By Lewis Houston. Last Updated 3rd October 2022. In this guide, we are going to look at why you could claim compensation if you have been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault. We also discuss how a personal injury lawyer could help.
We’ll show you what amount of damages could be paid for accident at work claims, accidents caused by the council, slips, trips and falls and road traffic accidents amongst others. After that, we’ll explain what personal injury lawyers do and how they could help you with the compensation claims process.
If you are contemplating a claim, we are ready to help you. We have advisors who can review your claim on a no-obligation basis. Also, even if you don’t decide to claim, you’ll receive free legal advice on your options.
Personal injury lawyer guide
If you decide to proceed, we could connect you with a lawyer from our panel. All claims that they take on are processed on a No Win No Fee basis.
To see if you can begin your claim right away, please contact us on 0800 408 7825 today. Alternatively, please continue reading to learn more about how personal injury lawyers could help you claim.
Select A Section
- What Are Personal Injury Lawyers?
- Do Personal Injury Claims Have To Go To Court?
- How Long Do I Have To Claim With A Personal Injury Lawyer?
- What Fees Do Personal Injury Lawyers Charge?
- How To Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer
- How Much Could My Claim Be Worth?
- Talk To A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyer
- Our Areas Of Expertise
What Are Personal Injury Lawyers?
The Law Society recommends using a solicitor if you have been injured or made ill because of somebody else’s negligence. They explain that they can present your case expertly and make sure that adequate medical evidence is in place to support your claim.
In our experience, personal injury solicitors can improve the likelihood of you winning the right amount of compensation. That’s because they have the skills and training necessary to evaluate claims and present the evidence professionally and concisely. If your claim is accepted by a personal injury lawyer from our panel, they will:
- Review your claim so that they fully understand how you’ve suffered.
- Arrange a medical assessment
- Gather evidence and send your claim to the defendant.
- Handle all communication with the defendant’s legal team or insurers.
- Provide you with regular updates about your case.
- Try to counter any arguments, objections or queries raised.
- Work hard to ensure any settlement that’s offered is fair and reflects upon your level of suffering.
The types of claims personal injury lawyers can help with include:
- Road traffic accident and whiplash claims.
- Accidents in public places.
- Medical negligence claims.
- Criminal injury claims.
- Holiday accident claims.
- Workplace accident claims.
- Slip, trip and fall claims.
As we continue, we’ll look at how the claims process works, how long you may have to claim, how you could choose your personal injury lawyer and what amount of compensation you might be paid. Also, we’ll look at what time limits apply in different personal injury claims.
If you have any questions whilst reading, please get in touch with us on the phone or via live chat for free legal advice.
Do Personal Injury Claims Have To Go To Court?
In our experience, very few personal injury claims go to court. That might be because personal injury lawyers vet claims before they take them on. That means that they will have already checked whether you have a reasonable chance of success and whether the case is valid.
Where cases do go to court, they will be assigned to a certain ‘track’ by the court system. For fast-track cases, valued between £10,000 and £25,000, the hearing would generally be expected to take 1 day. For multi-track claims, with a value of over £25,000, the hearing could take 2 days or more.
If your case were to end up in court, your personal injury lawyer would arrange representation for you (usually a barrister). Importantly, even if a court date is set, there is still the opportunity for a pre-trial settlement.
How Many Personal Injury Claims Go To Court?
You might be wondering, ‘how many personal injury claims go to court?’. Generally, a claim going to court is avoided as it can be a lengthy and costly process. However, statistics show that only about 5% of claims actually proceed to trial. Most cases are settled outside of court.
A claim may need to go to court if the defendant refuses liability or disagrees on other aspects of the case, such as the severity of the injury, and it cannot be settled through negotiations.
If you have further questions about a personal injury claim going to court, speak to our advisors for free at any time. They could connect you to an accident claim lawyer from our panel.
How Long Do I Have To Claim With A Personal Injury Lawyer
Personal injury claims generally have a 3-year time limit. This can either start from:
- The date that you were injured; or
- The date you gained knowledge that negligence at least contributed to your injuries (the date of knowledge) if this was later.
There are some exceptions to this rule. Where children or adults without the mental capacity to represent themselves need to claim, they can use a litigation friend. This is where a responsible adult can act on behalf of the claimant.
Claims that could involve a litigation friend include:
- Children’s cases. There is no time limit for the litigation friend to act so long as the claim is made before the child turns 18 years old. From the child’s 18th birthday, they’d have 3 years to claim for themselves if nobody else already had.
- Adults without the mental capacity to claim. Again, unless the adult recovers, there is no time limit for the litigation friend to act. If they were to regain their mental capacity, the 3-year time limit would begin from the date of their recovery.
In all of the above scenarios, a personal injury lawyer could help with the claim.
What Fees Do Personal Injury Lawyers Charge?
When the personal injury lawyers on our panel take on a claim, they’ll provide the claimant with a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is the contract between both parties. The other term for it is a No Win No Fee agreement.
Essentially, the lawyer conducts their work without any payment of their fees upfront. Then, if compensation is paid, they deduct a success fee from the settlement amount.
The fee is an agreed small percentage of damages received. By law, the fee is capped. In addition, you wouldn’t pay until the compensation comes through.
The reason they’re able to offer this reduction is that they run an efficient business where all claims are handled online, over the phone and by email.
If you’d like to check whether you could use the services of a personal injury lawyer from our panel, please call today.
How To Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer
You might think the process of finding a personal injury lawyer will be tricky. It could involve scouring through pages and pages of online reviews. Alternatively, you might want to ask friends for recommendations. You could even look for solicitors in your hometown. While all of these actions might work, we could save you a lot of time.
Our panel of personal injury lawyers specialise in accident and injury claims. They are registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority for England and Wales which means you can be assured of the quality of their work.
Therefore, to find the best personal injury lawyer for you, a quick call to our advisors might be all you need to do. We could connect you with a lawyer from our panel once your claim has been reviewed. Once you speak with them, you’ll be able to ask as many questions about the claims process as you like
Working With A Lawyer For An Accident Claim – What Are The Benefits?
The primary benefit of working with a lawyer in an accident claim is the experience and requisite knowledge they can provide. An injury claim lawyer will be familiar with the laws and processes surrounding your claim, and can help you with parts of the process such as:
- Negotiations: An injury claim lawyer could help you with negotiations with insurance firms, and aim to get you as much compensation as possible.
- Evidence: A lawyer may not only be aware of the type of evidence that could help you in your type of claim, but can offer you help in collecting such relevant evidence.
To see how an injury claim lawyer could help you in your accident claim, please reach out to one of our advisers. They can put you in touch with one of the lawyers on our panel who can help you with your claim today.
How Much Could My Claim Be Worth?
In this section, we’ve used a compensation table to demonstrate how much compensation you could receive for different injuries. The figures we’ve supplied are from guidelines set out by the Judicial College. These guidelines are used by personal injury lawyers when calculating compensation settlements.
As well as compensation for your injuries, you could also claim for any costs, expenses or financial losses caused by your injuries too. However, we haven’t been able to put these figures in the compensation table below because they’re unique to each claim.
| Affected Body Part | Injury Type/Level | Settlement Bracket | Judicial College Guidelines Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wrist | Complete loss (a) | £47,620 to £59,860 | Injuries to the wrist that result in complete loss of function. |
| Face | Scarring (b) | £17,960 to £48,420 | Substantial facial scarring that causes a severe psychological reaction. |
| Hips | Moderate (i) | £26,590 to £39,170 | This covers significant pelvis or hip injuries but where any ongoing disability is not serious. |
| Achilles Tendon | Serious (b) | £24,990 to £30,090 | Injuries where a successful repair is completed but where the claimant suffers with limited ankle movement, residual weakness and further improvement is unlikely. |
| Fingers | Severe (f) | Up to £36,740 | Severe finger fractures that could result in partial amputation, reduced function, deformity or impaired grip. |
| Knee | Moderate (i) | £14,840 to £26,190 | An example in this category is where a dislocated knee causes wasting, weakness or instability. |
| Psychiatric Damage | Moderate (c) | £5,860 to £19,070 | The claimant will suffer significant issues to start with. However, they will recover well and will receive a good prognosis. |
| Back | Minor (i) | £7,890 to £12,510 | This bracket is for soft tissue injuries where surgery isn't needed and recovery takes around 3-months to 2-years |
| Teeth | Loss (i) | £8,730 to £11,410 | Covers injuries where several front teeth are lost or seriously damaged. |
The severity of your injuries is a key factor in determining how much compensation might be paid. What’s more, you’ll need to prove that your injuries were caused or worsened by someone else’s negligence. Therefore, you’ll need a medical assessment during the claims process.
There’s nothing to worry about though. A medical expert will examine your injuries and talk with you about how they’ve affected you. They’ll then provide a report to the necessary parties involved with the claim listing your injuries and your prognosis.
Your solicitor could use this report to help when valuing injuries.
Please note that we’ve not included every possible injury in our table. Also, the amounts listed could vary so please use them as guidance. Once your claim has been properly assessed, we could provide a more personalised compensation estimate.
Talk To A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyer
Thanks for reading this guide on how to choose a personal injury lawyer.If you’d like to see if our advisors can connect you with a lawyer from our panel, get in touch. You can discuss your claim by:
- Calling our advisors on 0800 408 7825.
- Asking for free legal advice using our live chat service.
- Contacting us online so that we can get back to you.
Our Areas Of Expertise
This is the final section of our guide. Therefore, we have linked to some other helpful resources and some more of our guides as well.
NHS Services Near You – This online tool is a good way to find the address of an NHS service if you need to request copies of your medical records.
Whiplash Reforms – Detailed information about the new way low-value road traffic accident (RTA) claims can be processed now.
Choosing A Solicitor – Information on choosing a solicitor from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Passenger Injuries – This article shows how you could claim if you are injured as a passenger involved in an RTA.
Park Accident Claims – Advice on claiming if you or your child is injured in a park.
Claiming Lost Wages – Information on how to prove the income you’ve lost as a result of an accident.
We also have some other guides you may find useful:
- Public accident claims hot spots
- Council slip and trip accidents
- Public transport accidents
- How to make a public liability claim
- Making a claim against the council
- Claiming for a pothole injury
- Making a claim against a shop
- Accidents in a public park
- Cycling accident claims
- Claiming for injuries suffered while shopping
Thank you for reading about how a personal injury lawyer could help you make a compensation claim.
Article by RA
Publisher UI