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Accidents which lead to serious injury and disability can be caused by more than one person’s behaviour. Where someone is seriously injured in an accident that was caused by another person or organisation’s negligence, but their own actions also contributed to their injury, the injured person’s compensation may be reduced in proportion to their own contributory negligence but they may still be entitled to claim substantial compensation.
When an accident leads to catastrophic brain injury, spinal injury, amputation or other major trauma, compensation can be a lifeline to rehabilitation, essential care and support, and financial stability.
We strongly recommend that severely injured clients or their families should speak to us before assuming they were to blame for their accident, so that we can advise on the rehabilitation and compensation they could receive, based on our expert assessment of their claim. Our personal injury solicitors have extensive experience of helping severely injured clients recover compensation in complex claims involving contributory negligence.
Speak to our personal injury solicitors
It costs nothing to talk to us to find out about making a personal injury claim for yourself or a member of your family. You can contact us by telephone or by email for free, confidential advice from a specialist personal injury solicitor. In serious injury cases, we often visit our clients in hospital or at their home if they are unable to get to our offices.
We will ask you to tell us briefly about the accident and injury. We will advise you about any time limits that may apply and whether we can help you make a claim. Your solicitor will discuss with you 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 most of our clients’ claims are handled on a ‘no win no fee’ basis.
We will put your claim to the defendant individual or organisation whose negligence caused your injury and we will handle all communication on your behalf. The defendant’s insurers will usually handle the claim on the defendant’s behalf and will be responsible for paying any compensation. Once we are in contact with the defendant’s insurers, we can begin to secure the necessary rehabilitation and specialist support to meet the injured person’s immediate needs whilst we proceed with the claim.
Partner, Personal Injury
In this case, the driver knew that their friend was on the bonnet and should not have driven the car. The driver failed in their duty of care by driving away and our client had a right to be compensated for injuries caused by the driver’s negligence. Our client’s case was scheduled for a trial to decide on the extent of the contributory negligence. Whilst preparing for trial, we negotiated a £7 million out-of-court settlement during a joint settlement meeting (JSM) with the driver’s insurers.
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Kim at Boyes Turner was recommended to me after I had received ineffective service from another company. From the outset, Kim has been professional, reassuring and supportive. I have always had faith in her ability to get the best outcome, not only financially, but also in helping my rehabilitation from a traumatic brain injury. She is friendly and empathetic, with unquestionable professional integrity. She was quick to grasp the important issues in my case, was meticulous in her investigating the details and analysing them, realistic in what the outcomes were likely to be and achieved a successful outcome. I would not hesitate in recommending her and Boyes Turner.
Kim and team at Boyes Turner were a patient and stabilising force though a multi-year case. This case was littered with trauma and upset from the beginning, and exacerbated by mis truths and rewriting of the demonstrable facts from the opposition. Kim guided me carefully through the process and helped to neutralise the negativity coming from the opposition throughout.
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!
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.
Accidents on the road or at work can have multiple causes, with more than one person’s actions contributing to the accident and any injuries it caused. In personal injury compensation claims against employers, drivers or business owners, it is common for the defendant’s insurers to try to defend or reduce the injured person’s claim on the basis that they were partly or wholly to blame for their injuries.
If the allegation of contributory negligence is found to be justified or accepted, the injured person’s compensation will be reduced (discounted) in proportion to their contribution to the accident or injury, but they will still receive compensation. As long as the defendant’s negligence was one of the causes of the accident, the fact that a severely injured person’s own behaviour contributed to the accident or their injury does not prevent them from making a claim for compensation for their injuries.
The injured person’s own actions or mistakes will only result in a discount for contributory negligence if those actions caused or contributed to the accident or injury. So, for example, if a motorcyclist was hit by the defendant’s car suddenly turning into their path, without indicating, the motorcyclist could claim compensation for their injuries. If the motorcyclist was overtaking at speed when the defendant’s car turned, making it difficult to stop in time to avoid the collision, this could have contributed to the cause of the accident. If the motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet, this mistake would not have caused the accident but it could contribute to a head injury. If the motorcyclist only suffered injuries to their limbs, their failure to wear a helmet would not be contributory negligence as it did not cause or contribute to the accident or the injury.
Depending on the type of accident, examples of contributory negligence commonly include:
Occasionally, even where liability for an accident is shared, depending on the individual circumstances, the injured person’s own behaviour might prevent them from succeeding with a claim. Commonly, these situations are where people are injured in accidents where they had put themselves at risk, such as where they were racing with the other driver, or where they allowed themselves to be carried on or in a vehicle by a driver who they knew was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Where someone has been severely injured in an accident, we always advise that you seek advice from our compassionate and experienced personal injury team before ruling out the possibility of making a claim. Our solicitors have an impressive track record of securing substantial compensation for severely injured clients in even the most difficult and complex cases.
If you (or a family member) have suffered a severe injury in an accident, concerns about contributory negligence should not prevent you from seeking our advice about making a claim. Our personal injury solicitors are specialists in complex and severe injury claims and offer compassionate expert, initial advice about making a claim confidentially and free of charge. In most cases where somebody else was at least partly to blame for an accident, we can help severely injured clients obtain some compensation.
We always fight unreasonable allegations of contributory negligence or excessive discounts:
No. The compensation claim relates solely to the injured person’s injury, so any discount to their compensation would not result in payment of compensation to the negligent defendant. The injured person’s compensation is simply reduced (discounted) by a percentage (proportion) of the full value of their claim to reflect their own ‘contributory negligence’. This means that the defendant only pays compensation for their share of the blame (liability) for our client’s injuries. Our client pays nothing to the defendant.
If our client’s contributory negligence was 100%, that would mean that they were 100% at fault for their own injuries (and the defendant not at all to blame). In that situation, our client would have no claim.
Senior Partner
Partner
Associate Solicitor
Solicitor
Paralegal
