Contact us to arrange your FREE initial consultation
Children and teenagers who suffer serious, permanent injuries can be left with lifelong disability which will affect their ability to learn, work, look after themselves and live independently. They may find it harder to walk or get around, to behave appropriately, or communicate clearly with others. They may find it more difficult to make friends, enjoy sport or leisure activities.
When the child or teenager’s injury was caused by an accident which was another person or organisation’s fault, they may be entitled to claim compensation. When a family contacts us after a devastating injury, we can begin to make a difference straight away. Our serious injury specialists can secure access to personalised treatment and rehabilitation to maximise recovery. We relieve financial hardship by obtaining early funding to pay for essential specialist equipment, therapies and care.
We understand the needs of families as they go through the heart-breaking process of coming to terms with their child’s injury. We use the claims process to ensure that the child receives their full entitlement to compensation, but we provide so much more by way of practical help and support along the way. Whether the injury arose in infancy, early childhood or teenage years, we help families meet their child’s immediate needs, whilst securing the highest compensation settlements to provide for their future.
Compensation claims for children with head injury, acquired brain injury (ABI) or other disabling injuries, such as spinal injury, amputation or blindness, need skilled handling by specialist solicitors if the child is to receive the compensation they deserve.
For over 25 years Boyes Turner’s serious injury lawyers have helped severely injured clients and their families rebuild their lives.
Our personal injury lawyers:
We achieve substantial, high-value compensation settlements for our clients, even in the most complex and challenging cases. We have obtained life-changing compensation for children and teenagers where evidence is missing, a defendant driver cannot be traced or the child’s own behaviour contributed to the cause of the accident.
We work with trusted experts and case managers to ensure that the child’s needs are met, including funded rehabilitation and treatment to maximise recovery, support for special educational needs, specialist equipment and home adaptations. Individually structured compensation awards ensure that the severely injured the child has lifelong financial and practical support. This brings peace of mind that provision has been made for ongoing care and therapies, or to ease the transition from school to higher education, the workplace and supported independence.
£2 million compensation for a teenage client who had suffered a head injury when he was hit by a taxi after running into the road in the middle of the night. Our client had no memory of the accident and there were no witnesses but the taxi driver denied liability on the basis that he had no time to take evasive action. Despite the difficulties in this case, settlement was achieved, discounted by 58% to reflect our client’s contributory negligence, giving our client financial provision to meet his needs in the future.
£500,000 compensation for a teenage motorcyclist who suffered severe injuries to his leg and ankle and PTSD after the defendant driver’s car hit his leg whilst doing a U-turn in a line of traffic. Settlement was achieved with only a minor reduction for contributory negligence even though the defendant alleged that our client was overtaking dangerously and denied liability for the accident.
£550,000 compensation and more than £26,000 of rehabilitation for a teenager who was head-injured when he fell from the boot of a moving car driven by his friend. This activity, sometimes known as “car-surfing”, is extremely dangerous, but the driver was negligent in driving the car whilst our client was on its boot. Our client’s compensation settlement was discounted by 35% from the full compensation sum of £846,150 for his injuries, to reflect his own contributory negligence.
£650,000 compensation for a 13-year-old-boy who suffered a brain injury when hit by a car whilst rollerblading across an unlit dual carriageway. Settlement was achieved despite conflicting and unsupportive evidence in this extremely difficult, strongly contested case, on the basis that our client’s claim was discounted for contributory negligence by 60% from a full value figure of £1.6m.
£3 million compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for a boy who was left with a brain injury, learning disability, behavioural problems and blindness, after he was shaken by his father when he was a 13 week old baby.
For injuries to children caused by medical negligence …contact our medical negligence team here.
A child or teenager may be entitled to substantial compensation if they suffered severe injury in an accident which was the fault of another individual or organisation.
Child and teenage compensation claims often arise from injuries caused by:
Our serious injury lawyers specialise in obtaining maximum compensation for clients who have suffered severe, permanent injury and disability. Our clients have usually suffered one or more of the following injuries:
We recover compensation for severe psychological injury to ‘secondary victims’, usually a parent or other close family member, who witnessed their child’s death or severe injury.
We also recover compensation for bereaved children who have a financial claim for loss of dependency arising from their parent’s death in an accident.
Depending on the type and severity of the child’s injury, their claim may include compensation for:
Where a bereaved child’s claim arises from the death of a parent, they may be entitled to compensation for their loss of dependency on their parent’s income or ‘services’ (such as childcare).
Compensation claims can help support disabled children with key transitions or new life stages:
It can be very difficult to come to terms with a child’s injury which happens in our care or that of another family member or friend. We approach these cases with compassion, and focus on obtaining the child’s entitlement to compensation, working with parents to meet the injured child’s needs.
Our experienced and professional lawyers have helped clients where:
When a child is seriously injured, their rehabilitation, recovery and provision for any lifelong needs caused by their injury should take priority over concerns about the discomfort of bringing a claim against the family member or friend. In our experience of these cases, most families recognise the importance of doing what’s right for the child to ensure that their needs are met.
Our compassionate lawyers are experienced in handling emotionally sensitive claims. We explore all possible causes for an accident or injury to find the best way forward for the claim. The defendant’s insurance company usually handles the claim and takes financial responsibility for paying the child’s compensation. We act for the child and their best interests but do so with sensitivity to the overall situation. We remain focussed on getting the child the help that they need from the defendant’s insurers, whilst supporting the family through what can be a very difficult time.
If the main cause of the accident was somebody else’s negligence, in most cases, we can still recover compensation for the child or teenager’s serious injuries, even if their own actions made them partly to blame. Where our client’s actions or behaviour contributed to the cause of the accident, or increased their injury, their compensation may be ‘discounted’ by a percentage, to reflect their ‘contributory negligence’. In cases of severe injury, such as brain injury or permanent disability, even a discounted sum of compensation can be a lifeline to essential help with meeting the child’s needs for therapies, specialist equipment and care.
Our personal injury team have recovered substantial compensation for severely injured children and teenagers even where the defendant’s insurers argued that their own actions contributed to the accident or injury. These include:
We always recommend that families of a severely injured child or teenager contact us for advice before making their own decision about whether or not their child is likely to succeed with a compensation claim.
You can read more about contributory negligence here.
Children and young people under the age of 18 are not legally able to make their own decisions in an injury compensation claim. Their claim must be made with the help of a ‘litigation friend’. In most, but not all, cases this will be the child’s parent.
As the child’s solicitors, the child is our client and we act in their best interests. The litigation friend is our point of contact who gives us instructions and takes our advice on behalf of the child. Where our client is an older teenager, we may include them in discussions and take their views into account where they want to be involved.
Litigation friends must also act in the child’s best interests but they do not make decisions alone. We always provide litigation friends with benefit of our experienced, expert lawyers’ advice.
The court’s approval is needed for any compensation settlements involving a child. This applies whether the compensation is for the child’s own injury or for their loss of dependency arising from the death of a parent. Court approval usually takes place at a short hearing, during which the legal representatives for both sides are called upon by the court to justify that the child’s agreed settlement is fair, given the full circumstances of the case.
A child’s compensation settlement must be paid into court to be invested on their behalf until they are 18. Where the child is unlikely to have mental capacity when they reach the age of 18, their compensation must be protected by a Court of Protection deputy. This provides reassurance that a young person will not be influenced by others to make unwise decisions about the use of their money which is intended to provide for their future needs.
Our deputyship lawyers ensure that our clients’ money is protected and managed as required by law but is accessible to our clients as necessary to meet their needs.
Call our specialist legal teams Monday - Friday, 9:00 - 17.30 for free, no obligation advice.
Complete our simple form to start your claim and get a call back back from our expert legal team.
We’ll never share your details Privacy Policy
Senior Partner
Partner
Associate Solicitor
Paralegal
If you have suffered a serious injury as a result of somebody else’s negligence (breach of their duty of care), we may be able to help you make a claim for compensation.
Depending on the circumstances of your accident and the severity of your injury, we may also be able to help you claim compensation:
You can make a claim on behalf of:
The vast majority of our clients’ serious injury claims are settled without the need for a court hearing (trial). Our clients very rarely need to go to court.
Our personal injury specialists are highly experienced in investigating and assessing the strength of each client’s case. From the outset, and throughout the claim, we advise our clients clearly and honestly about their prospects of success.
Court proceedings are issued (started) in many cases but this does not mean that the case will end in a trial. There are many reasons why court proceedings might be issued:
We work hard to prove each client’s claim, based on evidence of the circumstances of their accident and the impact of their injury. We encourage cooperation with the defendant’s insurers and negotiate the best possible settlements for our clients. On the rare occasions when a claim cannot be settled without a court hearing, this will be because:
In the following circumstances, the law requires a judge to approve an out-of-court settlement, for the protection of those involved:
In these cases, the approval hearing will be a short hearing at which the lawyers for both parties explain the circumstances of the case and the settlement terms to the judge. In most cases our client will be expected to be in court during the hearing, 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 conclude if:
Claims are more complex and may take longer to resolve where:
Our nationally acclaimed serious injury specialists have helped hundreds of individuals and families whose lives have been devastated by accidents on the roads, at work, abroad or elsewhere. We understand the impact that a sudden, severe injury and its financial consequences can have on an individual and their family.
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. Wherever possible we also secure interim payments to ease our clients’ financial hardship long before their claims have concluded.
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.
The amount of compensation that an injured person receives in a personal injury claim depends on a number of individual factors:
Depending on the client’s injury and the way it affects their life, their claim may include compensation for:
Compensation is carefully structured to make the best provision for the injured person’s needs. There are rules protecting compensation for children or adults who lack mental capacity. Compensation may be paid in one or more of the following ways:
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 sometimes obtain interim payments to ensure that our client receives the rehabilitation, case management and therapies that they need straight away.
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 that they have already received as interim payments are deducted from their final compensation at the end of the claim.
Depending on the client’s injury, an interim payment may help meet their needs for:
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.
If you, or someone in your family has been seriously injured in an accident that was somebody else’s fault, you may be entitled to make a claim. If this feels daunting, alongside everything else that you are coping with in the aftermath of an accident, it may help to remember that:
The easiest way to get started is to talk to one of our friendly, experienced solicitors. You can talk to us free and confidentially about your potential claim, with no obligation, by contacting us here.
If you decide that you want to go ahead with making a claim, we will gather as much evidence as we can to support your claim. This evidence may include:
We will also contact the defendant and their insurers to begin working towards meeting your immediate needs and settlement of the claim.
It costs nothing to talk to us to find out about making a claim. Our initial advice is free.
When you first contact us we advise you whether we can help you make a claim. We discuss how your claim will be funded, and advise, fully and clearly, how that works and what it will mean for you.
We offer a range of funding options, but the majority of our clients’ claims are handled on a conditional fee agreement (CFA) basis, often known as ‘no win no fee’. This means that there is nothing to pay at the outset or until the claim is settled and you receive compensation. If you win your claim, the defendant’s insurer makes a contribution towards your legal costs. You pay nothing if your claim does not succeed.
Our personal injury lawyers are specialists in catastrophic and severe injury compensation claims. Our clients have often suffered life-changing injury resulting in permanent disability. Our aim is to assist their recovery by securing 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:
A personal injury is an injury to the body. Sometimes the physical injury or the circumstances in which that injury was suffered also leads to a psychiatric or psychological injury.
When someone is injured as a result of another person or organisation’s breach of their duty of care (negligence), the injured person may be entitled to claim compensation for their injury and its financial consequences. The claim for compensation is made against the person or organisation that was responsible for the injury and is usually met by their insurer. The legal process of claiming compensation for injuries that are caused by negligence is known as a personal injury claim.
Boyes Turner’s personal injury team specialise in claims involving severe or catastrophic injury. Most of our clients have been injured in road traffic accidents (RTAs) and accidents at work.
For compensation claims relating to injuries which occurred in England or Wales the general rule is that court proceedings must be issued (formally started) within three years of the date of the injury. In most cases, before a claim can be issued work must be carried out to investigate the claim, notify the defendant and the insurance company against whom the claim is being made and obtain a medical report to support the claim. The sooner you contact us after an injury has occurred, the sooner we can begin to help you, and the better we can investigate and prepare your claim.
Longer time limits apply to children whose three-year time period only begins to run from the age of 18, meaning that their time limit expires when they reach the age of 21. As with adults, however, the sooner you contact us after your child’s serious injury, the sooner we can start helping the child and obtain financial help via the claim.
Time limits do not apply for those who lack mental capacity. 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. As with other claims, it is always advisable to contact us as soon as possible after the injury, to ensure that evidence can be preserved, rehabilitation started (where needed) and financial help secured via the claim.
In exceptional circumstances the court may extend the time limit (or limitation deadline).
Where the claimant could not have known that an injury had occurred until after the deadline for making the claim, the deadline is three years from the ‘date of knowledge’ (when the claimant first knew that they had suffered an injury). Asbestos-related disease claims, where symptoms of disease first appear decades after the exposure to asbestos, usually have limitation deadlines based on the ‘date of knowledge’.
If the injury occurred in an accident abroad, the law of the country where the accident happened will determine 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.
Jun 2020
Our teams have been nationally recognised over the past decade for their dedication and commitment to securing maximum compensation for our clients
Claire is exceptionally knowledgeable in the personal injury legal domain, especially in the specific area of my injury. From our very first conversation, she was clear in explaining the potential different routes that the process could take and provided me with expectations of what I could expect along the journey. She ensured that all bases were covered, organising meetings, discussions and necessary specialist appointments, in order to bring together the case and take it forward. Claire was then able to use her extensive pool of contacts, to appoint an "area leading" barrister, to represent me. Overall, I was very pleased with appointing Claire and Boyes Turner to act as my solicitor for the legal claim that I pursued. Thank you for all of your support.
I approached Claire Roantree of Boyes Turner in regards to making a claim about a workplace burns injury. It was something that had scarred me physically and mentally and taken a huge toll on the lives of me and my family. Claire wasted no time in finding out what happened and made sure I was treated by known experts and quickly finding an answer to my burns scarring and how I could be treated to help manage my pain. Claire also helped me by appointing a psychiatrist to understand my situation and help me cope with post traumatic stress disorder. As well as taking as much stress of the claim away, she was thorough in every situation, making sure I had the best possible claim, and handled it all expertly, I am so very grateful to her and her team. They have helped guide my life back into a positive direction and I can't thank her enough!
Excellent service from Claire and her team at all times. We were kept up to date at each stage of our claim. The outcome was much better than we expected and we would not hesitate to recommend Boyes Turner to family and friends.
Kim handled my personal injury claim after a car accident with immeasurable expertise and compassion. Boyes Turner arranged every part of my private rehabilitation, which greatly improved the speed and quality of my recovery. Each stage of the litigation process was dealt with efficiently and succinctly. This was then always explained without using unclear legal jargon. On both health and financial levels, I would be in a far worse position without Kim’s invaluable input. I cannot recommend this firm enough.
The last 6 years since my incident have been so my mental health and general life. When I chose Boyes Turner, I was expecting just a solicitor to take my case forward. What in fact I actually got is a solicitor who genuinely cared about what had happened to me and wanted to help me get justice. Without their support I would have probably given in and excepted what happened. I am so glad that I didn’t, now it’s over I am now feeling empowered knowing it wasn’t my fault. They have given me hope for the future. It is more than a job for Claire, she is caring and kind, are wants the best for clients. Thank you.
