If your personal injury claim is successful, you will be entitled to receive “damages”, i.e. monetary compensation, from the defendant who is liable for your incident and injuries. One of the most frequently asked questions by prospective clients is, “how much is my claim actually worth?”. However, this is a question we are simply unable to answer with confidence until we have obtained a medical report from an independent medical expert. In this article, I will explain the way that practitioners in the legal industry value personal injury claims.

Why do you need a medical report to value my claim?

The general rule of damages is to put the claimant in the position that they would have been in had the incident not occurred. To calculate the total amount of damages you can potentially receive for your claim, we need to consider your general damages and special damages.

General damages

General damages are intended to compensate for the physical and/or mental pain, suffering and loss of amenity (“PSLA”) caused by the injury.
PSLA will be proven by the evidence of the medical expert(s) as contained in the expert report(s). When valuing PSLA, practitioners refer to a specialist textbook called the “Judicial College Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases”. The JC Guidelines are a good place to start, as they help to identify the relevant bracket(s) within which compensation is likely to fall.

However, it is often the case that the JC guidelines suggest figures of compensation higher than the amount actually recovered by claimants whose cases proceed to trial before and therefore tariffs are narrowed by reference to case law.

Special damages

Special damages are intended to compensate for any financial losses and out-of-pocket expenses that the claimant has suffered as a direct result of the injuries suffered.

The main heads of special damage are:

• loss of earnings
• cost of medical treatment
• cost of care
• cost of medical appliances/expenses of living with a disability pre-trial
• travel expenses as a direct result of the incident and injuries
• damaged items and clothing
• cost of adaptations/alternative accommodation

Conclusion

The amount you may be entitled to receive for your personal injury claim is calculated by adding together the two types of damages mentioned above. However, this is a very simplified version of the procedure when it comes to valuing claims.

It should be considered whether a reduction should be applied to the total sum to reflect the fact that the claimant has suffered multiple injuries simultaneously and there may be some overlap of pain.
Further, there is the possibility of a finding of contributory negligence, i.e. that the incident was primarily the fault of the defendant but the claimant was also responsible and shares some of the blame.

If during investigations it transpires that you have contributed towards your accident, then the judge will decide on the percentage apportionment of the blame. The percentage impacts on the amount of the damages you will ultimately receive. By way of an example, if a judge found you to be 20% contributorily negligent, this is how much the gross damages would be reduced by.

At Lennons, we have experienced personal injury lawyers to assist you with your claim and advise on the potential value of your claim. If you have sustained injuries as a result of an accident and want to bring a claim, please call us on 01494 773377 or email hello@lennonssolicitors.co.uk.

Read more on this subject

This is part four of Laxmi’s thread of articles which answer personal injury clients’ frequently asked questions. Please follow the links below to access parts one, two and three of her thread:

Part one: How long does a personal injury claim take to settle?

Part two: What is a Conditional Fee Agreement?

Part three: Will my personal injury claim go to court?

Laxmi Mall is a Trainee Solicitor in our Personal Injury department. Prior to her training contract, she was a Personal Injury Paralegal with over 3 years of experience dealing with various personal injury claims.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this article has been prepared for informational purposes only. This content does not constitute legal advice, nor does it give rise to a solicitor/client relationship. Specialist legal advice should be taken in relation to specific circumstances.