What is my case likely to be worth?
Your injuries
Neck injuries
Back injuries
Shoulder/Arm injuries
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Psychological injuries
Serious/Multiple/Catastrophic Injuries
Asbestos related
Financial Losses
Interest
The need for good solicitors
Each case is different even those which appear to be identical.
Two people with neck/whiplash injuries in the same accident can end
up with strikingly different amounts of compensation.
There are two main components to valuing a claim to achieve a settlement:
1. Your injuries : Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity (General Damages)
• Dependant
upon your injuries and largely based upon what is said in your medical
report.
• The greatest proportion usually derives from the length of time
you are in pain eg you get more for long term back injuries than short
term intensely painful burns.
• The court decides the award by assessing your case with reference
to the Judicial Studies Guidelines issued to every judge and by reference
to similar reported cases (usually in the yellow volumes of Kemp & Kemp)
and adjusted for age and pre-accident capabilities of the victim and
inflation over the years. Then the judge can apply his own individual
discretion after this process to arrive at figure to suit the individual
circumstances of the case. Valuing damages for injuries has been described
as “more Art than Science”. There is no substitute for experience.
• Examples of typical figures awarded for common injuries (based
upon the Judicial Studies Guidelines) are:
Neck injuries:
| Minor ie the “usual” case
whiplash |
£2600.00
- £4300.00 |
| Very Minor Whiplash |
£750.00
- £2500.00 |
| Moderate ie
serious whiplash |
£7500.00
-£13500.00 |
| Sever to Very
Severe neck injuries |
£13,500.00
- £83,000.00 |
Back injuries
| Recovery within
2 years about |
£4250.00 |
| Recovery within
5 years |
£4250.00
- £7750.00 |
| Moderate ie
serious |
£6750.00
- £15,500.00 |
| Moderate (ie
more serious) to Severe; |
£15,250.00
- £95,000.00 |
Shoulder
injuries / arm injuries
| Minor Shoulder
injury recovery within 1 year About |
£2500.00 |
| Minor Shoulder
injury recovery within 2 years |
£2500.00
- £4600.00 |
| Moderate (ie
serious) |
£4300.00
- £7250.00 |
| Severe |
£6750.00
- £27,500.00 |
| Broken Arm (usually) |
£3650.00
- £10, 750.00 |
| with recovery
within a few weeks |
£2000.00
- £2500.00 |
| Broken Wrist
uncomplicated and complete recovery |
£4000.00 |
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Psychological injuries:
| Severe |
£30,000.00
- £64,000.00. |
| Moderate-Moderate-Severe |
£3,400.00
- £30,000.00. |
| Minor PTSD/Psychological |
£2150.00
- £4600.00. |
Serious/Multiple/Catastrophic Injuries:
| Quadriplegia
(Four limbs paralysed) |
£177,500.00
- £225,000.00. |
| Paraplegia (Lower
limbs paralysed) |
£122,500.00
- £160,000.00. |
| Severe Brain
Damage |
£157,500.00
- £225,000.00. |
| Moderate-Moderately
Severe Brain Damage |
£24,000.00
- £160,000.00. |
| “Minor” Brain
Damage |
£8,750.00
- £24,000.00. |
| Minor Head injury |
£1300.00
- £7,250.00. |
| Total Blindness/Deafness |
£225,000.00 |
| Total Blindness |
£150,00.00 |
| Total Loss of
One Eye |
£30,000.00
- £100,000.00 |
| Total Deafness |
£50,000.00
- £60,000.00 |
| “Normal” Deafness
claims/Tinnitus |
£4,000.00
- £16,500.00 |
Asbestos related disease
| Mesothelioma |
£45,000.00
- £70,000.00 |
Pleural Plaques
Final Award
(With no possibility of a further claim if
full condition develops) : |
£11,000.00
- £20,000.00 |
Pleural Plaques
with the possibility of a
further claim if full condition develops: |
£4000.00
- £7000.00. |
Financial Losses:
The bulk of compensation is usually awarded for financial losses flowing
from the injuries and the consequences of the accident. The largest part
of an award in the bigger cases is for loss of earnings both past and
future. This is calculated by arithmetic based upon wage details/accounts
or other documentation. Everything usually has to be backed up by documentation.
The large headline figure awards of compensation are for high earners
who have been prevented from working for the rest of their life eg airline
captains.
Future losses of earnings are calculated using complicated actuarial
tables. For complicated reasons they are not calculated just using the
number of years to retirement.
You can only claim for your net losses ie you have to deduct tax and
national insurance and overheads.
If you are self employed your losses are based upon your previous years
accounts and tax returns. As these are usually prepared to minimise your
income for tax purposes this can mean that your claim is reduced.
We check carefully to ensure that we include every legitimate claim
for financial losses.
Interest:
You are entitled to claim interest at 3% from the date that proceedings
are issued upon damages for your injuries.
You usually claim
interest on the financial losses at half the court’s
special investment rate (presently 6%) from the date of the accident.
To get the compensation you have to know how to value the claim, what
to claim for, how far to push things, how to negotiate the best deal
and when to fight it in court.
The need for good solicitors who know what they are doing.
The other side’s
insurance company and their solicitors will do everything in their
power to persuade you and the court that you do not have a good case
or that you are not entitled to parts of your claim. You need expert
personal injury solicitors who know the system and how to get the compensation
you are entitled to and what your claim is worth.
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