Obviously as a firm of specialist injury lawyers, this question is asked of us a lot. Our specialist team is here to make sure that this question can be answered as best as we can answer it. Unfortunately it’s not so easy to judge whether you have a claim or not unless you give us a bell on our free claims helpline (0800 634 75 75) and let us assess your potential claim.
However, what I can tell you is this: if you have been injured and the blame is with someone else, you may have a claim. For example, you are hit by another vehicle who perhaps went in to the back of you, or pulled out of a side road in to your vehicle. If you weren’t at fault and they were, you may have a claim.
If you injure your back at work because your employer hasn’t given you enough assistance with manual handling activities, and hasn’t properly trained you or risk assessed your manual handling tasks, you should be able to make a work accident claim from their insurers. Employers have a legal duty to have employer’s liability insurance in place that covers their employees when they are injured through no fault of their own.
In most situations, if there was something your employer should have done or ought to have known to do, the insurers should cover it. There are situations where employers insurance has to cover you, even if the accident is not technically your employers fault. Common examples are vicarious liability where you are injured due to the negligence of another employee, or where you are injured because work equipment has failed you.
If you slip in a supermarket, you may have a claim if the supermarket has not got a good enough system of inspection and maintenance in place, or if they have not kept to it. CCTV can be crucial in these cases for proving how long a hazard has been there to show whether there was more the supermarket ought to have done. If there are no signs or cordons up, you cannot be expected to know if the floor is wet!
Another classic claim is the highways tripping case – a pothole trips you up or a loose paving slap tipples you over. Just as with supermarkets, the council has a duty to regularly inspect and maintain the highway. However, the duties imposed on the council is not so strict – some areas of road may not be inspected any more than every 12 months. So if you trip due to a defect that hasn’t been reported to them in between inspection periods, they can raise a special defence for the claim.
There is a lot to consider for your case – the best thing you can do is give us a bell on our free claims helpline which is 0800 634 75 75 and ask us the big question – “can I make a claim for compensation?”
Luckily for you, we can normally answer this question on the very first call!
