One of the more common questions we get asked is whether someone has a claim for compensation – in other words, are they likely to actually win the claim and receive some compensation. 

Naturally some claims are harder to assess than others, but probably the easiest claim to assess is a passenger injury claim. That’s where you have been involved in a car crash and you are either the passenger in the vehicle which has been hit by the Defendant or the passenger in the vehicle which caused the accident.

You have a great claim, because unless you did something highly unusual, like pull the handbrake or severely distract the driver, it is highly unlikely that you were at fault for the accident and therefore you can be compensated for any injuries suffered.
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A lot of people who suffer debilitating injuries in an accident that was caused through no fault of their own end up losing earnings from time off of work. It’s one of the most common classes of financial losses that’s involved in a claim for compensation. Many people only receive statutory sick pay when they are off work for long periods of time; if you are lucky enough to have a company sick pay that pays you in full, this may not apply to you too much – but if it’s only a partial pay, then read on!

Anyone who loses out on earnings through being unable to work is entitled to make a claim for this loss that forms as part of their overall compensation claim. Your claim comes in to two parts – General Damages, and Special Damages. General Damages covers the injury itself, and Special Damages covers the financial loses, to which lost earnings are a part of.

Its normally pretty easy to work it out as well – if you have two weeks off of work and you are paid absolutely nothing, you are entitled to claim two weeks work of full earnings back. If you were paid Statutory Sick Pay, then you claim back the difference between that and the lost earnings. If you receive half pay through a company sick pay policy, than you claim back the other lost half as part of the claim.
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If you ever find yourself injured in an accident as a consequence of someone’s negligence, leaving you distressed and at harm either from a physical or psychological injury, it is only justifiable to ensure that you are well compensated as a result of this injury for your pain suffering, and loss of amenity.

With this in mind then, it is important to understand that it is not possible to seek compensation directly from an individual who caused the accident as, from a financial perspective, they would certainly struggle to compensate you properly. Therefore the preferable route would be to seek damages against their employer as chances are they will posses adequate insurance for you to claim from.

Having said this, in order for a case of vicarious liability to be successfully brought a distinction must be made between what qualifies an individual to being under a ‘contract of employment’ and under a ‘contract for services’.
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Personal injury and how to claim may seem like a daunting prospect to grasp at first, particularly when riddled with bewildering legal jargon and terminology.

It will come as no surprise therefore when I tell you that individuals can become quite easily overwhelmed and disheartened with the procedure, and when initially paired with the substantially traumatising experience of the accident itself, made to feel angry, alienated and cheated. But fear not! Help is at hand, in the shape of our genuine No win, No fee, agreement, shouldering the burden and pressures which accompany claiming compensation, giving you the time and priority needed to focus your attentions on more important issues, none so more than your speedy recovery.
 
After information regarding a potential claim has been received, our primary action is the creation of a letter of claim which states the critical information involved in the accident. This is then sent to the third party defendant for analyse.
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Believe it or not the amount of accident which arise on or about stairwells are consistently increasing with each passing year. In light of this it is important to understand then that if you are ever so unfortunate as to suffer an injury on a flight of stairs and you are adamant that the accident occurred as a direct result of another parties negligence, you may have every right to bring a successful claim and as such recover adequate compensation for your injuries.

It is imperative to understand that the nature surrounding potential avenues to claim under defected stairwells are numerous. Let’s take the workplace for a predominant example. Under these circumstances the employer of any business which hires employees are under a direct legal obligation to ensure that any staircases within their establishment are compliant with all the necessary health and safety checks to ensure that they are adequately protected from any potential legal repercussion.

Such health and safety include providing an assurance that all staircases well lighted particularly in areas which are mostly susceptible to visual difficulty in addition to making sure that appropriate handrails are provided for ease of climbing and support. It is also worth mentioning that employers must carry out consistent checks to ensure that the stairwells are always safe for usage, it is not enough to test them once and believe that that is enough.
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OK – so you’ve had a road accident, and you’ve ended up with whiplash – that painful, stiff feeling, achy, sore-like injury that affects your neck, shoulders, and back in most cases. You’ve just joined the many millions before you that have suffered with the same injury, caused by the jolt to your head and neck area from an impact with another vehicle (or a harsh brake, or similar).

Given just how much whiplash is in the news, you probably didn’t even need a doctor to tell you that you’ve got it. The accident you were in was not your fault, and you now want to know what you can do when it comes to claiming compensation for one of the most under-estimated injuries I’ve personally ever heard of (and felt!); and one with a wrongfully bad air of press around it.

Well – here are the answers…
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When we hear the word whiplash, most of us think of a road accident involving the collision of vehicles.  It is true that whiplash is the most common type of injury caused from a road traffic accidents; however, this is not always the case. This type of injury can also be common in contact sports such as rugby and boxing, or from a slip or trip resulting in a fall.

What is whiplash? 

It is commonly soft tissue damage in the neck, back and shoulder areas; the head may jolt quickly backward and forwards, or sideways.  This sudden jolting motion causes damages to the ligaments and tendons.  We cannot always protect ourselves from incidents such as this, but if they happen, especially when it’s through no fault of our own, it can be very stressful and inconvenient.
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The point of making a claim for personal injury compensation is to firstly award you with compensation for the pain, suffering, inconvenience, and loss of amenity that you endure as a result of your physical and / or mental injuries. However, on top of this, you are entitled to claim for what’s known as Special Damages.

Special Damages are made up of financial losses that you or even others affected by the claim incur. The common ones are things such as lost earnings from being off of work, medical expenses for treatment or prescription / over the counter medication you have to buy, travel expenses, and another key item called Care and Assistance.

Anyone is entitled to make a care and assistance claim, so long as it can be justified. Care and assistance is for any person making a claim who has to rely upon anyone else to look after themselves. This type of thing is common in serious injury claims, or cases where a debilitating injury has been sustained – such as any limb disability from, say, a broken leg, or dislocated arm, etc. Naturally, these types of injuries usually result in serious mobility impairment – everyday tasks can become a struggle, or even nigh impossible, in some circumstances.

What Can Care and Assistance Cover?
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As of April 2010, claiming for compensation for whiplash caused by a straightforward road traffic accident just got a whole lot easier.  A new process was introduced which has cut drastically the length of time a claim takes to settle. 

Under the old system you could be waiting nearly 4 months just simply for an admission of liability from the negligent third party, and then you would still have to go about obtaining medical evidence and enter into negotiations with the other side to see if a settlement could be reached.  Nowadays, an admission of liability can be received within a couple of weeks and your claim settled in a couple of months!

The first stage in this new claiming process is to submit a Claim Notification Form.  This a simple form that you can go through with an expert injury lawyer on your side which details your accident, those involved in your accident, and the injuries you suffered from.  The form itself takes about 15-20 minutes to complete, and once you are happy with it, it is submitted to the Defendant’s insurer who has just 1 business day to acknowledge it. 
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Whiplash is one of the most common injuries that is caused by road traffic accidents.  Whiplash is a soft tissue injury and tends to affect the neck and shoulder area of your body.  It is typically caused by the sudden and forceful jolting of your head/neck. 

It is frequently occurring in road traffic accidents because of the nature of the accidents that involve innocent victims and because the injured party has been wearing a seatbelt.  For example, if a negligent third party collides with the rear of your motor vehicle, you will probably be thrown forward and then your seatbelt will kick in and suddenly bring you back to your original position. It is this type of incident, this sudden jerking of your neck, that causes whiplash.

So, how do you know if you have sustained whiplash?  If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and believe you may have whiplash, here are a few symptoms to look out for:
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