Make A Claim

There are strict time limits in personal injury claims within which you must have started court proceedings in your claim. However, these time limits vary and depend on a number of factors including the nature of your accident or injury, where the accident happened and the party at fault.

Under the law in England and Wales, in most cases that time limit is 3 years from the date of accident or incident giving rise to your injury. This means that court proceedings must have commenced within:

• 3 years of the date of the accident, or
• if you have an industrial illness caused by your work, 3 years from the date on which you became aware of your illness and that it might be connected to your employment;
• if you have a medical negligence claim, 3 years from the date on which you became aware that you had suffered injury as a consequence of your medical treatment.

These time limits do not apply to children (where the time period runs from the child’s 18th birthday) and people who are unable because of mental incapacity of managing their legal affairs. Also, there are different time limits if your accident or injury occurred outside England and Wales or during the course of international travel or if, for example, a defective product is involved (where it is 3 years from the date that an injury or illness was caused by the product, or from the date you became aware of that injury or illness caused by the product – limited to a maximum of 10 years from the date of supply of the defective product).

You should always make a detailed note of what happened as quickly as you can, including dates, times and location of your accident. If possible, it is advisable to take photographs to prove the involvement of the other party or where there is a defect in a public walkway for example. We also advise that you make a note of any witnesses and attending police officers, making sure you take their contact details.

If you believe that you are approaching the usual 3 year time limit for making a claim, it is vital that you contact us immediately for advice from one of our expert personal injury lawyers who will advise you on the time limits applicable to your claim.

We operate on a No Win, No Fee basis – sometimes called a Conditional Fee Arrangement – as do most Personal Injury solicitors. If we take your case on, we expect you’ll win and you’ll pay for our services – in most cases our fees are deducted from the compensation our clients receive. If we don’t win your case, you don’t pay any legal fees, but you may have to pay disbursements – disbursements are external costs that we incur on your behalf, for example, the cost of your medical assessment.

There are strict rules in place regulating how we manage such cases. These are designed to protect you, and your solicitor is obliged to give you a realistic, honest assessment of your chances of success – and you can rely on us to give honest and impartial advice.

You are required to cooperate reasonably and comply with our advice to qualify for the service, but we’ll talk to you about it in more detail when we understand your case and have reviewed the likelihood of success in your case.

If you have legal expenses cover under your home or car insurance policy then your personal injury legal fees may possibly be covered – and it’s something we’ll investigate for you on your behalf if you appoint us. Many car and home insurance policies include legal cover, either as standard or as something you pay extra for, and if yours includes ‘before the event legal expenses’, it should cover some or even all of the costs of your claim.

If you have been injured as a result of an accident that is entirely your fault, then you will not be able to claim compensation as there is no one apart from yourself who is to blame.

However, in some circumstances, you may only be partly to blame. If that is the case you can still claim against the other party who is also at fault. For example, if you pull out in front of an oncoming vehicle, on the facts you may be entirely to blame. However, when further enquiries into the accident circumstances are made it may be that the driver was not paying proper attention to the road and had they been doing so, they could have avoided the accident.

If that is so, then you should still be able to claim compensation, though it would be reduced to reflect the amount of blame that is attributed to you. This is called Contributory Negligence and is worth considering an early settlement on this basis if the accident circumstances do not support your case.

There are occasions where the accident you have suffered has resulted in you having to take time off work. The financial implications of an absence from work can be serious and it is therefore vital that you are properly compensated for what you would have earned had you not suffered the accident.

It is likely to be necessary to produce copies of payslips for at least 6 months prior to the accident in order to show a detailed history of your earnings. If you do not have copies of payslips, we can usually request copies of your earnings from your employer on your behalf. If you wish to claim for lost overtime, you will need to show both that the overtime would have been available had you not been prevented from working and that you also regularly worked overtime before the accident.

The court will usually assess your net average monthly wage for at least 3 months prior to the accident in order to calculate your average salary and then work out how much you would have earned had you not suffered your injuries.

For example:

Loss Of Earnings

Your period of absence must be supported by expert medical evidence in order to make a successful claim. You also have an ongoing duty to mitigate your losses (i.e. keeping them to a minimum) and this includes returning to work as soon as you are able.

However, if you are self employed or a business owner, it can be more complicated to prove a loss of earnings claim. It is important to notify your accountant as soon as possible that you are absent and incurring a financial loss. Ensure that you keep records of your working diary, invoices and details of contracts that you were unable to complete due to your injuries. Your accountant should be able to provide details of your accounts for at least 3 years prior to accident in order to accurately assess your financial loss. Your period of absence must be supported by expert medical evidence in order to make a successful claim. You also have an ongoing duty to mitigate your losses (i.e. keeping them to a minimum) and this includes returning to work as soon as you are able.

Yes, as part of your claim you can claim for any care and assistance provided to you by your family. This can include both past and future care that they provided to you. If a family member does provide care to you then you can claim but there will be a discount applied on any rate claimed for natural love and affection.

You can claim for nursing care, gardening, shopping, vacuuming, ironing, washing, bathing, dressing, cooking, cleaning and any other activity which you may have ordinarily done if it had not been for the accident.