Criminal Injuries Compensation. Personal Injury Claims - Taking Legal Action

Sept. 4, 2011 - PRLog -- Personal Injury Compensation

There are several ways of getting compensation for a personal injury:

using a claims assessor
taking legal action in a civil court
making a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
through a criminal compensation order
special Government compensation schemes for some injuries and losses such as
vaccine damage or asbestos-related disease

Amount of compensation

If you have sustained a personal injury you may be able to claim two types of compensation, general damages and special damages.

General damages are paid as compensation for an injury, for example, a payment for pain and suffering or loss of future earnings. The court will decide on the amount to be paid.

Special damages are paid as compensation for actual financial loss caused by the accident up to the date of the hearing. These can include damage to  or other belongings, the costs of care, travel costs to hospital, medical expenses (including the cost of private treatment) and the cost of hiring and/or repairing a car if it has been damaged in the accident.

If a court decides that you were partly to blame for the accident, it may reduce the amount of damages you receive. An example of this would be if you were not wearing a seat belt when you were involved in a traffic accident.

Deduction of social security benefits from compensation

If you have been receiving certain social security benefits because of an accident in which you sustained a personal injury, you may have to pay these back out of any compensation you get.

The rules about deduction from benefits are complex and if you think you may be affected you should seek specialist advice - be sure to complete our short form by following the link below.

Time limits

There are different time limits within which you must begin legal action in a personal injury claim. You should therefore get legal advice urgently if you wish to claim compensation.

The most common claim in a personal injury case is negligence and the time limit for this is three years. This means that court proceedings must be issued within three years of you first being aware that you have suffered an injury.

In some cases, a court may decide to extend a time limit, depending on the circumstances of the case.

If you are considering taking legal action and have not yet been to a solicitor, we can help, be sure to complete our short form by following the link below.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

If you have been injured as a result of a criminal act you may be able to claim compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (Criminal Injuries Compensation Agency in Northern Ireland). You may have been the direct victim of, for example, an assault or your injury may have been sustained when you were attempting to help the police after a crime had been committed. A close relative of a person who died because of injuries can also make a claim.

You must report the incident to the police at the earliest opportunity and an application must normally be made within two years of the incident. However, in exceptional circumstances, the authority may be willing to extend this limit. An example would be if you are making a claim for abuse you suffered as a child.
Accidents at work

If the accident happened at work, it should be recorded in an accident book. If your workplace does not have an accident book, you should write out brief details of the accident and injuries, send them to your employer and keep a copy. Your contract may say that you have to report an injury at work to your employer. If you are self-employed, you have a legal responsibility to report some accidents resulting in injury to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or to the local authority environmental health department. In England and Wales

Choosing a solicitor

If you want to take legal action over a personal injury you should complete our short form by following the link below. Our solicitors are members of the Law Society’s personal injury accreditation scheme and/or clinical negligence accreditation scheme, depending on the nature of your injury.

For more information, advice and help with regards to personal injury or criminal injury, visit our link below and complete the short form.
http://searchengineoptimisers.wufoo.com/forms/personal-in...

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