Personal injury claimants sometimes attract a negative press, which often refers to the “compensation culture” myth. This ignores the fact that the person making a claim has suffered injury that was someone else’s fault.
It is better that someone who has suffered personal injury through an accident that was someone else’s fault does claim. Someone leaving a job because of an injury that was their employer’s fault will claim benefits funded by the taxpayer. If they make a personal injury claim, those taxpayer-funded benefits are repaid by the employer’s insurers. Some critics imply that people shouldn’t claim for injuries caused by accidents on poorly maintained pavements or roads as this prevents money being spent on “more deserving” areas such as schools. In fact, local authority spending is not that simple. Money allocated to one budget cannot simply be transferred to another. The real problem is that local authorities keep a pot of money aside to pay injury compensation claims rather than maintain roads and pavements to prevent accidents.
Critics also point to no win no fee arrangements, implying that no win no fee arrangements mean that trivial or suspect claims are made. In fact, it means that personal injury lawyers are not likely to make a claim that does not have a good chance of success. No win no fee means that the lawyers do not recover their costs if the case fails. In other words, it’s a very good incentive for personal injury lawyers to do all they can to ensure a successful accident claim.
Accident injury compensation has two parts. The first part is compensation for the injury itself, known as general damages, and will depend on the severity of the injury and whether it results in a permanent disability. The second part, special damages, is for financial losses resulting from the injury, eg travel to and from medical appointments, any painkillers, physiotherapy, any medical treatments that had to be paid for, any medical equipment paid for and using during rehabilitation, loss of earnings, repairs to equipment damaged in the accident eg car repairs. All accident compensation claims are agreed as a full and final settlement. So if you settle a claim and then discover your injuries are more severe than first thought, you cannot make a subsequent claim.
If someone has suffered multiple serious injuries in a road traffic accident and has a permanent disability as a result, then their general damages will be fairly substantial. Their special damages – the financial losses – will be large too and may include the costs of ongoing care and loss of earnings which could also be substantial if the disability means the person can no longer work. The overall award looks impressive, but has to last a lifetime. If the compensation runs out, the claimant cannot go back to court and ask for more.
So it is vitally important to get the accident compensation award right. This is why getting independent legal advice from an experienced personal injury lawyer is useful. Your lawyer will then deal with all letters and phone calls from insurers so you can focus on recovering from your injuries without the worry of being pressurised into a settlement that will be too low. A good personal injury lawyer will offer free advice so you can find out where you stand and what’s involved in making an accident claim at no cost to you.
