You might have been told that you can claim for losses that result from your accident as well as claiming injury compensation – which is absolutely right. But you might not have been told what the difference between General Damages (the compensation for your injuries) and Special Damages is. At The Injury Lawyers we like to keep our advice simple and speak in plain language; so here’s a quick guide to Special Damages.
If you have been injured through no fault of your own, you can claim compensation. The compensation you get for your injuries alone is called General Damages. So you have whiplash, and you make a claim and get £1,500.00 for your injuries. This is your general damages. Ok, but did you know that you can also be get compensation for any other losses that come from your accident as well? You can, and these are called Special Damages. This is compensation for your financial losses.
What exactly are Special Damages?
Right, so you’ve been injured and have had to have time off work. You earn £250.00 a week and received £80.00 sick pay; you’ve lost out on £170.00. You can make a claim to get this £170.00 as part of your special damages. This would be called a claim for loss of earnings.
Here are a few more examples of things that can be claimed back from the Defendant.
- Treatment costs – if you have whiplash you will probably need physiotherapy to help you recover faster. This costs money and can be claimed back (although with a fantastic injury lawyer like us, we arrange for funding o f the treatment for you!)
- Medication costs – your pain was so bad you had to buy painkillers.
- Travel expenses – if you go to a medical appointment then you will either have incurred petrol costs, or a taxi or bus fare unless you walked.
- Care and assistance – some people are in so much pain they can only do limited things around the house – they might need to get a carer in or ask a family member to help do household chores: an hourly wage can be claimed back.
Special damages are any financial loss that you have had as a result of your accident.
At The Injury Lawyers we have noticed that some people think that they have to make a claim for Special Damages because we let them know about this option. But it is exactly that, an option, if you don’t want to claim special damages you don’t have to. For example, if you don’t want to claim for the few pounds you spent on paracetamol, you don’t have to; but you should know that you can if you want. Some people haven’t had any financial losses and are worried because they can’t think of anything to claim for – not to worry; you can still get your General Damages for your injury without having to make a Special Damages claim.
At The Injury Lawyers we are on hand each week day between 9am and 10pm and weekend day between 9am and 5pm to provide you with free legal advice: so why not give us a free call on 0800 634 75 75 if you have any questions?
