Personal injury claims solicitors

When someone has been injured in an accident that was caused by the negligence of another person or individual who owes them a duty of care, such as a driver, employer, teacher or premises owner, they can claim compensation for the injuries and financial loss that was caused by the negligence. This is known as a personal injury claim.

Personal injury claims are legal processes, which are subject to court rules, time limits and procedures, even when they are settled out of court or without formal court proceedings. They should be handled by specialist solicitors to ensure that the injured person receives their full entitlement to compensation. This is particularly important in complex claims involving severe or life-changing injury where the injured ‘claimant’ may also be entitled to funded rehabilitation.

Road traffic accidents or RTAs involving the negligence of drivers or other road users are a common cause of serious injury and compensation claims. Road accident collisions often lead to personal injury claims involving injury to pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, e-scooter riders, car drivers and passengers.

Accidents at work are another common cause of serious injury, often arising from the negligence of the employer, who is also responsible for injuries caused by the negligence of their employees. Workplace accidents can lead to personal injury claims by employees and visitors to business premises such as factories, warehouses, building sites, workshops, and farms from injuries caused by falls or falling objects, unsafe buildings and working conditions, dangerous machinery and moving vehicles, burns and electrocution, and exposure to health hazards such as asbestos.

Other common causes of serious injury claims include accidents in schools, at sports and leisure or public facilities, accidents abroad or caused by defective products or criminal injuries.

Substantial compensation may still be available in cases where the severely injured person’s own actions contributed to their injury, but the accident was also caused by another person or organisation’s negligence. Our personal injury solicitors are experts in complex claims for severe injury involving allegations of contributory negligence. We recommend that you speak to us if you are considering a severe injury claim but are concerned about contributory negligence.

Our personal injury lawyers are specialists in catastrophic and severe injury compensation claims for clients who have suffered life-changing injury and permanent disability. We focus on maximising their recovery through funded rehabilitation, whilst supporting them in adjusting to the changes to their lives and securing compensation to meet their needs in the future.

Our clients usually have suffered one or more of the following:

• head injury/brain injury;
• spinal cord injury (SCI) - paralysis, tetraplegia, paraplegia;
• loss of limbs or amputation;
• major trauma /multiple injuries;
• blindness, deafness or sensory impairment;
• musculoskeletal injury;
• broken bones - spinal fractures, skull fractures, maxillofacial injury;
• nerve injury;
• electrocution, burns or scalds;
• scarring, disfigurement and degloving injuries (needing skin grafting);
• chronic pain conditions, such as CRPS;
• stab wounds and severe lacerations;
• psychological injury, such as PTSD;
• internal injuries, such as damage to organs;
• asbestos-related disease/asbestos-claims-solicitors;
• fatal injury/death.

Boyes Turner’s personal injury specialists are committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for our severely injured clients, even in the most complex or challenging cases. This enables us to help clients whose claims need specialist handling because:

• they have suffered life-changing injuries of maximum severity and lifelong disability;
• their injuries are complex or compounded by PTSD, chronic pain or neurological disability;
• they need extensive multidisciplinary treatment or rehabilitation;
• the circumstances of the accident or nature of the injury are highly sensitive, needing careful handling;
• multiple members of the same family or friendship group were involved or injured in the accident
• proving liability for the accident is complicated by circumstances or lack of evidence;
• the accident was caused by more than one person or organisation (multiple defendants);
• someone else caused the accident, but our client’s own actions could be regarded as contributory negligence.

If you have been seriously injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, we can help you claim compensation.

Depending on the circumstances of your accident and the severity of your injury, we may also be able to help you claim compensation in cases where:

• someone else’s negligence caused the accident, but you were also partly to blame;
• your injuries were caused by an uninsured or untraced driver in a ‘hit-and-run’;
• your injuries were caused by someone’s criminal or unlawful behaviour.

You can make a personal injury claim for:

• yourself – for your own injuries;
• an injured child who is under the age of 18 (as their litigation friend);
• an injured adult who lacks mental capacity (as litigation friend);
• the estate or dependents of someone who died in a fatal accident, their personal representative/executor).

The amount of compensation that each of our clients receives depends on their injury and disability and its impact on their life. We ensure that each client’s claim is carefully calculated to meet their needs arising from their disability and replace their financial losses. The value of the claim will reflect the injured person’s need for rehabilitation, specialist equipment, treatment, lifelong care or adapted accommodation as well as their predicted lifespan. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, negotiated settlements may also take into account litigation risks, such as the injured person’s own contributory negligence.

Our personal injury solicitors specialise in personal injury claims for people who have suffered severe, life-changing injury and disability. Our clients’ claims often include compensation for:

• pain, suffering, and disability;
• costs of care and case management;
• rehabilitation - often funded directly by the defendant’s insurer;
• therapies, such as:
  • occupational therapy (OT);
  • physiotherapy;
  • speech and language therapy (SALT);
  • psychological counselling;
  • pain management;
• medical or surgical treatment;
• adapted vehicles, mobility aids, prosthetics (after amputation);
• additional costs of adapted accommodation;
• specialist aids, equipment and;
• assistive technology (IT);
• loss of earnings and pension;
• support with vocational or special educational needs (SEN);
• Court of Protection deputyship.

In fatal injury claims, compensation can also include:

• funeral costs;
• a statutory bereavement payment;
• sums to compensate dependants for their loss of dependency on the deceased’s income or ‘services’ (such as childcare, housework, driving, gardening, DIY).

We ensure that our clients’ compensation settlements are carefully negotiated and structured to make the best provision for the injured person’s needs.

Personal injury compensation may be paid in one or more of the following ways:

• Rehabilitation Code funding for the injured person’s rehabilitation – paid directly by the defendant’s insurer (in addition to the settlement);
• interim (advance) payments whilst the claim is ongoing;
• a lump sum settlement;
• a periodical payments order (PPO) providing lifelong, annual, tax-free, index-linked payments usually for care and case management or Court of Protection fees.

There are rules protecting compensation for children or adults who lack mental capacity. Read more about how we manage and protect our vulnerable clients’ compensation via personal injury trusts and Court of Protection deputyship.

An interim payment is a part-payment of compensation which is paid to the injured person, in advance, whilst the claim is ongoing. We can usually secure an interim payment from the defendant’s insurer where they have admitted liability (accepted fault) for our client’s injury.

We use interim payments to help the injured person and their family, who may be suffering financial hardship as a result of the injury. Where insurers are not willing to provide Rehabilitation Code funding, we may obtain interim payments to ensure that our client receives the rehabilitation, case management and therapies that they need straight away, without having to wait for the conclusion of the claim.

Interim payments may be used to meet any genuine need, but it is important that the injured person and their family understand that the sums they receive as interim payments are deducted from their final compensation at the end of the claim.

By understanding and targeting provision for our clients’ rehabilitation and other essential needs early in the claims process, we help restore our clients’ mobility, independence, and ability to participate fully in family and social life, long before the claim has concluded.

In most personal injury claims relating to injuries which occurred in England or Wales, court proceedings must be issued (formally started) within three years of the date of the injury.

There are some exceptions to the three-year limitation deadline.

• A child’s three-year time period only begins to run from the age of 18, meaning that their limitation deadline expires when they reach the age of 21.
• Adults who lack mental capacity to make their claim have no limitation deadline. Where an injured person’s mental capacity is uncertain, we work closely with our Court of Protection team to determine whether our client has capacity to bring their own claim.
• In exceptional circumstances, the court may extend the limitation deadline, such as in asbestos-related disease claims where it was not known that an injury had occurred until after the deadline for making the claim.
• If the injury occurred in an accident abroad, the law of the country where the accident happened will usually set the time limit for making a claim. These time limits vary from country to country and can be much shorter than the deadlines in England and Wales. If you have suffered a serious injury that was not your fault whilst working, travelling, studying or on holiday abroad, you should contact us for advice straight away.
• Claims against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) are also subject to significantly shorter deadlines and may be rejected if there is any delay.

Failing to issue personal injury proceedings within the limitation deadline can have serious consequences and may result in the injured person losing their right to make a compensation claim. We recommend that you contact us for free advice as soon as possible after your injury to enable our personal injury claims solicitors to protect your entitlement to compensation and assist in your rehabilitation and recovery.

The vast majority of our clients’ serious injury claims are settled without the need for a court hearing (trial). Our personal injury specialists are highly experienced in investigating and assessing the strength of each client’s case, and advise our clients clearly and honestly about their prospects of success.

Even where we expect to reach settlement, we often recommend to our clients that court proceedings are issued to comply with limitation deadlines or to push the defendant’s insurers to admit liability, make an interim payment or enter into settlement negotiations, or to obtain a court judgment after liability has been admitted, or the case has been settled. Our clients do not need to attend court in these circumstances.

We work hard to prove each client’s claim, based on evidence relating to their accident and the impact of their injury, and encourage cooperation and settlement negotiation with the defendant’s insurers. In rare cases, however, a judge’s decision is needed, such as where the defendant’s insurers have decided to test the court’s approach to a case or if there are insurmountable disagreements about the factual or experts’ evidence in a case.

In personal injury cases involving children under the age of 18 or adults who lack mental capacity, the law requires a judge to approve any negotiated out-of-court settlement, for the protection of those involved. In these cases, the judge’s approval is sought at a short court hearing, at which the lawyers for both parties explain the circumstances of the case and the settlement terms to the judge. Our client may be expected to attend the approval hearing as a courtesy to the court, but will always be accompanied and fully supported by members of our legal team.

The duration of a serious injury claim depends on the individual circumstances of the client’s case. Claims take less time to settle in cases where the defendant’s insurers admit liability, and the long-term effects of our client’s injuries and the costs of meeting their long-term needs and financial losses can be easily assessed.

More complex, major trauma and serious injury claims take longer to resolve when:

• the defendant’s insurer disputes liability for our client’s injury;
• our client has suffered severe brain injury or major trauma and needs rehabilitation;
• multiple multi-disciplinary experts are needed to assess complex injuries and the likely long-term outcome;
• an injured child’s disability and associated needs are expected to change as they grow and develop over time. Wherever possible, we secure interim payments to ease our clients’ financial hardship whilst we work on their claim, so that they can begin to benefit from their compensation long before their claims have concluded.

We work hard to secure cooperation with defendant insurers, to provide immediate needs assessments and timely, funded rehabilitation for our clients to maximise their recovery in the all-important period immediately following an injury. By taking the time that is needed for the client’s rehabilitation and the careful assessment of their long-term needs, we can be confident that each client receives the full support and the compensation they deserve.

Social media has become a quick and accessible way for people to share their experiences and also to project the image of themselves that they want friends, families and followers to see.

When making a negligence claim for compensation for an injury or disability, your eligibility for compensation must be based on an honest and fair account of the change in your physical and psychological health, your abilities and financial circumstances, that was caused by the defendant’s negligence.

It is important to understand that your social media content, or that of others closely connected with you, is also visible to the defendant, and can be used as evidence in court, either to support or oppose your claim.

Defendants, including many personal injury insurers, commonly research social media and other channels to explore whether your description of your condition in your witness statement is consistent with any other information about you that they can obtain.

In extreme circumstances, if the defendant considers a claimant’s witness statement to be inconsistent with other information, such as social media content, they may obtain surveillance evidence (without your prior knowledge or consent) and then ask the court to allow that evidence to be shown to the judge in your case, to undermine the evidence contained in your witness statement.

Where social media content or other evidence contradicts your own witness statement account of your injury, disability or its impact on your life, this may result in your compensation being significantly reduced or your entire claim being dismissed by the court. If the court finds that you have been ‘fundamentally dishonest’ in making your claim, you may face criminal charges and imprisonment.

Honest and genuine claimants have nothing to fear, but it is essential that you tell your solicitor, immediately, if you are concerned about content in your social media or anywhere else, which could prejudice your claim.