Accident Claims and Personal Injury

What is a personal injury claim?

A personal injury claim involves an injured individual seeking compensation for their pain and suffering and loss of amenity from a person, company or institution believed to be at fault.  Personal injury includes mental and psychological injury.  The most common way that a claim arises is under the common law the tort of negligence but it can also arise out of other torts, such as assault and intentional physical harm. It can also arise out of breach of contract, such as in contracts of employment where an employer fails to provide a safe system of work.  A claim can arise out of breach of statutory duty.  An example of that might be where a person is injured as a result of breach of Health and Safety Regulations by the Defendant.  Other pecuniary losses can also be claimed in a personal injury claim.  The commonest example is loss of earnings because of being unfit to work as a result of the incident (see also below in relation to benefit).  In very serious cases where there is no prospect of recovery from injury, loss of future earnings can be claimed.  This has to be discounted for accelerated receipt.   The discount is calculated by reference to established precedent formulae.

How long does it take to make a claim?

An average time span from instructions to conclusion of the claim is 15 months but it could be longer or shorter depending upon the complexity of the claim.  Medical negligence cases generally take longer because pre-action discovery processes are always necessary and negligence has to be assessed as a prima facie claim by an appointed expert.  If you need legal aid (see below), this will add to the time that it takes to conclude the claim.

What are the fees and is legal aid available?

If you are applying for legal aid, at least 3 months of the time is taken in processing by the Legal Services Commission.  No win no fee arrangements are possible for claims in England and Wales.  If your claim is in Northern Ireland, we may offer you a service which does not involve you having to pay money on account (and therefore not needing legal aid) if we decided that your claim is strong enough.   For any personal injury claim, we provide a free half an hour consultation in which we will assess the potential strength of your claim.

How long to I have to make a claim?

If the claim arises from an accident and is a personal injury claim,  the time limit is 3 years.  For other types of personal injury where you are the victim of an intentional tort, the time limit is 6 years.  If the claimant is a minor or a person who is deemed not capable of managing their own affairs as defined by the Mental Health Acts, time does not run whilst the claimant is a child or a mental patient.  A child can therefore bring a claim at any time before the age or 21 for an accident personal injury or before the age of 24 for any other claim. 

What happens if I claim benefit while off work as a result of the accident

Any claim that you make for loss of earnings as a result of the accident has to take into account any benefit you are paid.  In other words, if you have been on benefit, your net loss of earnings will be your loss of earnings minus the amount of the benefit.

Related topics

Making a claim