General Damages
General damages is compensation which you can claim for the injuries you sustained as a result of your accident. In essence, you are claiming for:
- Pain and suffering: Both physical and psychological suffering is considered in this category.
- Loss of amenity: Loss of amenity covers all the effects your injury has had on your life. These can be effects on your social life, domestic life and professional life.
Special Damages
Special damages aims to reimburse you for the quantifiable financial losses suffered as a result of your accident. These losses are collated in a document known as a Schedule of Loss in order to disclose them to the other side. I have listed some of the more common types of special damages below:
- Care and assistance
- Loss of earnings
- Treatment costs
- Other – Travel costs and prescription costs
How are your general damages valued?
A solicitor would use a number of tools to value your claim for compensation. I have set out these below:
- Judicial Studies Board Guidelines bands injuries for the purposes of valuation. The JSB Guidelines for neck injuries are as follows:
- Minor Whiplash Injuries – £875 to £5,150
- Moderate Whiplash Injuries – £5,150 to £16,400
- Severe Whiplash Injuries – up to £97,000
The average claim is worth approximately £2500.
If you require any further information regarding your compensation then feel free to give us a call.