if you work on a building site and your employer gives you a faulty ladder, you could fall from a height and suffer a serious spinal cord injury.
Road Traffic Accidents
Every road user has a duty of care to one another. This duty entails navigating the roads in a way that prevents harm or damage to themselves and others. To uphold this duty, they must follow the rules in The Highway Code and The Road Traffic Act 1988. A failure on the part of another road user to do so could lead to a road traffic accident in which you sustain a serious injury.
For instance, if a driver runs a red light, this could result in a T-bone collision with another driver. As a result, the other driver could sustain a serious brain injury.
Accidents In A Public Place
Occupiers, or those in control of a public space, owe a duty of care to every public member who uses their space for its designed purpose. The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 establishes that they need to take steps as a way to ensure reasonable safety of those visiting the space. A failure to do so could mean you are injured in a public place accident.
For example, a spillage may have occurred due to stock falling off a shelf in the aisle of a shop. Despite reports being made about the wet floor, no wet floor signs were put in place in a reasonable time frame. As a result, a customer slips and falls, causing them to sustain a broken neck injury.
To discuss your specific case and find out whether a serious injury claim lawyer could help you seek compensation for injuries sustained in an accident at work, in a public place, or a road traffic accident, contact us today.
Evidence That Could Help You Claim Serious Injury Compensation
Evidence can help prove third-party negligence in a serious injury claim. As such, you may find it beneficial to gather:
- CCTV footage or dash-cam footage.
- Photographs of the accident site and your injuries.
- Keeping a diary of your symptoms and treatment.
- Copies of medical records.
- Contact details of possible witnesses.
Is There A Personal Injury Claims Time Limit?
The time limit for starting a personal injury claim is typically 3 years from the accident date. This is set out in the Limitation Act 1980. However, there are a few circumstances where exceptions can be made.
For more information about these, please contact an advisor on the number above. They can assess your case and determine whether a lawyer from our panel could assist you. Our panel of serious injury claim lawyers can assist you in collecting the above evidence and ensuring your claim is brought forward in the relevant time frame.
How Much Serious Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
The compensation awarded following a successful serious injury claim can be split into special and general damages.
Your general damages sum compensates for the physical and mental impacts you have endured from your injury. It takes into consideration:
- Your recovery period.
- Your treatment.
- The extent of your injury’s severity.
- The effect on your quality of life.
Serious injury claim lawyers can refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) and your medical records to help them value general damages. In the table, we have provided a mixture of serious injuries and the accompanying guideline compensation brackets found in the JCG. It is important to note that these figures cannot be relied upon as a guarantee since every claim is individually valued on a case-by-case basis.
Injuries Table
| Injury | Severity | Compensation Bracket | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries | Serious | Up to £1,000,000+ | Multiple serious injuries with financial losses incurred as a result. |
| Paralysis | Tetraplegia/quadriplegia (a) | £324,600 to £403,990 | Paralysis of all the limbs. |
| Paraplegia (b) | £219,070 to £284,260 | Paralysis of the lower limbs. | |
| Brain damage | Very severe (a) | £282,010 to £403,990 | Full-time nursing care is required. |
| Moderately severe (b) | £219,070 to £282,010 | Injuries resulting in very serious disabilities, including limb paralysis. | |
| Back | Severe (a) (i) | £91,090 to £160,980 | Damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots with severe pain and disability with incomplete paralysis. |
| Neck | Severe (a) (i) | In the region of £148,330 | Injuries associated with incomplete paraplegia or spastic quadriparesis of a permanent nature. |
| Severe (a) (ii) | £65,740 to £130,930 | Injuries, such as, fractures or damage to discs in the cervical spine of a serious nature. | |
| Pelvis and hips | Severe (a) (i) | £78,400 to £130,930 | Extensive pelvis fractures with a lower back joint dislocation and ruptured bladder. |
| Special Damages | Loss of earnings | Up to £100,000+ | Loss of earnings incurred due to time taken off for injuries can be reimbursed through compensation awarded under special damages. |
Special Damages When Claiming For A Serious Injury
Your special damages sum compensates for your monetary losses incurred due to your injury. It compensates for your:
- Medical expenses.
- Care costs.
- Travel expenses.
- Loss of earnings.
- Costs of adaptations made to your home or belongings. For example, if your arm needs amputating, you may need an adapted car to continue driving.
Receipts, bank statements, invoices and payslips can all prove the finances you have lost as a result of your injuries.
To discuss the compensation you may be owed for your serious injury claim, please get in touch with our team.
Make A Personal Injury Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis
If you are connected to one of the serious injury claim lawyers from our panel, they may offer to represent your claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
A CFA is a kind of No Win No Fee contract. What this means for you is that you are not required to pay for any of your solicitor’s work:
- Upfront.
- Throughout the claims process.
- If your claim does not win.
If you have a successful claim, your solicitor can take a legally capped percentage of your compensation as their success fee.
To discuss the benefits of having a lawyer from our panel represent your claim on this basis, please contact an advisor:
- Telephone 0161 696 9685.
- Our ‘Contact Us‘ page.
- Our live chat box.
Learn More From Our Serious Injury Guide
For more of our helpful guides:
- Learn how to prove that a car accident wasn’t your fault.
- Find out how to claim after a serious accident at work.
- Read our guide about claiming for a personal injury in a supermarket.
These other pages might be relevant for you also:
- NHS – First aid after an incident.
- GOV.UK – Statutory sick pay.
- Health and Safety Executive – Steps needed to manage risks at work.
Thank you for reading our guide on how serious injury claim lawyers could help you seek compensation. If you have any other questions, please contact an advisor on the number above.
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Published by NL