This guide will provide information about making a serious spine injury claim for yourself or a loved one. A serious injury to the spine can cause long-term consequences to your health. They can cause severe and painful symptoms, greatly impacting your quality of life.
We discuss what types of accidents might lead to an eligible serious spine injury claim and how you can prove liability for the third-party responsible for your injury. We will also discuss how personal injury compensation is calculated.
A Guide On Making A Serious Spine Injury Claim
At Advice, we can support you if you want to make a serious spine injury claim. Firstly, our team of advisors will examine the merits of your claim during a free consultation. They can then connect you to a serious injury claim solicitor from our panel if you have a valid case who will work on a No Win No Fee basis.
Contact us today using the below details:
- Phone 0161 696 9685.
- Submit your details on our Contact Us page for a callback.
- Use our live chat box.
Browse Our Guide
- When Can You Make A Serious Spine Injury Claim?
- Case Study: £2 Million Payout For A Spine Injury Claim
- What Amount Of Spine Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
- How Do You Prove Liability In A Serious Spine Injury Claim?
- Claim For Negligence On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Learn More About Claiming For A Serious Injury
When Can You Make A Serious Spine Injury Claim?
You may be able to make a serious spine injury claim if you can prove that there was a breach of duty of care by a third party.
More specifically, you will need to prove the eligibility requirement:
- You were owed a duty of care from a third party.
- This third party breached their duty of care due to their negligent actions.
- Because of this, you were injured.
We will now discuss which duty of care you may have been owed depending on your accident site and by whom.
Accidents In A Public Place
Whoever has control of a public space, i.e. an occupier, owes a duty of care to the public who uses their space for its designed purpose.
To fulfil this duty, occupiers should carry out risk assessments so that any hazards that pose a risk to public health can be mitigated or managed. The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states an occupier’s duty of care is to ensure the reasonable safety of visitors.
Here is an example of how a serious spine injury can happen from an accident in a public space due to negligent actions or omission:
- Slipping and falling on a wet floor in a supermarket accident due to no wet floor signs displayed, despite awareness of the spillage.
Road Traffic Accidents
All road users owe a duty of care to one another whilst actively on the road. This can be fulfilled by abiding by The Road Traffic Act 1988 and The Highway Code to ensure they aren’t putting each other or themselves at unnecessary risk of injury.
Here is an example of how a serious spine injury can happen from a road traffic accident due to a driver’s negligent actions:
- A lorry driver could not be paying attention on the motorway if they are on their mobile phone, leading to them not breaking in time for the traffic ahead and causing a rear-end accident.
Accidents At Work
Employers owe a duty of care to take reasonable and practicable steps to ensure the safety and well-being of their workforce. To fulfil this duty, employers, among other things, should regularly maintain the safety of the workplace’s environment and facilities to prevent an employee from injuring themselves.
The legal obligation of an employer’s duty of care is stated in The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Here is an example of how a serious spine injury can happen from an accident at work due to an employer’s negligent actions:
- An employee has had no training before being instructed to use a forklift truck to lift a heavy load, leading to the employee crashing the machinery.
To find out if you could make a personal injury claim following a serious spine injury, call our advisors now for a free case assessment.
Case Study: £2 Million Payout For A Spine Injury Claim
Miss Simpson was driving her standard route back home from work when a drunk driver on the other side of the road lost control of their vehicle and swerved into the oncoming traffic. With no time to react, they both suffered a head-on collision.
At the hospital, it was determined that Miss Simpson would be paralysed from the neck down for the rest of her life. Taking action, her family initiated a serious spine injury claim.
Miss Simpson’s solicitor collected witness accounts, dash-cam footage, and copies of her medical reports.
Under her £2 million awarded compensation, she was compensated for her:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of quality of life
- Being paralysed
- Full-time nursing care
- Additional care costs
- Medical costs
- Home adaptations
- Travel
Compensation settlements are categorised under general damages and special damages. Continue reading to learn more about what you may be able to recover through these two heads of claim following a successful serious spine injury claim.
You can also contact us if you wish to find out more about the potential compensation amount you may receive.
What Amount Of Spine Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
General and special damages address the two types of impact your injury has inflicted on you.
Firstly, general damages compensation compensates you for the injury.
This can be both physical and psychological, such as:
- The extent of your symptoms.
- Your injury’s severity and recovery.
- The change in your enjoyment and quality of life.
- The disruption of your normal routine.
Solicitors evaluate your general damages sum using your medical reports and independent medical assessment and the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) as guidance. The JCG contains various injury types at different severities and compensation brackets.
Injuries Table
The table below shows different compensation brackets for various serious spine injuries. As each serious injury claim is uniquely assessed, the figures are just guidance.
| Injury | Severity | Compensation bracket | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious injuries | Serious | Up to £1,000,000+ | Multiple serious injuries to the spine with special damages, such as loss of earnings. |
| Paralysis | Tetraplegia (a) | £324,600 to £403,990 | The award will take into account the person's age, any residual movement, the degree of independence and the amount of pain. |
| Paraplegia (b) | £219,070 to £284,260 | The award within the bracket will be affected by: the presence and extent of pain, degree of independence and depression. |
|
| Back | Severe (a) (i) | £91,090 to £160,980 | Severe pain and disability with a degree of incomplete paralysis. |
| Neck | Severe (a) (i) | In the region of £148,330 | Incomplete paraplegia or permanent spastic quadriparesis. |
| Severe (a) (ii) | £65,740 to £130,930 | This bracket takes into account damage to the brachial plexus that is permanent or substantial loss of movement in the neck. | |
| Loss of earnings | Special damages | Up to £100,000+ | Claiming compensation for lost wages from missing work due to injuries. This can also cover any lost earnings if you are unable to return to employment. |
Claiming Special Damages Compensation For A Spinal Injury
On the other hand, your special damages compensation compensates you for the costs you have incurred as a direct result of your injury.
These can be both past and future costs, such as:
- Loss of earnings from being unable to work.
- Making adaptations, such as adding a stairlift in your house.
- Travel expenses, such as your trips to and from the hospital.
- Medical costs, like specialist equipment that is necessary for your mobility.
- Care costs if you need nursing care.
You should keep hold of any travel tickets, invoices, payslips, receipts, and bank statements to prove your costs. Otherwise, you may be unable to claim all your special damages compensation.
To learn more about the damages you may be entitled to in your personal injury claim, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
How Do You Prove Liability In A Serious Spine Injury Claim?
Having as much evidence as possible is best for your serious spine injury claim. Evidence can prove the extent of your injury and either occupier, employer, or driver liability.
Thus, evidence that can support you includes:
- Records of your accident in an accident log book, which should be found in public places and at work.
- CCTV footage or dash-cam footage.
- Records of your symptoms and treatment as documented in a diary.
- Your medical records
- Witness contact details
- Photographs of the incident and your injury (if visible).
Claim For Negligence On A No Win No Fee Basis
By calling our team of advisors now for a free consultation, they can assess the merits of your serious spine injury claim. If you have a valid personal injury claim, they can connect you to a solicitor who specialises in serious injury claims on our panel. They can offer to work on your case under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee agreement.
When working with a solicitor under a CFA on your personal injury claim, you will not be required to pay solicitor’s fees before or during the claims process, or even if your claim loses. Your solicitor will only get a success fee once you receive compensation.
A solicitor’s success fee always has a maximum percentage cap to ensure you still receive the majority of your compensation payout.
If you want to take action with your serious spine injury claim and wish to have a solicitor from our panel represent you on this basis, please get in touch using the below details:
- Phone 0161 696 9685.
- Submit your details on our Contact Us page for a callback.
- Use our live chat box.
Learn More About Claiming For A Serious Injury
Now that you have reached the end of this guide on making a serious spine injury claim, we hope you have more confidence and enlightenment about your next steps.
We have some other guides which you may find useful:
- Read about compensation for a broken back.
- More reading on compensation for a spinal cord injury.
- Read about the personal injury claim’s time limit.
Furthermore, provided are other useful external resources:
- Legislation – read about the Conditional Fee Agreement.
- NHS – access their spinal cord injury services.
- NHS – the symptoms, causes, and treatment for paralysis.