Personal Injury Claims
We specialise in supporting people who have suffered serious and catastrophic injuries.
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Our experienced team deals daily with highly complex cases, supporting individuals and families to rebuild their lives and find new futures after serious injury.
Serious personal injury claims, also known as catastrophic injury claims, are those involving life changing injury. That can include amputation, loss of sight, broken bones, head and spinal injuries, birth injuries and other severe events that have a lasting impact.
A personal injury has long term impacts on the quality of life not just of the injured adult or child but those around them too. It often affects a person’s ability to earn and work and can impact heavily on family and relationships.
Where your injury resulted from the negligence or actions of someone else, our serious injury solicitor team is here to help you claim the compensation you need to move forward. This could be because of medical negligence or a personal injury.
We have relationships with medical experts, case managers and rehabilitation specialists who can advise on and help you access treatments and equipment intended to improve your life. Our role is to connect you to that help and ensure you have the means to access it.
We take the time to understand you, your situation and needs and to help you to take back control of your life.
We’re here to support you from the moment we take on your claim for as long as you need us.
About - personal injury law
Our serious injury solicitors are specialists in supporting people throughout the claims process and ensuring they get settlements and interim payments that consider all their future and current needs. That can include ongoing care, support, rehabilitation, specialist equipment to enable you to live a full life and continue to pursue interests, home adaptations and so on.
Every claim, individual and circumstance is different, but our experience allows us to ask the right questions, hear what you’re telling us and do all we can to ensure your specific needs are met.
We’re here to ensure that you are aware of and can access the specialist support and equipment you’ll need to go on to live a full and varied life.
We provide no win, no fee arrangements to ensure you don’t have to face financial risk in order to get the compensation you deserve.
Our court of protection and personal injury trusts experience means we can help you to achieve long term financial security even after a settlement.
What our serious personal injury lawyers do
Having an extensive, specialist and highly experienced team of serious injury lawyers means that we have a deep understanding of the types of support requirements that may lay ahead following your injury. It’s our job to ensure all of your requirements are considered and evidenced to get the right settlement to allow you to live a full life, despite your injury.
We work with you and experts in care, rehabilitation and home adaptation to ensure that every aspect of your injury is treated.
If your home is now unsuitable, we can help you find one that meets your requirements and coordinate any work which needs to be done before it’s right for you to live in.
A case manager can be appointed to make sure your care and rehabilitation is working the way it should and offer the support you need.
We help people with cases involving:
How much compensation can I claim for a serious personal injury?
Serious injuries can have far reaching impacts on your life and compensation payments may be extremely substantial depending on the level of trauma you have suffered and future needs you may have.
Serious injury compensation can amount to thousands or even millions of pounds.
A claim, or damages award, is generally made up of two elements: General damages and special damages.
General damages
This is an amount of compensation for your pain, suffering and loss of amenity.
Guidelines and the amounts awarded in previous cases inform how much can be awarded for this element. Within general damages no specific costs are being recouped, rather it is acknowledgement of what you have been through and how you may continue to suffer.
Examples of guideline amounts of general damages payments for some serious injuries:
| Injury suffered | How this injury may have impacted on a person | Guideline general damages amounts (please note, special damages will also form part of a claim and these may far exceed general damage amounts) |
|---|---|---|
| Tetraplegia / Quadriplegia | At the top end of this bracket will be people who have physical pain or there is significant impact on senses or ability to communicate | £304,630 to £379,100 |
| Paraplegia | Level of award is likely to be influenced by presence of or extent of pain, degree of dependence on others, existence and extent of depression, age and life expectancy, impact on sexual function. | 205,580 to £266,740 |
| Severe neck injury | Such as those resulting in incomplete paraplegia or permanent spastic quadripligia | Around £139,210 |
| Severe back injuries | The most severe involving damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots and presence of severe pain, disability and significantly impaired bladder, bowel and sexual function | £36,390 to £151,070 |
| Lesser back injuries | Including at the more severe end including less serious strains, disc prolapse, soft tissue injury and fractures that did not require surgery for recovery | Up to £2,300 for the most minor injuries to £26,050 for the more severe of this category |
| Amputation of an arm | Level of compensation may depend upon how much of the arm is amputated and other factors such as presence of pain | £90,250 to not less than £128,710 |
| Loss of a foot | £158,970 to £189,110 | |
| Vibration white finger and /or hand-arm vibration syndrome | Often associated with workplace injury, a number of factors will influence the level of claim, including age of onset of injury | In severe cases: £29,690 to £36,060.
Moderate cases, such as where attacks occur mostly in cold weather: £8,110 to £15,740 |
| Loss of both legs | £91,950 to £264,650 | |
| Achilles tendon injuries | In the most severe cases leading to severance of the Achilles tendon and the peroneus longus muscle. | £6,820 to £36,060 |
Special damages
Special damages are unique to each individual person and case and are the costs associated with an injury that a specific figure can be put against.
This may include house adaptations, specialist equipment, loss of earning capacity, short and long term medical expenses.
Gaining the maximum amount of compensation to ensure you can go on to live a full and varied life after your injury requires a skilled serious injury lawyer who has an understanding of and can factor in and account for the things you’re likely to need in the future in order to build them into your claim.
Is there a time limit for personal injury claims?
There is generally a three-year time limit in which a claim must be brought but there are exceptions.
Examples of differing time limits are if the case involves a child, someone with diminished mental capacity or the serious injury was incurred abroad.
In cases involving children, including birth injuries, claimants usually have until the child is aged 21.
For someone who does not have the mental capacity to make legal decisions there is no time limit in which a claim must be made.
Where a fatality has occurred, families can make a claim within three years of the death or the post-mortem result.
Victims of violent crime making claims from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme may have a shorter deadline.
Where injury incidents occurred outside of the UK there may also be differing timescales.
If you think you may have a claim, speaking to a solicitor is the best course of action for advice on time limits in your particular case.
Bringing a claim early is beneficial because, where fault is accepted, interim payments may be negotiated to support with immediate costs and expenses even whilst a claim is ongoing.
How long does a serious personal injury compensation claim take?
Generally speaking the more complex your injuries the longer a compensation claim is likely to take to settle, due in part to the need to ensure your long term needs are fully understood and compensation fully covers them.
Other factors, such as disputed liability, will also delay settlement of a claim for damages. Liability is, essentially, admitting being at fault. If the person who caused your accident will accept that it was their actions that led to your injury, it makes the claims process simpler. If they are denying being the cause of the accident, we will need to work with you, and our experts, to prove that they are not telling the truth.
Serious injury claims usually take at least a year to settle but the process often takes several years.
In a case where liability is accepted there is still likely to be the need for medical assessments by one or more experts. They will need to assess the physical and psychological impacts of your injuries, to what extent the opponent was responsible for your situation and what future needs you may have.
In some cases treatment needs to be tried and outcomes assessed to understand the full extent of your claim.
It’s vital to go through this process thoroughly to ensure that when a settlement is agreed it considers everything that you may need. It is usual for settlements to be made on a ‘full and final’ basis, meaning no further claim can be made for the same injury. Therefore your need must not be underestimated otherwise you could be under-compensated.
Interim payments may be possible to help with medical and living costs whilst a settlement is negotiated.
How can interim payments be secured in a personal injury claim?
Suffering a serious injury often leads to financial hardship as it may impact on your ability to work and the earnings you are able to achieve.
Our solicitors will work with you to access interim payments to help with or cover immediate medical, travel, living or other expenses whilst a final settlement is agreed.
Interim payments are important as final settlements can take some time to reach. This is because the long term impact of your injury needs to be fully assessed to ensure you don’t accept less compensation than you deserve and need.
Will I need to go to court to settle my serious injury claim?
In many cases claims are settled without the need for court appearances. This is especially the case where liability is not disputed and your opponent accepts responsibility for your injury.
Going to court can prove expensive for opponents who do not win their case and most will wish to avoid it. Our no win, no fee arrangements mean you need not worry about the costs involved whether your case goes to court or otherwise.
If your case does need to go to court and you are required to give evidence our serious injury solicitors will be there to support you at every stage. You’ll always be thoroughly informed of how your case is progressing and what the next steps are.
Can I get financial support whilst I await personal injury compensation?
It is often possible to secure interim payments to help towards living costs, medical and travel expenses incurred as a result of your injury even before your compensation claim has settled.
Interim payments can be negotiated by your serious injury solicitor where liability for injury is accepted by the other party but discussions and assessments are still ongoing around how much compensation you need overall.
How do I make a personal injury compensation claim?
Contacting an experienced and specialist solicitor who deals specifically in serious injury law is the first step to ensuring you get the full compensation you deserve.
Compensation is only partly a broad-brush payment to literally compensate you for your loss and suffering. A large percentage of a claim relates to costing out things you will need now and in the future in order to live life comfortably.
Our specialist solicitors have an awareness of the kinds of medical support available to you and connections with people who can help. We know the rehabilitation experts who may be able to help and the types of equipment you may need for daily life, work and to enjoy hobbies. A huge part of our job is linking you to the people who can help you to do more after your injury and ensuring you have the means to access that support.
Our serious injury solicitors will firstly assess whether your claim has a reasonable chance of success. We offer a free initial consultation to gather some details and offer some initial advice. As we specialise in dealing with complex cases we are often able to help even where another solicitor has turned you away. You can find out more about our team: here.
For cases we take on, we offer no win no fee arrangements as an option to limit any upfront costs to you.
If the case is not won, your legal costs and, where necessary, those of your opponent will be covered by an insurance policy set up to protect you.
My husband/wife/child/parent has suffered a personal injury, can I claim on their behalf?
When a person has diminished mental capacity (such as a brain injury, brain disorder or psychological illness) their next of kin are able to make a claim on their behalf.
We specialise in mental capacity claims as well as medical negligence and personal injuries, meaning we can offer the advice you need.
We offer an initial free consultation and no win no fee arrangements.
What is serious injury?
Serious injury or catastrophic injury is a life changing injury that has long term impact such as amputation, paralysis, burns, blindness or deafness. It can include multiple injuries.
Where serious injury result from a car crash, medical or clinical negligence, an accident at work or some other event that was not your fault you may be eligible to make a serious injury claim.
Compensation for serious injury can help you to access the care and support you need to live a full and rounded life despite your injury.
Can I move my case to Enable Law?
Medical negligence and personal injury claims can be very stressful, and if you feel you’re not getting the right level of support from your lawyer, you might be wondering if it’s possible to move your claim to a new firm.
Often this will be a difficult decision to make, with worries about getting a new lawyer up to speed on your claim, any delays that might involve, and the possible cost implications with moving to a new firm.
The most important thing to know is that if you want to change your lawyer, you can. We will work with you to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum, and that your claim is not affected.
How do I move my claim to Enable Law?
Contact us and tell us who you would like to deal with your case if you already know the lawyer’s name, or if you do not, tell us what kind of case you have and we will put you in touch with a specialist lawyer for that kind of claim.
Other questions about serious personal injury claims
If you have other questions in regard to a serious injury claim please do get in touch with us and let us give you a more informed, personalised answer.
