If you do decide to claim negligence, you do so by suing for damages. This would entitle you to compensation for activities you can no longer do, medical expenses and lost wages. Damages aim to put you in the same position you would have been in if the tort had not been committed. There is a duty on you to mitigate losses, meaning that you must take all reasonable steps to keep the losses you are claiming to a minimum. For example, if you unreasonably refuse medical treatment you cannot recover damages for the harm which the treatment would have avoided. The court awards damages in the form of a single lump sum to cover current and future losses, but you cannot go back for a second claim if your injury gets worse.
Important – The time limit for bringing a claim is within three years of the injury
There will be costs in making a claim, thus you must weigh up whether it is worth taking action, this seems harsh but it is no use spending money on legal help / medical reports and court fees to get compensation if the other side could never afford to pay it. If the injury was caused in their workplace then they must legally have insurance to cover such claims.
We suggest you check your existing insurance providers (car, home etc.) to see if they cover your legal costs in bringing such a claim, in this case, they would pay your costs if you win, because the risk they would normally only support you in this way if the case has virtually 100% chance of success, in effect it would be very hard, if not impossible to contest. Even with this level of risk avoidance, there may be a “clawback” clause to get their money back so read the policy carefully and discuss this with them. Insurance will not pay the other sides costs (including legal and medical expert costs) if you lose.
There would be nothing stopping the other side from employing expensive solicitors or using expensive medical experts and making you aware of this fact as a form of “advice” (let’s not call it intimidation). It is because of the level of risk that we strongly suggest that you present the best case you can, effectively you have a “one-shot” at getting it right. Should you commission Lestons to work for you we will do our very best to present the base case you could have, we would need to obtain medical reports and so on to support your case. External costs that we incur, such as medical experts, court fees and so on (known as disbursements) are charged to you at cost.
What you can claim for (all costs must be “reasonable”):-
- Private healthcare such as nursing care and help with housework;
- Provision of adaptations / equipment;
- Taxi fares (if unable to drive);
- Childcare costs (if unable to care for the child) and so on
Ignored income: –
You may have already received some financial assistance; the following are types of assistance that are not included in the claim calculation: –
- Insurance payments,
- Ill-health pensions
- Charitable payments (including ex gratia payments made by your employer)
Where you have received state benefits, they will claim these back directly from the other side.
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