Personal Injury Claims

The vast number of claims are settled, by negotiation, without the need for attendance at court. On the rare occasion where a dispute exists, and court proceedings need to be issued we will carefully go through the whole procedure with you and address any concerns you may have. It will be your decision as to whether you start any court proceedings.

Will I have to go to court? Video Transcript

Another thing that a lot of clients ask us is ‘Will I have to go to Court?’. It’s a very difficult question to answer because it depends on each case individually. What we usually say is you need to be prepared to go to Court because there’s always the possibility that that might need to happen. It’s really unlikely and in 99.5% of cases you’ll never have to go because liability is not a problem and we can settle the value of the claim with the insurance company just through negotiations, without a judge having to hear any of the evidence. If the case is a little bit more difficult and liability is a bit up in the air and it’s a bit uncertain as to whether it’s their fault or not, then a trial may be required. Likewise, if there’s complex medical problems and certain things which need to be determined by the judge because they’re still in dispute (such as some of your other losses or your actual medical condition itself), then there’s the potential that a trial might have to take place. However, in the majority of cases they never ever end up going to Court. But it’s something that we could discuss with you and there’s always the possibility that we can push forwards with your claim without even having to think about Court until sometime down the line and then we can assess the case and discuss it with you as to the percentage of chances we think it is that you’re going to need to go to Court. If you’re not sure you can just give us a call and we can go through it with you.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

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No. If your accident occurred at your workplace your employer is not legally justified to dismiss you if you make a claim for compensation. If they do so, you may well be able to claim for unfair dismissal even if you have not been employed by them for very long.  It is important that you remember that employers are legally bound to take out insurance specifically to cover accidents at work. Any compensation that you are awarded will be paid for from that insurance and will not have to be paid for by your employer(s). Our personal injury expert, Dominic Moss explains more in this short video:

Please see our Accident at Work Claims service.

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The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers is very helpful and they have a Dictionary of personal injury terms and acronyms. The Citizens Advice Bureau also has more information.

You need to find a company you can trust who cares about your interests. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) is a not-for-profit association of solicitors, barristers and academics who specialise in personal injuries work. Look for a lawyer who not only belongs to APIL but is also part of their accreditation scheme. The accreditation scheme guarantees members are competent in a particular field of personal injury. Accredited lawyers from Senior Litigator level upwards have at least five years’ experience of dealing with personal injury claims. All APIL members promise to follow a code of conduct and a consumer charter. Demonic Moss of Stonehewer Moss is a Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

There are two types of injury compensation that you may be entitled to. The first, called ‘general damages’, and is awarded to compensate you for the pain and suffering caused by the injury. The second type of injury compensation, called ‘special damages’, covers actual financial losses and expenses arising from the injury. This can include lost earnings, care given to you by your friends and family, costs of treatment, travel costs and various other expenses including future losses.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

What will I get Personal Injury compensation for? – Video Transcript

A lot of clients ask us ‘What can I claim compensation for?’. For most claims, there’s two different aspects to it. There’s General Damages and there’s Special Damages. Your General Damages relates to your injury aspects of your claim, which is your pain, suffering and loss of amenity. That takes into account obviously how bad the pain was, how long you suffered for and what it’s impacted in your life in terms of what you can and can’t do now going forwards. In addition to that you’ve got your Special Damages which is your out-of-pocket expenses. These are loss of earnings, care and assistance, travel, it might be a sports membership or something like that that you can no longer use due to the accident. It’s obviously for the claimant to always prove their losses on those ones. So if you’re unaware of how to prove it, or what you need to show it, you can either check out one of our other videos or give us a call and we can go through it with you.

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Yes. Injury compensation cases are commonly brought by the widow/widower of the victim, or by the executors who are named in the victim’s will.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

Usually, to progress a personal injury claim you will need to be examined by an independent doctor. We always endeavour to make this as stress-free as possible for you and arrange a mutually convenient appointment as close to your home as possible.

Will I need to have a medical examination? Transcript

The other thing that clients are often concerned about is whether or not they’ll have to attend a medical appointment. For the majority of claims you will have to attend a medical appointment because that’s how the claims for your General Damages are valued. It’s based on the medical experts prognosis and their opinion on how your injuries are going to progress. A lot of clients will see the medical examiner whilst they’re still suffering from their symptoms and they won’t be fully recovered at the time. So it’s really important that you might to go to one. However, there may be some situations where a medical examination is not required. For example, if there’s some scarring, a laceration and a scar which seems to be permanent, sometimes you might not need to go to a medical examination. Other times, insurance companies or solicitors might make what’s called a pre-medical offer which is an offer to settle your claim without obtaining any medical evidence. However, to make sure that you get an accurate valuation of any injury that you’ve had, the medical examination is probably going to be necessary. If you’re not sure about that, it’s always something we can have a talk about and decide the best course of action. But all the medical examiners are completely independent and impartial and at the end of the day their duty is to the Court. So they’re not tied to us, they’re not tied to any other firm you might be using, their duty is to the Court. So they’re always going to give an honest opinion on what your injuries are and how they’re going to progress going forwards. If you’re concerned about anything like that we can have a chat before you even start your case, but it’s nothing to worry about, we can sort it for you.

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This will, to a large extent, be determined by the nature of the injuries you have sustained and whether the defendants have conceded liability for the accident.

In road traffic accidents where liability is admitted and the injuries sustained are not serious, we would expect matters to be settled in a matter of months. More complex cases can take longer. The vast majority of all cases are settled within 12 months.

It is important to realise that whilst we will act speedily and efficiently, we need to ensure that you have fully recovered from your injuries or that the doctors have determined an accurate prognosis.

Once a claim is settled you cannot claim more later on so we need to ensure that you receive the proper compensation for your injuries and any complications that may arise in the future. We will never pressurise you into settling your claim, we want you to be entirely satisfied before your claim is finalised.

How long will my personal injury claim take? Video Transcript

One of the first things that most of our clients ask us during our initial consultation is ‘How long will my claims process take?’. It’s a little bit tough because it’s very individual to each case and will be determined on a case-by-case basis. It often depends on things which are out of our control such as the insurance company dealing with the claim, the defendant themselves, whether or not the Court proceedings need to be issued. In a fairly straightforward case it can be something that’s brought to a close within a matter of months, sometimes weeks if all is straightforward and nothing is disputed. However, some cases can take several months to years to bring to a close and that can be because of complex arguments on liability or complex medical issues that need to be dealt with and settled between the parties. However, we work hard to make sure that we can push your case forward so that if the insurance company aren’t playing ball really, we can issue Court proceedings and start dealing with the solicitors which can push things along. Once the Court process has started we usually say somewhere between 18 months from the day we issue proceedings to potentially a final hearing. But though a lot of cases do settle before then during that time. It can settle at any period. So there’s no real answer to how long will it take. But, we’ll do our best to make sure we push it forwards for you should you choose to use us. If you’d like to have a chat about it, we can talk about the problems that might occur in your case and whether or not it’s straightforward and we can see if it’s something that we can help you with.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

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This will, to a large extent, be determined by the nature of the injuries you have sustained and whether the defendants have conceded liability for the accident.

In road traffic accidents where liability is not an issue and the injuries sustained are not serious we would expect matters to be settled in a matter of months. More complex cases can take longer. The vast majority of all cases are settled within 12 months.

It is important to realise that whilst we will act speedily and efficiently we need to ensure that you have fully recovered from your injuries or that the doctors have determined an accurate prognosis.

Once a claim is settled you cannot claim more later on so we need to ensure that you receive the proper compensation for your injuries and any complications that may arise in the future. We will never pressurise you into settling your claim, we want you to be entirely satisfied before it is finalised.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

A personal injury can be physical or psychological. It can be an injury or an illness and it could result in death. Examples of personal injuries are cuts, breaks, bruising, soft tissue injuries, anxiety, scarring, damage to organs and loss of senses. These might occur as a result of accidents at work, a road traffic accident, a trip or fall that happened in a public place, as well as injuries sustained as a result of clinical or cosmetic negligence. There are lots of other examples.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services.

The responsibility for an accident at work is very often it is the employer, even though they may try to blame you or even discipline you for the accident. However, sometimes the accident might be the responsibility of a third party, for example, a building site main contractor. It might be due to the fault of a work colleague acting in a manner not related to the job. It might even be your own fault in whole or in part. If you are unsure, get in touch with our personal injury lawyer for a free initial case review in complete confidence.

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You need to find a company you can trust who cares about your interests. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) is a not-for-profit association of solicitors, barristers and academics who specialise in personal injury law. Look for a lawyer who not only belongs to APIL but is also part of their accreditation scheme. The accreditation scheme guarantees members are competent in a particular field of personal injury. Accredited lawyers from Senior Litigator level upwards have at least five years’ experience of dealing with personal injury claims. All APIL members promise to follow a code of conduct and a consumer charter. Dominic Moss of Stonehewer Moss is a Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

Please see our Personal Injury Claims services. 

There are certain limitation periods for making a personal injury claim and some exemptions too.

The Limitation Act stipulates the date by which you can make a claim after you have had an accident. In most cases, this is three years from the day the accident occurred. After this time, you cannot easily make a claim unless there is some special reason why you should be allowed to do so. For example, if you were unable to deal with your own affairs for a period of time.

There are exceptions, for example, the limitation date for children who have an accident when they are under 18^th. is their 21^st birthday. That is three years from when they became an adult. 

If your injury was not caused by a one-off event, for example, a repetitive strain injury, then the three-year timeline only starts to run on the day you became aware you had an injury as a result of the negligence of a third party. This might be the day you are diagnosed with a condition by your doctor.

There are a lot of exceptions to the three-year limitation date rule (you might only have one year to make a claim if your accident was in Spain or two years if it was on a boat) so the best advice is to give us a call and we will tell you where you stand.

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Once you have instructed us and we have taken down all the relevant information with regard to the circumstances of the accident we will write a letter of claim to the other party’s insurers. In many cases, the insurers have up to 3 months in which to investigate the claim and either admit fault or deny liability.

Where the circumstances are clear cut, for example in a simple road traffic accident, the insurers admit liability straightway without the need for further consideration. If the blame for the accident is less clear-cut, they may wish to investigate the matter further.

Once liability is admitted we will arrange for you to undertake a medical examination. The instructed doctor will be independent. We will send you a copy of the report when it is available and then discuss its content with you to ensure that you are completely satisfied with it.

Only then will we negotiate settlement of your claim with the insurance company at a level of compensation previously agreed with you.

Please see our personal injury services.

An interim payment in a personal injury claim is an amount of money paid by the insurance company for the Defendant to the Claimant prior to settlement of the claim. For example, in some cases, people often cannot get back to work immediately and consequently have a much-reduced income. In such cases, we can often make an application for an interim payment for you to alleviate any short-term financial difficulties.

In larger cases where someone has been very seriously injured, we may ask for an interim payment to enable works to be undertaken on the injured persons’ house to make it more accessible, for example, a walk-in shower or to lower the kitchen work surfaces for a wheelchair user. 

No Win No Fee

When it comes to making a personal injury claim, one of the most important things to consider is how you will fund your case. After all, taking legal action can be costly, and if you don’t have the right funding in place, you may find yourself struggling to cover the costs.

No win no fee arrangements can be extremely beneficial for claimants, as they provide access to justice regardless of their financial situation.

However, it’s important to remember that not all no win no fee solicitors are the same. Some may charge hidden fees or have strict conditions in place, so it’s always worth doing your research before you choose a solicitor to work with.

No win no fee agreements have become a popular way for personal injury claimants to pursue compensation. But what exactly are they and what do you need to know about them? Stonehewer Moss Solicitors we will explain everything you need to know about no win no fee agreements, including how they work and the pros and cons of using them. 

What Is a Success Fee?

If your claim is successful then you become liable to pay your solicitors base costs, plus any success fee they charge. The success fee is very often misunderstood and often confused with the solicitors overall cap on costs. To be clear the success fee forms part of the overall costs charged, that is, the base costs plus the success fee.  

At Stonehewer Moss we apply an overall cap on the costs we charge you based on the amount of compensation you receive. This overall cap is typically between 18% and  30% of the compensation amount recovered, although this will be subject to your individual circumstances. This is a cap both on your liability for your base fees in general and the success fee added together.  

Accordingly when considering which law firm to use it is therefore much more useful (and much easier to understand) if you just ascertain what the overall cap is on your liability for legal costs is, as this is the amount that you will usually pay.

At Stonehewer Moss there is an overall cap so that your liability for all your legal costs will never exceed 30% of the damages you are awarded and can be as low as 18%.

No Win No Fee

When it comes to making a personal injury claim, one of the most important things to consider is how you will fund your case. After all, taking legal action can be costly, and if you don’t have the right funding in place, you may find yourself struggling to cover the costs.

No win no fee arrangements can be extremely beneficial for claimants, as they provide access to justice regardless of their financial situation.

However, it’s important to remember that not all no win no fee solicitors are the same. Some may charge hidden fees or have strict conditions in place, so it’s always worth doing your research before you choose a solicitor to work with.

No win no fee agreements have become a popular way for personal injury claimants to pursue compensation. But what exactly are they and what do you need to know about them? Stonehewer Moss Solicitors we will explain everything you need to know about no win no fee agreements, including how they work and the pros and cons of using them. 

What Is a Success Fee ?

If your claim is successful then you become liable to pay your solicitors base costs, plus any success fee they charge. The success fee is very often misunderstood and often confused with the solicitors overall cap on costs. To be clear the success fee forms part of the overall costs charged, that is, the base costs plus the success fee.  

At Stonehewer Moss we apply an overall cap on the costs we charge you based on the amount of compensation you receive. This overall cap is typically between 18% and  30% of the compensation amount recovered, although this will be subject to your individual circumstances. This is a cap both on your liability for your base fees in general and the success fee added together.  

Accordingly when considering which law firm to use it is therefore much more useful (and much easier to understand) if you just ascertain what the overall cap is on your liability for legal costs is, as this is the amount that you will usually pay.

At Stonehewer Moss there is an overall cap so that your liability for all your legal costs will never exceed 30% of the damages you are awarded and can be as low as 18%.

No. Your compensation is usually net of tax. Any claim for loss of earnings will be paid less any tax and National Insurance you would have paid. If you are claiming benefits related to your accident, your award might be reduced to repay these benefits. If you are claiming benefits not related to the accident, your lump sum award may affect your entitlement to benefits. We can help you with this by creating a personal injury trust.

The law for employers has not changed despite the coronavirus pandemic. An employee may be entitled to compensation if they contract COVID-19 because their employer has not done enough to ensure that their workplace is ‘COVID-secure’.

Employers have a legal duty to their employees to take reasonable care for their health and safety and they must take reasonable steps to do this. In particular, employers must take steps to secure a safe system of work, safe premises, safe equipment, and competent staff.

If you believe you have contracted COVID-19 due to ineffective health and safety measures implemented at your place of work, you may be able to bring a claim against your employer and secure compensation.

In order for us to assess whether or not you have a COVID-19 at work claim, we would ask all potential applicants to answer the following questions and send us your answers by email in confidence to info@stonhewermoss.co.uk.

This will enable us to determine whether or not you have a case to bring a claim against your employer before arranging a free initial consultation.

Pre-Assessment Questionnaire

Pre-existing medical conditions such as back injuries can complicate personal injury claims. A car accident or accident at work can aggravate an old injury or can cause a latent problem to become an injury. These situations require a law firm to take the time to understand the client and their medical history and individual circumstances. In this video Dominic Moss, senior partner here at Stonehewer Moss, personal injury solicitors, briefly details the considerations when handling claims involving pre-existing injuries such as back problems.

Please see our personal injury services.

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Fell between loose scaffolding boards onsite at work, injuring my back. The site manager says I cannot claim against them because I’m self-employed, is this right?

If you are a self-employed sub-contractor it may be assumed that you don’t hold the same legal rights as a full time employee, but this is not always true. If you have sustained an injury on a construction site through no fault of your own, you may be entitled to compensation providing your case meets the criteria required for a personal injury claim.

If you are employed to work on a construction site, the company that hired you or possibly the site owner, has a duty of care towards you. Therefore strict health and safety regulations must be in place to prevent the risk of injury to staff and visitors on site.

All employees should be provided with adequate training and regular risk assessments should be conducted by the site managers.

Changes to the working environment tend to be constant on building sites which means as structures are built, new hazards arise. It is also the employer’s responsibility to ensure that all equipment and tools are maintained to a safe working standard at all times, this includes scaffolding.

Loose scaffolding boards pose a direct risk to the health and safety to anyone who walks upon them.

Should the boards have been loose at the time of your accident, it would suggest that there is clear negligence on behalf of your employer towards the safety inspection of the environment prior to the accident occurring, which would be a strong enough reason to claim compensation against them for your injuries.

Personal injury claims take into account not only the immediate pain and suffering of the victim, but also the financial losses, medical costs and the effect it has had on quality of life.

In order to establish whether you have a potential injury claim, as well as the likely amount of compensation you could be entitled to, it is highly recommended that you speak with a personal injury solicitor.

A solicitor would discuss with you the accident circumstances and your employment agreement and advise on the relevant next steps to progress your case.

Am I entitled to make a claim for building injury compensation if I am a contractor working on a site and not an employee?

It is a common misconception that site contractors who have been involved in on-site accidents are not entitled to claim compensation as they are not viewed as employees, but this is not necessarily the case.

If you have sustained injuries due to the negligence of someone who had a duty of care towards you, then you may have a potential claim.

Building sites are usually managed by a company or an individual who also tend to be responsible for the health and safety of all employees, contractors and visitors in that working environment.

These environments are frequently peppered with potential hazards and it is the duty of those in charge to conduct regular risk assessments to prevent the possibility of an accident.

There are however circumstances in which some safety checks can be overlooked, particularly when projects need to be completed in short timeframes. In this case, there is an increased risk of injury to those on-site and unfortunately more accident claims are recorded.

Typical injuries on building sites include lacerations, burns, fractures or sometimes the loss of limbs and severe head and neck injuries.

These can be caused by accidents from working with faulty machinery, falls from height, electrocution and being struck by heavy or falling objects.

If something like the above happens on a building site and somebody is injured as a result, if it can be proven that the incident was due to a breach in the duty of care of whoever was responsible at the time, then those who were injured would have a very strong accident claim against them.

It can be difficult to determine the liable party in any case and so it is highly recommended that anyone who has been involved in an accident speaks to a solicitor at an accredited personal injury law firm like Stonehewer Moss.

Your solicitor would be able to find out who is legally responsible for your injury and work as your representative to obtain the compensation you deserve.

Hurt myself at the gym when the machine I was using broke mid-set. Am I able to claim against the gym even if they took me through the health and safety precautions prior to me joining?

Gym owners and operators are responsible for your health and welfare whilst on their premises and using their facilities.

Injuries are common occurrences within gyms due to the intensity of exercise people perform there. Under one roof there are many potential hazards to be wary of, such as heavy weights being thrown around, wet surfaces from water bottles or sweat as well as other gym-goers using equipment like treadmills which carry the risk of falling.

It goes without saying that you cannot claim against a gym for over exerting yourself whilst exercising. You have a responsibility to ensure that you are choosing appropriate weights and exercises to suit your fitness level to avoid injury.

Most gyms provide health and safety information upon joining and a large amount of machines now have instructions on how to properly use them. There are however, circumstances in which a gym may be liable for an injury you have sustained, some examples include:

• Slipping on wet floors where there are no warning signs in place
• Tripping on loose mats or objects which are obstructing walkways
• Becoming injured whilst using faulty equipment, ie if a bungee resistance cord snaps whilst lifting heavy weights on a machine
  

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If you have been injured in a gym, in order to claim compensation it must be proven that your accident was as a result of the gym’s negligence. It is important to obtain supporting evidence following your accident in the form of witness statements, photos of both the injury and accident site, CCTV footage, medical evidence and a report of it in the gym’s accident book.

Having a legal specialist work with you is the best way to achieve success in any injury claim.

If you believe your gym accident was not your fault and it happened within the last 3 years, we advise to speak with a solicitor who will determine if you have a potential claim and advise you on next steps toward obtaining compensation for your injuries.