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Why accident claim payouts can be different for each case
Compensation is based upon the severity of your injuries and how long the injuries will affect your everyday life. As such, there is not really such a thing as a “standard” payout for any particular injury as everyone can be affected differently.
In law the defendant has to take the claimant as they find them – for example if your injury is an exacerbation of an existing injury this doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to claim as, of-course, if it wasn’t for the injury, your condition would not have been aggravated!
So how is a payout assessed? Well, put simply a payout is always assessed on the particular facts of each individual case. There is no such thing as one payout for this injury and another for something else – each case will have its own individual payout.
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The Economic Climate and Compensation Claims
The economic climate does have an impact on compensation claims and this area has been covered in the news on many occasions. Some say that work accident compensation claims are becoming more frequent due to the economic climate.
The argument is that, as businesses look for bigger profits, they will often leave their employees with greater exposure to health and safety risks. Another point is that people may be more inclined to bring a claim for compensation if they sustain injury. If the economy was better and people were more content with the money they were earning, it could be said that they would be less likely to bring a compensation claim.
Obviously if you sustain injury at work for example, then it is your right to bring a compensation claim. Whether you exercise the right to claim is entirely a personal choice.
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Being involved in any road traffic accident can cause stress, anger and inconvenience no matter how minor the accident may be. But being involved in an accident with a stolen uninsured vehicle makes the situation even worse.
I imagine being involved in a collision with a stolen vehicle is not a pleasant experience for anyone. There is the constant worry and concern about what you will do. Well to put your mind at rest, there is still action that you can take if you have been involved in a collision with a stolen uninsured vehicle.
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3 Months off Work with Whiplash
With a whiplash injury, you can often be left with limited movement which means that a lot of the time you have to have time off work. This is usually a few weeks until the acute stage of your injury has settled down.
However, for some, the whiplash injury can be more serious and result in a long time off work. Whiplash injuries vary from mild, to moderate, and severe; and they can affect people in very different ways.
Most whiplash sufferers are able to manage to go to work after a couple of weeks though the use of painkillers, heat rubs and heat pads etc but some are left debilitated and will need therapy, injections and sometimes even surgery in order to help them on their way to recovery. Therefore a longer period of time away from work is necessary.
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SSP Recovery Personal Injury Claim
SSP stands for Statutory Sick Pay. If you have been injured at work for example, then you may be entitled to make a personal injury claim. Depending on your contract with your employer, you may be entitled to full pay if you are off work as a result of your injuries.
Alternatively you may be eligible for part pay or you may not be eligible for pay at all. SSP is a payment made to many employees if their employer does not have a sick pay scheme, subject to certain criteria; however it does not provide the same amount of income as an employee’s normal wage.
When you make a personal injury claim, you can claim General Damages which covers your injury and you can claim Special Damages which covers, among other things, loss of earnings. The only difficulty is that most heads of claim are settled at the end of a claim, so if you are out of work with no income, then it can be some time later when you eventually recover your lost earnings. Interim payments (payments made to you before the conclusion of your claim) can be made to cover bills and other immediate losses or difficulties (however there is never a guarantee that the other side will agree to an interim payment).
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Injuries Caused by Heavy Lifting
Chances are that every day you will pick something up and move it from one place to another – for some people it might be something as simple and as stress free as a TV remote or a coffee mug, but for others a large part of their working life involves moving objects of various shapes and weights from one place to another.
If you are one of these people that have to deal with heavy or unusual objects as a part of your job then you will no doubt be aware that every time you lift a heavy item you are risking injury to some very important parts of your body.
The most common injuries involved in lifting accidents are injuries to the back but that doesn’t meant that other parts of the body cannot be affected and injuries to hands, the arms, your neck and your torso could all be related to the heavy objects that you have to lift at work. You can easily stretch or tear any number of muscles or ligaments and tendons when moving something.
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Quick Claims from the Start – Road Accidents
Making a claim for compensation following a Road Traffic Accident is now so much easier and quicker than it used to be, if your accident was on or after 30th April 2012.
The Ministry of Justice introduced a new protocol to follow for these accidents: “The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents”. I know, bit of a mouthful so let’s just say the Road Traffic Accident Protocol for now. This protocol is for claims for personal injury which are worth under £10,000.
The claim is started by submitting a Claims Notification Form. This is a form which contains your information, the information of the at fault party, the details of your injuries and treatment and the accident details. This is sent to the insurer of the at fault party electronically.
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Not Happy with Medical Experts Report
If you are pursuing, or have pursue in the past, a personal injury compensation claim, then you are more than likely aware of the importance of medical reports. A medical report is key in any personal injury claim as it helps Solicitors and Barristers to properly value your claim.
If a medical report is wrong, incomplete or inaccurate then this could have serious repercussions for you and your payout. Obviously this is why we always check if you are happy with a medical report before disclosing it to the other side. Once a report is disclosed to the other side you cannot seek to get the report amended. A medical report is only disclosed to the other side once you have confirmed that you agree with its contents.
So, if you receive a medical report and you are not happy with it, what can you do? First of all you should take some time in studying the report, bearing in mind that a medical expert will have got the information from you at examination and he or she may have also used information from medical records such as GP and Hospital records, accident reports etc. You should clearly state to your Solicitor which parts of the medical report you agree with and which parts of the medical report you do not agree with. Also state the reasons why you do not agree with certain parts of the report. Simply saying “I do not agree with the report” is not really of much help.
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Working with hazardous substances can, as the name suggests, be hazardous. Extra caution should be taken and appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (known for short as PPE) should be provided. PPE could be in the form of gloves, overalls, goggles, masks or whatever other equipment is necessary to make the job as safe as possible and to protect workers from harm.
Governing this area of law is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). Substances hazardous to health can include chemicals, products containing chemicals, fumes, dust, vapours, gases, germs etc. These substances are covered by COSHH but things like asbestos and radioactive substances are covered by alternative Regulations. COSHH is covered extensively by the Health and Safety Executive on their website.
Some substances have exposure limits. This obviously means that exposure to that substance whether it is through breathing in fumes or by skin contact etc is limited. With some tasks a permit to work may be required to carry out a certain task which involves some contact or potential exposure to hazardous substances. A permit to work would be based on a risk assessment to ensure that all potential risks and precautions are taken.
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Some people like them and others hate them; whatever we think, elevators can be a genuine cause of injuries and compensation claims.
I have to admit that elevators in a building containing numerous floors can be handy.
Imagine a multi story building without elevators. We would all have to take the old fashioned route of walking – how would we ever cope with that? Some people may enjoy the exercise but others would not. Perhaps for many workers who work on the top floor of a multi story building time is of the essence. Taking an elevator to the top floor would certainly save time as opposed to walking up flights of stairs. And of course we have to consider elderly and disabled people, people with prams etc. Taking it all into account, elevators are necessary.
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