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This is a common question that many people ask when they are first thinking about making a personal injury claim, as many people worry they do not have enough information or proof to build a case. Hopefully this blog will clear up this query and put some worrying minds at ease.

As there are different types of claims, there are inevitably different pieces of information that are required for different sorts of cases. Therefore I will address the main categories of: Occupiers Liability claims, Accidents at work claims and Road Traffic Accident claims.

Occupier’s or Public liability claims

Slips or trips in a public places / pothole trippers etc. These cases can be notoriously difficult and therefore evidence can be vital; key pieces include:
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In a claim for compensation you have a duty to do mitigate your losses. This means that you have a duty to keep your losses to a minimum. You can, of course, recover compensation for your injuries and for the losses you incurred as a result of the accident. Your losses could be anything from damaged clothing, requiring care and assistance, paying for medication etc. The duty to mitigate your losses also extends to your physical injury. If there is something that you could do to minimise or reduce the length of your injury, then you should do it; especially if it is offered to you.

This can be better explained by using physiotherapy as an example.

Say for example you are injured in a car crash that was not your fault. Another vehicle drove into the rear of your vehicle and as a result you sustained a whiplash type injury. It is likely that the other side will offer to pay for a course of physiotherapy treatment for you. If this is offered and you decline the treatment then the Defendant could (and most probably would) argue that you are failing to mitigate your losses. By having physiotherapy treatment the idea is that your injury may resolve earlier. For example with physiotherapy treatment you may make a full recovery from the injuries you sustained in the accident within 6 months. Without such physiotherapy treatment you may not recover from the injuries you sustained in the accident until 9 months after the accident.
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Care and assistance is something that many people do not consider to be a thing they can recover when claiming for compensation. Of course, when you are injured, everyday tasks such as shopping, cleaning and washing can become an extremely difficult task which you now require help with to complete.

This help can be obtained professionally, but it can also include help from friends and family. Unbeknown to many, help from your nearest and dearest can be recovered – but how does this work?

After the case has got moving and you are happy to proceed, you will receive something called a “Client Care Questionnaire” which is simply a form which is broken down into the common activities such as the above and you are required to estimate how long you have received help doing these things. Please bear in mind that these estimations do have to be “reasonable” and therefore it is important that you are honest when completing this form as the court does not look to kindly on people “over exaggerating” their claim!
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It’s so common nowadays for people to end up injured in a supermarket. With so many things all under one roof that items can be knocked over and cause an obvious slipping or tripping hazards from stock falling on the floor – it’s a constant problem.

Ultimately, all this leads to supermarkets being pretty dangerous places. As much as you can look out for your own wellbeing by keeping an eye out for hazards on the floors, there are certain things like water or oil that aren’t easy to spot; and when you’re distracted by the bargain prices, the last thing you are doing is watching where you’re walking. As a result, the Occupiers Liability Act is a pretty important piece of legislation for supermarkets to uphold.

By law, whoever is responsible or in charge of a premises has a duty to do all they reasonably can to ensure people are not injured. Whether you have a claim or not is not so much down to the individual circumstances. Many people are unfortunately under the illusion that if you slip or trip in a supermarket due to an item being on the floor, or a slipping hazard that isn’t cordoned off or doesn’t have signs in the area, you have a claim. This is not the case at all I’m afraid.
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To quote (roughly, I think) from the Saw films, the human body is a miraculous creation, and can take a great deal of punishment.  If you’ve seen the films, you’ll know what I mean…

But Hollywood aside, the news that an injury you have sustained is going to leave you with a permanent problem can be devastating to hear. For reasons unknown, certain injuries just don’t heal very well, or at all. The obvious ones like amputation or the loss of an organ or similar can obviously leave you with a permanent disadvantage. But there are other things, like permanent muscular weakness or nerve damage that equally leave you with long term and potentially indefinite problems.

Commonly, bone on bone heals well, but for reasons unknown, a ruptured ligament or damaged nerve either needs reconstructing or has little or no chance of recovering. So how do we take this in to account when it comes to valuing a claim for personal injury compensation that leaves you permanently injured? How can we put a value on something that changes your life for the worse forever? It’s not easy; but as specialist injury lawyers, we do it all the time.
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Occupier’s liability means that the occupiers of a premises are required to keep people safe whilst they are on the premises for which the occupier is responsible. Occupiers liability applies to lawful visitors and to trespassers although, rightly so, lawful visitors are given greater protection than unlawful trespassers.

The term occupier is quite wide and the Courts look at the degree of control over the premises. Occupier’s liability applies where people become injured in the supermarket, in shops, in garages, in petrol station forecourts etc. If for example you slip on oil in a petrol station forecourt then you may be entitled to claim compensation. This is because the occupier has failed in their duty to keep the premises reasonably safe and to protect people from injury. Presumably you are on the petrol station forecourt to fill up your car with petrol; clearly you are therefore a lawful visitor to the premises. Each case is viewed on its merits and the Court would look at whether anything was done to warn of the danger. In addition the Court would consider how long the oil had been left on the floor, were staff aware that oil was on the floor etc?
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If you’re a sports fan, you’re probably aware of the dreaded cruciate knee injury. The cruciate ligaments are useful for knee stability on impact – so running or jumping is where they come in to play the most. Sadly the knee joint can be fairly easy to injure, particularly in sports. Tearing or rupturing a ligament in the knee can be severely debilitating. As the title of this article suggests, I’ll focus on ruptured ligaments.

A ligament rupture by definition is where the ligament is literally torn in to two (or I suppose more) pieces. Tearing usually means the ligaments remains intact but part of the tissue is torn or ripped. Ruptured usually means it’s been split. If the ligament tears off a piece of bone with it, this commonly known as an avulsion fracture and can usually be repaired with the bone being sewn back on. You’re better off with that than a rupture – I’ll explain why.
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In personal injury claims, you can claim General Damages which is money or compensation for the injury that you sustained. Further to this, you can also claim for Special Damages which covers any expenses or losses that you have incurred as a result of the accident.
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Put simply; it might be. But what you need to know is that are for more likely to under settle your claim for compensation if you settle with the insurers direct. Now, before you start telling me that the insurers have already told you they’ll pay you more by dealing with them direct as they avoid paying out legal fees, don’t bother! We know how the system works, and dealing with the third party insurers directly is very, very dangerous. I’ll explain why.

How to Value a Claim

There is only one way to properly value a claim for personal injury compensation. You must attend a medical appointment with a suitably qualified medico-legal expert. Your own GP does not count! The expert needs to be qualified to prepare a specific medico-legal report.

In most cases when people deal with insurers directly, they do not obtain a medico-legal report. Therefore, any valuations and offers made to you are based entirely on estimations and guesswork. Would you buy a new car based on what it ‘roughly’ might be worth? How do you know you’re not paying over the odds? Would you hand over your hard earned cash to a mechanic when you don’t know how much they will charge you for the work? Better yet, would you let a surgeon operate on you when he/she may or may not be qualified to do so? You can’t leave this stuff to chance.
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Claiming for compensation is not as complicated as it may seem. However, the thought of taking “legal action” for some people, is something they simply do not want to spend time doing as they’ll worry that it will take too long and involve attending court and all sorts of hassle..

So the purpose of this blog, is to simply put people’s minds at ease, and to ensure you that if you are thinking you’re entitled to compensation, then you should genuinely look in to making a claim!

So what is the procedure?

There are two mains protocols involved for the common compensation claims; the first is the Road Traffic Accident Protocol and the second being the Personal Injury protocol.
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