Tort means civil wrong, so where in criminal law a wrong is a crime, in civil law it is called a tort.
Negligence is one of the most important areas in tort. In order to establish negligence the following must be assessed:
- Was the defendant (the person you hold responsible for the ‘tort’) careless in his behaviour?
- And did this careless behaviour cause you a loss or injury?
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Most accident claims are fault based – this means that in order for your claim to succeed, you must prove that the defendant is at fault (the Defendant being the person you hold responsible). In order to sue a party for the ‘tort’ of negligence you must prove (among other things) that the Defendant breached the duty of care he owed to you.
So to qualify for the fault ‘test’ you must show that the Defendant’s standard of care fell below that of a reasonable careful person and he is therefore blameworthy.
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I’m sure you have all been in a position were someone is talking some kind of jargon to you in a language you don’t understand and you just stand there smiling, slightly embarrassed, a bit uncomfortable and just nod along like the Churchill dog (from the Insurance adverts) to avoid looking silly but really thinking to your self ‘Please translate you idiot’!
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The Limitation Act 1980 sets time limits for people wanting to make claims and the vast majority of personal injury actions are subject to a 3 year limitation period.
What does this mean for you and your claim?
Well the time limit for making a claim for personal injury is 3 years from:
- The date that the injury is caused or
- The date of knowledge (if later) of the person injured
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Certain individuals are not deemed under law to have the ability to bring or defend a claim in the court by themselves. This applies to two categories of person: children and protected parties.
* A child is defined as any person under the age of 18
* Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 a protected party means a party, or an intended party, who lacks capacity to conduct the proceedings
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If you have an accident in the workplace you might be concerned about who you are claiming against. Sometimes an accident can be caused by a colleague in the workplace acting negligently and they themselves might not be insured to cover against these accidents and not have the money to compensate you for an injury suffered.
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The early stages of personal injury claims are governed by something called the pre-action protocol. These are specific steps that must be followed prior to the commencement of a claim at court. The point of the protocol is to try and encourage contact and early exchange of information so that claims can be settled at an early stage, preferably without litigation. However, the steps of the protocol mean than both parties are better prepared if proceedings are issued which again means that the verdict on cases should be reached more swiftly.
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If you are the employer, or have an authority role at work and are in charge of a certain area or are even self-employed, you have a legal duty to make sure that any accident or injury within the workplace is reported or recorded by the quickest means possible.
Not all accidents / injuries are required to be reported, some can be simply recorded in an accident book, such as minor incidents where a person suffered a small cut or graze. If treatment was given then it is best to record the details of the person who suffered the accident, the circumstances in which the injury was received and if any treatment or first aid was necessary.
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