Personal Injury Claims

A personal injury claim is a legal solution that enables people who suffer injury in an accident that was someone else’s fault to get compensation, otherwise known as damages.

At the end of a successful compensation claim, the person making the claim, known as the the claimant, will receive damages for the injury and other losses they suffered because of the accident. Usually, the compensation is paid by the other party’s insurance company.

For your personal injury claim to be successful, you must prove certain things, and they are:

1. Duty of Care: You must show that the person who caused the accident owed you a ‘duty of care’.
2. Breach of Duty: You must demonstrate they breached the duty of care they owed you.
3. Causation: You must show there’s a connection between the breach of duty and your injuries. We call this proving causation. You must prove that the other party’s actions were negligent and that they were the direct cause of the harm you suffered.
4. Damages: Finally, if you intend to claim compensation, you must prove you suffered loss due to getting the injury. ‘Loss’ in this sense includes pain, suffering, loss of amenity (loss in quality of lifestyle),  financial losses, and other related expenses.

Before you start a compensation claim, knowing if you have a valid personal injury claim is vital.

Generally, you need to prove that:

1. The person responsible for your injury or illness owed you a duty of care.
2. They breached that duty of care.
3. The breach resulted in your injury or illness.

If you can establish these elements, you may have a strong case for claiming compensation. However, we’d advise you to consult a personal injury lawyer to assess your situation and provide tailored legal advice.

There are strict time limits for making personal injury claims in Wales and England. In most personal injury cases, you have three years to claim. The three-year period starts from either the date of the accident or from when you first discover you have an injury or illness caused by being in the accident. (It’s the case that with some medical negligence and asbestos disease cases, the injured person doesn’t realise they are injured (or ill) until years later.)

There are some exceptions to the strict three-year rule, and they are as follows:

• When the injured person is a child, the three-year time limit only starts from their 18th birthday.
• If the injured person doesn’t possess the mental capacity to handle their claim, there is no time limit for when a qualified person can start a claim on behalf of the person with a disability. However, if mental capacity is regained, the limitation period will start from that day.

We advise you not to take any chances where there’s a possibility your claim may be out of time. Instead, call us at Mooneerams for expert legal advice on whether you can still start a claim. Call 02920 483615 to speak with one of our personal injury experts.

Asking an experienced injury compensation solicitor to handle your personal injury claim is advisable for several reasons.

1. A specialist personal injury solicitor has the experience to deal with the court proceedings and protocols required to bring a successful claim, together with a firm legal knowledge of the personal injury sector of law. Don’t underestimate how difficult it can be, even in a minor injury case, for someone with little or no legal knowledge to get a successful result.
2. When valuing your injury claim, niche injury solicitors can assess the full extent of your injuries and losses by referring to the appropriate Judicial College guidelines, legal precedent and their personal knowledge bank built up from handling similar cases. All this, to ensure that you receive maximum compensation.
3. If you handle your own case, you’ll have to deal with the other party’s insurance companies. Don’t think they’ll give you an easier time in negotiations to settle your claim than if you were a solicitor.

   On the contrary, when negotiating a settlement, they will likely see it as an opportunity to settle your claim at less than full value, playing on your lack of legal knowledge. A solicitor who knows how to handle insurance companies will not settle your claim on anything other than a maximum compensation basis.

4. During the time it takes a personal injury claim to go through court, there are plenty of instances where you will be required to comply with procedural orders of the court within a certain period. Your case could be struck out if you fail to meet those deadlines. A solicitor will make sure all deadlines are met.
5. Although most personal injury claims don’t go to a court hearing, if yours were to, you’ll be glad you chose to hire a solicitor to act for you. Standing up in court to present your own case can be a very daunting experience. Having a solicitor deal with the court hearing on your behalf will remove a massive weight from your shoulders, and you’ll have a better chance of winning your case and getting the best result possible.

Many personal injury solicitors offer a No Win No Fee arrangement, meaning you don’t have to pay any legal costs upfront. Indeed, here at mooneerams, we handle most of our clients’ claims on a No Win No Fee basis.

The benefit of No Win No Fee injury agreements is that if you lose your claim, you won’t have any legal fees to pay, either to your solicitor or to the other party’s solicitor. If you win your claim and the solicitors recover compensation for you, out of that compensation, you’ll pay your lawyer an amount based on a percentage that you agreed to before your claim was started.

If you are still confused about how No Win No Fee arrangements work, call Mooneerams on 029 2048 3615, and one of our legal team will be happy to explain how it all works.

• Solicitors value compensation in a personal injury claim by considering three areas of loss: general damages, past special damages, and future special damages.
• ‘General damages’ are assessed by taking into account the type of injury or illness you suffered and the severity of it. Other factors taken into account by your solicitor when he or she is valuing general damages include the duration of symptoms and the impact on your life.
• Past special damages involve quantifying the financial losses you’ve suffered as a direct result of the injury, e.g. medical expenses, loss of earnings, and costs of repairing or replacing any property damaged in the accident.
• Future special damages take into account your future financial needs and losses. These may include the cost of ongoing medical treatment, the cost of rehabilitation, and any potential loss of future earnings if you are unlikely to be fit for work again in the future.
• No two personal injury claims are ever the same; each case is unique and needs to be assessed on its merits. The solicitor will only be able to give any meaningful advice as to what your claim is worth when he or she has all the relevant expert evidence and opinions necessary to support all aspects of your claim.
• With all the evidence to hand, your solicitor will value your claim by considering the Judicial College Guidelines, previously decided cases that are very similar to yours and, importantly, their own particular bank of knowledge.
• Your solicitor is trying to determine what a court judge would value your claim at, although in practice, most claims are settled by negotiation.

Your solicitor will keep you updated on what they believe your claim is worth, offers received, and whether, and if so, you should make a counteroffer.

Most claims are settled by negotiation before they reach court. When a claim doesn’t settle, it will be for a judge in court to decide how much you should receive.

For Road Traffic Accident claims, Accidents at Work claims and Accidents in Public Places, click on the appropriate tab on the menu bar at the top of this page.

Above, we have listed many other types of accident claims where people suffer injuries due to another person’s negligence. The list is exhaustive, so if you’ve suffered an injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault but it doesn’t appear on this page or any others on our website, you should still get in touch with us at 029 2048 3615 for free, confidential advice.

If you believe you may have a valid personal injury claim, the first step is to consult a personal injury solicitor to get the right legal advice. They will consider the circumstances of your case and advise whether they think the claim has reasonable prospects of success.

If you decide to bring an injury claim, it’s your choice as to whom you would like to handle your claim. If you would like Mooneerams to act on your behalf, we’d be pleased to do so. Your first step is to call us on 029 2048 3615 and speak in confidence and without obligation to one of our specialist personal injury lawyers.

Selecting the right personal injury solicitor is crucial for the success of your claim. Look for a firm with a strong track record of successful personal injury claims, such as Mooneerams, a multi-award-winning firm with over 20 years of experience helping individuals in Cardiff, South Wales and further afield.

At Mooneerams, we only handle personal injury claims and exclusively represent claimants (people making a claim), ensuring that you receive focused and specialised legal support.

Contact Mooneerams today on 029 2048 3615 for personal injury legal advice on how to start your claim.

If you prefer, you may type your contact details into the box on this page and press the Start a Claim, and a member of our team will call you back.