Personal Injury Claims – What’s it all about?

You’ve had an accident that wasn’t your fault and suffered an injury. The most common type of accidents are Road Traffic Accidents, Accidents at Work, or Accidents on Public Property or Business Premises. You think that the person or entity responsible should pay you compensation for your pain and suffering (which can include mental as well as physical) and any lost income, and rightly so. So, what next? You may well be bamboozled with cold calls from claim handler companies, insurance companies or get lost in advertising from claim companies or solicitors, all promising different things. It can all be very confusing. The last thing you need is that headache, on top of your injuries!

At Gilson Gray, we aim to keep things nice and simple, take the stress out of a serious legal matter, get you the highest level of compensation that you are entitled to, and let you focus on getting better. So, how does it all work?

Firstly, bar a few exceptions, any actions for compensation following an accident must be lodged with the Court and served on the opponent within 3 years of the date of the accident. This is called the triennium, or time-bar date. So long as there is plenty of time before the time-bar date, the most important thing following an accident is that you liaise with your health care professionals to assist your recovery. If the time-bar date is fast approaching e.g. within 6 months, contact us immediately as we may need to lodge a writ to protect your position. That means a claim is lodged with limited details to beat the time-bar, and once we have investigated the claim further, we can add those details into the claim.

In general, compensation for pain and suffering is worked out relative to how long someone is in pain, so the longer, more serious an injury, the higher the award. We will have a relaxed consultation with you where we will note down the details of the accident and take all relevant information. We will liaise with you in terms of your recovery and seek expert opinion from a bank of leading medical experts to ascertain how long you were, or will likely be, in pain.

In order for any personal injury action to be successful, there are two hurdles to overcome. There are 1) Liability. This means who was at fault. We must firstly be able to prove that the opponent was at fault. If that is established, we can consider 2) Quantum. This means how much the claim is worth.

Once we have gathered all of the necessary information, which will usually include your GP and Hospital records, witness statements, proof of wage loss/out of pocket expenses, surveillance/CCTV if available and any other relevant documentation, we will intimate the claim to the opponent. They will then be given some time to investigate the accident themselves, so they can advise if they accept liability for the accident.

If they do:  We will obtain a ‘Condition and Prognosis’ Report from a bank of leading medical experts. This report will state your present condition, how long it will take you to fully recover, if possible, and that your injuries are a direct result of the accident. Providing a supportive report is obtained, we will value your claim and seek to negotiate a settlement for you which adequately compensates you for your pain and suffering and loses. The majority of ‘liability accepted’ cases are resolved without the need for litigation.

If they do not: We will undertake any necessary further investigations to prove that the opponent was at fault. This could include instructing Experts to comment on what happened. Providing we are satisfied that fault lies with the opponent, we will raise a Court action against them, either in the newly re-named National Personal Injury Court (if the value of the claim is less than £100,000, or in the Court of Session if it is above. Naturally, the thought of going to Court can be daunting, but will talk you through the entire process in plain English, keep you updated as things progress and always be on stand by to answer any queries.

If you have been in an accident that wasn’t your fault, get in touch with the Gilson Gray Litigation Team today. There are a number of ways to fund your claim, including ways in which you pay nothing if your case is not successful (“no win no fee”). Our specialist personal injury solicitors have a wide range of experience in various different types of personal injury action, and have secured large compensation payouts and the best rehabilitation for our clients.

We are on hand to take the stress out of a terrible situation, and get you the compensation that you deserve!

To discuss any of the points raised further, please contact a member of our Litigation team here.

The information and opinions contained in this blog are for information only.  They are not intended to constitute advice and should not be relied upon or considered as a replacement for advice.  Before acting on any information contained in this blog, please seek solicitor’s advice from Gilson Gray.