Personal Injury

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What is a personal injury?

A personal injury can be either a physical or psychological injury, disease or illness and could result in death.

Examples of personal injuries include:

an injury at work including work-related illnesses such as a disease caused by working with asbestos
a psychological illness caused by stress at work
an injury caused in a traffic accident
an injury received as a result of faulty goods or services
an injury caused if you trip over paving stones
an physical or psychological injury sustained by a victim in the course of a crime
a psychological illness caused by discrimination or harassment in your work-place.

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, take photos of the scene and of what caused the injury and 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.

Compensation

There are several ways of getting compensation for a personal injury, we can help you with

taking legal action in a civil court
making a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (Criminal Injuries Compensation Agency in Northern Ireland)
through a criminal compensation order
special Government compensation schemes for some injuries and losses such as vaccine damage or asbestos-related disease

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.

Special damages are paid as compensation for actual financial loss caused by the accident up to the date of the hearing.

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.

Taking legal action

If you want to take legal action to claim compensation for a personal injury you must advice from a solicitor as soon as possible as there are strict time limits on taking legal action.

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.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

If you have been injured as a result of a criminal act you may be able to claim compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (Criminal Injuries Compensation Agency in Northern Ireland). You may have been the direct victim of, for example, an assault or your injury may have been sustained when you were attempting to help the police after a crime had been committed. A close relative of a person who died because of injuries can also make a claim.

You must report the incident to the police at the earliest opportunity and an application must normally be made within two years of the incident. However, in exceptional circumstances, the authority may be willing to extend this limit. An example would be if you are making a claim for abuse you suffered as a child.

Criminal compensation orders

A person convicted of a criminal offence may be ordered by the court to pay compensation for an injury, loss or damage they have caused to someone else by committing the offence. If you are the person who has sustained the injury or loss you cannot apply for this yourself, so it is important that you give the prosecution full and accurate information about the injuries and losses to put before the court.

The amount of compensation will depend on what the offender can afford to pay, but the maximum is £5,000.If a criminal compensation order is made, the court will be responsible for making sure the offender pays.

Special compensation schemes

There are a number of special compensation schemes for some injuries and losses.

For example, people who have contracted HIV when receiving treatment for haemophilia can claim payments from the MacFarlane Trust and compensation from the Government.

People who have suffered damage as a result of vaccinations could make a claim to the Vaccine Damage Payment Unit.

There are special schemes for people suffering from an asbestos-related disease. For example, if you were injured by working with asbestos, you may be able to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit as well as being able to make a civil claim against your employers. You may have contracted an asbestos-related disease in another way – for example, by washing the clothes of a family member. In this case, you can make a claim for a special one-off payment from the Government. There are time limits to make these claims.

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