Whether you’ve been injured in a public place, at work, in a shop, or by a dental or medical professional, you may feel like you’re entitled to a compensation settlement.
At Injury Lawyers Direct, we’ve helped many people through the personal injury claim process, using all the evidence at our disposal to help them win their compensation claim.
We can help you, too, which is why our experts have compiled this helpful guide – including information about legal costs – to walk you through the personal injury claims process.
The complete personal injury claim process explained
In eight steps, we’ll lead you through the personal injury claim process, which many believe is quite tricky. However, we’ve been through it so many times, we can make the entire process easy.
If you’re filing an injury claim, here’s how it will go.
Who was responsible?
Whatever your injury, the first stage of a personal injury claim is to discover who is responsible because that’s who the claim will be made against.
The responsible party could be your employers, a medical professional or even the equipment you were working on. For any serious injuries, this stage of the process is vital.
In a lot of cases, we don’t claim directly against the party responsible for your injuries; we’ll claim against their insurers.
You must give us as much information as possible at this stage to give you the best possible chance of a successful personal injury claim.
Gather evidence
Once we’re aware of your injuries and who the responsible party is, we must gather some evidence. To do this, you must relay the following information:
- When and where the injury occurred.
- Were there any witnesses? Provide names and contact details if possible.
- What were you doing before the accident?
- How did it happen?
- What happened afterwards? Did you receive first aid care or go straight to the hospital?
Photographs of the incident area would also be extremely helpful to your personal injury claim.
Despite this, don’t worry if you can’t remember every stage of the incident. We’ll investigate what happened and collect our own evidence, too. For example, if the police were involved, there would be a police report, and there should be medical evidence if you received medical attention.
CCTV is another angle we can look at. Dashcam footage may also be available for road traffic accidents where you suffered whiplash injuries.
We’ll also try and contact anybody who saw the incident and collect witness statements.
Medical assessment
We will ask for any evidence of injuries sustained and treatment received, whether you went straight to the hospital or visited your GP in the days afterwards. We will also ask for permission to view your medical records for this. Other evidence that we may ask for includes:
- Any photographic evidence of your injuries, such as bruises, cuts, or scars.
- Medical assessments will be arranged with medical experts.
- Consultations with specialists to determine how long your injuries may take to heal.
- Discuss whether your injuries will have long-term effects on your life.
Once you’ve had a medical assessment, we can read through your medical report to determine the extent of your injuries.
Arrange medical care
Based on the information in your medical report, it may be necessary for you to receive further care.
We’ll ensure you see a medical professional for more medical care or rehabilitation as soon as possible. Medical appointments will be included in our case against the responsible party for your personal injury claim.
Review recovery
We’ll keep in touch to review how your recovery is going and will speak to our medical experts to find out their recommendations.
For more serious injuries, it can take longer not only to determine how seriously they impact your life, but also how long it can take to fully recover. If this is the case, we may have to look into further medical assessments before moving on with your injury claim.
Work out the compensation amount
Once we’ve collected all the medical evidence we need, we can move ahead and start figuring out how much compensation you may be due.
To do this, we’ll take into account:
- Your injuries and pain.
- The cost of medical treatments, therapy, or rehabilitation.
- Travel costs to and from medical appointments relating to the incident.
- A loss of earnings if you were forced out of work, or can’t perform the same job as before the incident.
- Adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, or an accessible car.
- Home adaptations, or the cost of moving to a more accessible home.
- Items damaged in an accident, like your clothes, car, or bike.
Reach a settlement amount
After we’ve decided on the amount of compensation we feel you deserve, we’ll try to agree on the best settlement possible with the responsible party. They could suggest a settlement amount of their own, and it could take multiple offers during a negotiation period to find a figure that’s acceptable for everybody.
You may also want the responsible party to accept liability and issue an apology for the pain and suffering you’ve incurred.
It is up to you to decide whether an offer is an acceptable amount for you, but we’ll always offer our professional and legal guidance. If we cannot agree on a compensation settlement, the personal injury claim will be taken to court.
We’ll handle the court proceedings, where a judge will examine all of the evidence and decide on a compensation amount.
This could involve you having to attend court in person. But don’t worry – at Injury Lawyers Direct, we’re hugely experienced in this field and can take all of the stress off your shoulders.
At this stage, you can still receive out-of-court settlement offers. If you accept one, the court hearing will be cancelled.
Final step: compensation
After you’ve accepted an offer or the court has decided for you, it’s now time to decide how you’ll receive your compensation payment.
The vast majority of cases involve a lump sum payment, minus any interim payments that have been made on your behalf, such as medical care and rehabilitation.
If your compensation covers long-term care costs, the judge may order the payments to be made periodically, like monthly or quarterly.
In terms of your legal fees, in most claims, we offer a ‘no win, no fee’ service. So, if your claim fails, you may not have to pay us a penny.
Speak to expert personal injury lawyers
So, have you recently been injured at work, in a public place or because of medical malpractice? At Injury Lawyers Direct, we’re here to help.
Whether you’ve suffered a minor injury or a major, long-term issue, our team of legal professionals knows exactly what to do.
Don’t wait any longer. Contact us today for a free consultation by calling 0800 110 5888.
