Have you suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following an accident at work, in a public place or a road traffic accident caused by a third party breaching their duty of care? If so, you might wonder whether you could be eligible to make a serious injury claim for severe PTSD. This guide will discuss the eligibility criteria that need to be met in order to have valid grounds to seek personal injury compensation. It will also discuss the evidence you could gather to strengthen your case and how a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could assist you.
According to the NHS, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is caused by a person experiencing very stressful, frightening, or distressing events. It can cause the affected person to experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt, and cause them to have problems with sleep, as well as nightmares and flashbacks. If you have an eligible case and succeed in claiming compensation, you could be awarded a settlement that addresses the impacts of PTSD. Later in this guide, we discuss how payouts for PTSD are calculated and what they can comprise.
For more information regarding your potential serious injury claim, you can contact our team via the following details for free:
- Call on 0800 408 7825
- Fill out our ‘Contact Us’ page
- Use the live chat feature below
Jump To A Section
- When Can You Make A Serious Injury Claim For Severe PTSD?
- What Evidence Could Help You Claim Compensation For PTSD?
- Case Study: £800,000 Payout For Severe PTSD
- How Much Compensation Could You Receive When Making A Claim For Severe PTSD?
- Make A Serious Injury Claim With A Solicitor On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Read More About How To Claim For A Serious Injury
When Can You Make A Serious Injury Claim For Severe PTSD?
In order to begin a serious injury claim for severe PTSD, you need to demonstrate that negligence occurred. In tort law, negligence is:
- A third party, such as your employer, a road user, or occupier, owed you a duty of care.
- The duty was breached.
- You experienced psychological damage and/or physical harm as a result of the breach.
It’s important to note, you can claim for PTSD by itself or alongside a physical injury. For example, if you suffered a crushed leg injury and PTSD you could make a claim for both injuries provided the criteria above have been met.
In addition to proving negligence, you must start your claim within the personal injury claims time limit set out in the Limitation Act 1980. This states that you typically have three years to initiate legal proceedings starting from the date of the accident. However, there can be exceptions to this.
You can call our team for more information on the eligibility criteria for seeking compensation and how long you have to do so. Alternatively, read the following sections to learn more about the duty of care road users, employers, and occupiers have. We also provide examples of how this duty could be breached and the accidents and injuries that could be caused as a result.
Workplace Accidents
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) places a responsibility on employers have to take reasonable and practicable steps as a way to prevent employees from becoming injured in the workplace and as they perform their work-related tasks. This is their duty of care. A failure to uphold this duty could lead to a serious accident at work that causes PTSD. For example:
- Your employer fails to ensure equipment provided for use at work, such as a ladder, is safe to use for its intended purpose. As a result, you witness your colleague fall from a broken ladder while working at a height and sustain a fatal brain injury. You later develop PTSD after witnessing the fatal accident.
Accidents In A Public Place
Those in charge of a public space are known as the occupiers. They owe a duty of care to ensure the reasonable safety of anyone visiting the space as outlined in the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. A failure to do so could lead to a serious public place accident. For example:
- Despite reports being made about a faulty escalator in a supermarket, no steps are taken to address the hazard. As a result, you get your foot trapped leading to a traumatic foot amputation. Due to the severity of your injury, you experience psychological damage as well.
Road Traffic Accidents
Road users have a duty of care to each other whilst using the roads. As such, they must act in a way that prevents causing harm or damage to themselves and others. In order to uphold this duty, they must adhere to the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA) and the Highway Code. Failure to do so could lead to a serious road traffic accident. For example:
- A driver might fail to check it’s safe before changing lanes while driving on the motorway causing them to crash into the passenger side of your vehicle at a high speed. As a result, the passenger sustains fatal injuries and upon witnessing the accident, you develop PTSD.
To discuss your specific case and find out whether you’re eligible to begin a serious injury claim for severe PTSD, please contact an advisor on the number above.
What Evidence Could Help You Claim Compensation For PTSD?
It’s important to collect supporting evidence when you make a claim for severe PTSD. Evidence can demonstrate that the injuries you sustained were caused by a breach of duty. It can also provide an insight into the nature of your injuries. As such, you might benefit from gathering the following:
- Copies of medical records. This could include specialist reports from a psyhciatrist as well as doctor reports.
- CCTV footage showing the accident.
- Dashcam footage.
- The contact details of witnesses who can provide supporting statements at a later date.
- Photos of the injuries and the cause of the accident.
If you have an eligible case, you could instruct an experienced serious injury solicitor from our panel to help you seek compensation. They can help you build your case and ensure it’s presented in the relevant time limit.
For more information about the services our panel of expert solicitors could provide and whether they could assist you, please contact an advisor using the number above.
Case Study: £800,000 Payout For Severe PTSD
This case study is figurative and intended only to illustrate the steps you may need to take when making a serious injury claim for severe PTSD.
Mr Black was driving home with his friend on the motorway when another car crashed into the passenger side of his vehicle after failing to indicate before changing lanes. This caused his friend to suffer fatal brain injuries. Mr Black also sustained multiple serious injuries, including a broken neck and traumatic arm amputation. In addition, after witnessing his friend suffer fatal harm, he developed PTSD.
Mr Black was unable to return to work for an extended period of time and his quality of life deteriorated due to the PTSD symptoms. After a while, he decided to seek legal advice from an experienced serious injury solicitor who took on his case and helped him seek compensation.
Together, they were able to build a strong case against the motorist at fault for the accident. Using witness statements and CCTV footage, as well as psychiatric and other injury reports, his solicitor successfully negotiated an £800,000 settlement for Mr Black.
This amount included compensation for the physical and psychological impact his injuries had on his life as well as the financial losses incurred as a result.
You can discuss your specific case and the possibility of seeking legal representation by calling an advisor on the number above. They can provide further guidance on PTSD claims and the steps involved in seeking compensation.
How Much Compensation Could You Receive When Making A Claim For Severe PTSD?
Serious injury claim payouts can comprise up to two heads of loss. Each compensates for the different impacts of your injury.
- General damages: This is the first head of loss that compensates for the pain and suffering of your injuries. As mentioned earlier, this can be for a physical injury, psychological injury, or both together. An independent medical assessment may be arranged for you to attend as part of the claims process. This can produce an in-depth report on the full extent of your injuries and can be used when valuing general damages.
- Special damages: This is the second head of loss that compensates for the financial losses caused by your injuries. For example, if you have lost income due to being unable to work because of your injuries, you could seek reimbursement of this loss. However, you should keep evidence of any financial losses, such as payslips for lost income, or receipts for travel costs and medical expenses.
In addition to using the independent medical report when valuing general damages, reference can be made to the guideline compensation brackets listed in the Judicial College Guidelines. These amounts are based on previous successful court cases. You can find a selection of these in the table below. However, please use them as a guide only.
Compensation Table
Type of Injury | Severity | Notes | Guideline Compensation Brackets |
---|---|---|---|
Multiple Serious Injuries | Serious | Compensation can be awarded for the impact of any psychological and/or physical injuries of a serious nature alongside the financial costs incurred as a result. | Up to and above £1,000,000 |
Brain Damage | Very Severe | The person requires full-time nursing care due to having poor language function, double incontinence and being unable to respond meaningfully to their environment. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
Paralysis | Quadriplegia | Paralysis of the upper and lower body. Factors such as the person’s age are considered when determining the award. | £324,600 to £403,990 |
Foot | Amputation of One Foot | The injury is treated similarly to a below the knee amputation due to the loss of the ankle joint. | £83,960 to £109,650 |
PTSD | Severe | The person will be permanently and negatively affected preventing them from working or functioning at a pre-trauma level. | £59,860 to £100,670 |
Moderately Severe | A better prognosis due to the person receiving professional help and making some recovery. However, effects are still likely to result in a significant disability for the foreseeable future. | £23,150 to £59,860 | |
Special Damages | Loss of Earnings | Compensation to reimburse any loss of income caused by time taken off work due to the injuries sustained. | Up to £100,000 and above |
For further guidance on how compensation is calculated in a claim for severe PTSD, please contact an advisor. They can assess your case for free and provide an estimate of what you could potentially be owed in compensation.
Make A Serious Injury Claim With A Solicitor On A No Win No Fee Basis
If you eligible to claim for severe PTSD and wish to seek legal representation, you could benefit from instructing a serious injury solicitor from our panel. Our panel of solicitors can offer their services through a type of No Win No Fee contract known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This offers numerous advantages such as:
- There are no fees to pay for the solicitor’s services when the claim begins or as it continues.
- Following a failed outcome, no fees will be required for the work your solicitor completed on your case.
- If your case succeeds, you will be awarded compensation from which you’ll pay a success fee to your solicitor. This is taken as a percentage which has a legal cap applied to it. Due to the legal cap, you can keep the majority of your settlement.
For more information regarding your potential claim for a serious injury, please contact an advisor. After assessing your case for free, if they find it’s valid, they could connect you with a solicitor from our panel. You can get in touch using the following contact details:
- Call on 0800 408 7825
- Fill out our ‘Contact Us’ page
- Use the live chat feature below
Read More About How To Claim For A Serious Injury
For more of our useful guides:
- Learn whether you could claim for organ damage after a serious accident.
- Find out whether you could make a serious injury claim for blindness after an accident that wasn’t your fault.
- Discover if you could seek compensation for deafness or hearing loss after a serious accident.
For some external resources:
- An NHS resource on complex PTSD.
- Information on statutory sick pay from GOV.UK.
- Helpful workplace health and safety statistics from the Health and Safety Executive.
Thank you for reading our guide discussing when you could make a serious injury claim for severe PTSD. If you have any questions, please contact an advisor on the number above.