This is one of the most common questions I hear at The Injury lawyers when speaking to new (and existing) clients. It’s something that most claimers want to know right from the outset of the case.
But unfortunately, answering this question is a little trickier than you might think!
As a pioneer of the online compensation calculators, we know that they can help – but only as a guideline. Ultimately, the information you put in to the calculator dictates its response. The calculator (or at least ours) matches the information you put in to it to something called the JSB (Judicial Studies Board) Guidelines, which are official guidelines we as lawyers and judges at court use to value claims.
To value your claim properly, you need:
- A good quality medical report from a qualified medico-legal expert in the field of your injury (e.g. Orthopaedic for muscular / skeletal, Plastic Surgeon for cuts and burns, Dermatological for skin etc).
- An experienced, fully qualified and specialist personal injury lawyer.
The medical report gives all the information needed for an expert injury lawyer to value your claim. Only a specialist personal injury lawyer is best qualified to value your claim using their expertise, the JSB Guidelines, and previous Case Law (past similar cases / injuries). With a fully qualified expert valuing your case, you should be guaranteed the maximum possible payout.
So – I apologise if you were looking for the perfect figure! But, I have given you the answer to the question as to how much your claim is worth already; it’s just a little more inferred.
The value of your claim is directly proportional to:
- The severity and length of your suffering
- The lasting effects of any suffering or scarring
- The level of impact the injury has had on your life
- The amount you have lost out on (you can make a claim for the injury and for any subsequent losses, such as lost earnings, medical expenses, travel costs, and care costs)
- THE QUALITY OF THE INJURY LAWYER WORKING ON YOUR CLAIM
The latter is perhaps more important than you may think. It’s no secret that there are claims companies and insurers waiting to sell your claim on to a high paying law firm for a “referral fee”. The fees themselves can be anywhere up to £800 (yes, £800!) which is a huge amount of money for your solicitor to waste on simply “buying” your claim. This money is not recoverable from the other side, meaning it can either come from your payout or the service levels for your claim. With less money to spend on your claim, how can you trust your solicitor to fight hard for the maximum payout?
This is often known as “Legal Expense Insurance” or “Legal Protection”, or a non-solicitor company (breakdown, garage, etc) saying “we can sort out your personal injury too!”
The best thing to do, to always ensure to protect your own position, is go direct to a specialist firm of personal injury lawyers. This way you know there are protected – there are no middlemen taking a cut from your claim or from the running costs of your claim; so you should always get a lawyer with plenty of money to spend on fighting harder for your claim.
Get an expert independent injury lawyer on your side and you should be guaranteed the maximum amount you are legally entitled to recover.
For a little guidance on the value of your claim, feel free to use our online calculator and speak to our team about how much you could be entitled to claim for.
