Throughout this guide, we will look at how serious injury claim lawyers could assist you through the different stages of making a claim for a serious injury. Lawyers can offer several services, including help gathering evidence and sending important correspondence on your behalf. If eligible, you could benefit from these services when making your claim.

We will discuss the eligibility criteria for serious injury claims later in this guide, as well as offer examples of the evidence you could gather to support your case.

Furthermore, we provide examples of accidents that could lead to serious injuries, including workplace accidents, road traffic accidents and accidents in a public place. We also discuss the duty of care you are owed in different scenarios.

If you make a successful claim, you could be awarded compensation for the ways in which your injuries have affected you. We explore what payouts could consist of and how they are calculated further down in our guide.

Finally, we look at the benefits of seeking legal representation on a No Win No Fee basis.

For more information on making a personal injury claim for a serious injury, please contact an advisor. They can offer free advice regarding your case and answer any questions you might have. To reach them, you can:

• Call on 0113 460 1216
• Discuss your potential claim online.
• Write to an advisor using the pop-up window below.

Jump To A Section 

1. What Are The Benefits Of Using Serious Injury Claim Lawyers?
2. Eligibility Criteria When Claiming For A Serious Injury
3. What Evidence Can Help You Make A Personal Injury Claim?
4. Potential Serious Injury Compensation You Could Receive
5. Claim Serious Injury Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis
6. Learn More About Using Serious Injury Claim Lawyers

What Are The Benefits Of Using Serious Injury Claim Lawyers?

The serious injury claim lawyers from our panel could assist you in many ways, such as:

• Helping you to collect supporting evidence.
• Speaking to witnesses and collecting their statements.
• Providing regular updates on the status of your claim.
• Clearly explaining legal jargon.
• Accurately valuing your compensation settlement.
• Sending important correspondence on your behalf.
• Ensuring your claim is brought forward within the time limit applicable.

Additionally, they can offer these services nationwide. This means you don’t need to choose a local lawyer and instead can focus on finding a lawyer who has experience handling serious injury claims.

To find out more about the services our panel of experienced lawyers could offer, please speak with an advisor by calling the number above.

Eligibility Criteria When Claiming For A Serious Injury

Serious injuries can have life-altering consequences. A serious injury also has the potential to accelerate or worsen pre-existing medical issues, further impacting the person’s life. Examples of serious injuries could include:

• A brain injury.
• Amputations.
• Paralysis.
• Severe burns.

If you wish to make a serious injury claim, you must be able to prove the following:

• A duty of care was owed to you at the time of the incident.
• A breach of this duty occurred.
• As a result, you suffered a physical injury, mental harm, or both together.

These three points can be used to define negligence in tort law and must be proven for a claim to be valid.

Below, we have provided guidance on the duty of care certain parties owe. You can also find examples of how accidents could potentially occur if there is a failure to adhere to the duty of care owed.

Road Traffic Accidents

Road users, including drivers, riders and pedestrians, must follow the rules in the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988. In doing so, they can uphold their duty of care which requires them to navigate the roads in a way that prevents harm or damage to themselves and others.

A failure to adhere to this duty could lead to a serious road traffic accident. For example:

• A driver might fail to check their mirrors before over taking on a motorway. As a result, they collide with another driver causing them to sustain a serious neck injury that leads to paralysis alongside a serious brain injury.

Accidents In A Public Place

A duty of care applies to those in control of a public space. They must ensure the reasonable safety of visitors who are using the area as intended. The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 outlines this duty of care.

A failure to uphold their duty could result in a public place accident and subsequent serious injury. For example:

• A faulty handrail in a shopping centre is reported but not fixed in a reasonable time frame. As such, a customer falls and sustains a serious head injury.

Accidents At Work

Employers have a duty of care placed on them by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It states that they need to take reasonable and practicable steps to prevent employees from becoming injured in the workplace. An accident at work that causes serious injury could potentially occur if this duty is not adhered to. For example:

• An employer may instruct an employee to use faulty machinery resulting in them sustaining a traumatic amputation of the arm.

Please speak to an advisor about whether one of the serious injury claim lawyers from our panel could help you seek compensation.

What Evidence Can Help You Make A Personal Injury Claim?

Evidence can help prove your personal injury claim, including showing you experienced harm as a result of a breach of duty. As such, you could benefit from gathering the following:

• CCTV or dashcam footage showing the accident.
• Photos of your injury and the scene of the accident.
• Witness contact information.
• Medical evidence, such as A&E admission notes, X-rays and scans.

Serious injury claim lawyers could assist you in collecting evidence and ensuring your claim is put forward, in full, within the relevant time limit.

Is There A Serious Injury Claim Time Limit?

The time limit for personal injury claims is established in The Limitation Act 1980. It states that you generally have three years from the accident date to start legal proceedings. However, there can be exceptions in some circumstances.

To learn more about the time limits and exceptions, please contact an advisor on the number above.

Potential Serious Injury Compensation You Could Receive

Following a successful personal injury claim, up to two heads of loss could be awarded in your settlement. Firstly, general damages compensate for the pain and suffering caused by the injuries you experienced, both physical and psychological.

The guideline award brackets contained within the Judicial College Guidelines can be used to help solicitors value general damages. We have included some of these in the table below. However, you should use them as a guide only. This is because all claims are valued on an individual basis.

Compensation Guidelines

Type of Injury	Level Of Severity	Notes	Compensation Guidelines
Multiple Injuries	Serious	Compensation for multiple serious injuries and financial losses incurred as a result.	Up to £1,000,000 and over
Paralysis	Quadraplegia	Paralysis of the upper and lower body.	£324,600 to £403,990
	Paraplegia	Paralysis of the lower body.	£219,070 to £284,260
Head	Very Severe	Full-time nursing care is needed.	£282,010 to £403,990
Leg	Amputation	Both legs are completely lost.	£240,790 to £282,010
Back	Severe (i)	Spinal cord and nerve root damage.	£91,090 to £160,980
Chest	Complete Removal Of One Lung And/Or Serious Heart Damage	Resulting in serious and prolonged pain and suffering with significant and permanent scarring.	£100,670 to £150,110
Special Damages	Loss of Earnings	If you have taken time taken off work because of your injuries, you could seek compensation reimburse any lost earnings.	Up to £100,000 and above

What Financial Losses Can You Claim For After A Serious Injury?

Special damages compensate for the monetary or financial losses incurred because of the injuries you experienced. This can include, for example:

• Loss of earnings.
• Medical expenses.
• Travel costs.
• The cost of adjustments made to your home or your vehicle.

You should keep a record of any financial expenses, such as through payslips, receipts and invoices.

For more information on how compensation for a serious injury claim could be calculated and the potential payout you could receive, please contact an advisor on the number above.

Claim Serious Injury Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis

The solicitors on our panel are able to offer services to eligible claimants through a type of No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This generally means:

• You won’t need to pay for the work your solicitor completes on your case upfront, whilst the claim is in progress, or if it has a failed outcome.
• Your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation in the event of a successful outcome on your claim. This is taken as a percentage which has a legal cap. As such, you can keep the majority of the compensation awarded to you.

If you would like to work with one of the personal injury solicitors from our panel, please contact an advisor. They can assess whether you are eligible to have a solicitor help you with your serious injury claim. To get in touch, you can:

• Call on 0113 460 1216
• Discuss your potential claim online.
• Write to an advisor using the pop-up window below.

Learn More About Using Serious Injury Claim Lawyers

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