Personal Injury*

Assessment & Offer

Injury Claim Assessment

Upon assessment of your claim, the Injuries Board will look at past personal injury cases and injuries similar to yours to determine how much compensation they will suggest. They do this by referring to the Judicial Council’s personal injury guidelines. These personal injury guidelines are used by PIAB and the Courts to enable them to ensure consistency in the awards of monetary damages in successful personal injuries claims. Use our compensation estimator to get an insight into how much you may be awarded for your injury.

Consideration of Injuries Board Offer

Having reviewed your claim, the Injuries Board will revert back to you with a suggested compensation amount. This would be then paid to you by the party at fault. You will then need to consider whether to agree to this or not. At this time, your solicitor will be able to advise you on the best route forward, but ultimately it will be your decision whether to accept this first offer or not.

1. Possible Outcomes

   There are two possible outcomes from this stage:

   a. Both you and the party at fault accept the Injuries Board suggested settlement amount. The party at fault would be then ordered to pay this amount to you.

   b. Either you or the party at fault does not accept the suggested settlement amount. Then you would move to issue court proceedings against the person at fault for your accident/injury.

2. Time Limit to Accept or Reject the Award

   Once a suggested award has come through, the person making the claim (the claimant) has 28 days to accept or reject the offer. The respondent (the person whom the claim is made against) has 21 days to accept or reject the offer made by the Injuries Board. It is important to note is that should the person making the claim fails to respond to the offer in 28 days, it will automatically be deemed to be rejected in the eyes of the Injuries Board.

3. Effect of Accepting the Award

   Should both parties accept the award suggested by the Injuries Board, then the Injuries will issue an order to the person at fault to pay the settlement amount. Once this happens and the monies are paid over, the case is then deemed to be settled – full and final settlement, meaning that the person making the claim cannot return at a later date seeking further compensation.

4. Effect of Rejecting the Award

   If one of the parties involved rejects the settlement suggestion by the Injuries Board the case will move to the next stage of the process, i.e. legal proceedings to move the case to court for a judge to decide the outcome. At this stage, you will work with your solicitor and they will issue legal proceedings to move the case along.

Calculation of Damages

In a personal injury case involving an accident where you have suffered an injury, property damage or another kind of loss, as the injured party you can seek to claim for those losses. The best way to do so is to speak with a personal injury solicitor about your case. The losses the injured party incurs are called ‘damages’.

1. General Damages

   General damages are classed as non-monetary losses, like physical pain and suffering or mental/physiological pain and suffering.

2. Special Damages

   Special damages are out of pocket monetary expenses incurred as a result of the accident, usually comprised of things such as:

   • Medical Expenses – medical care and future medical care costs including costs of attending doctors, cost of medication, hospital bills, cost of x-ray, MRI, or treatments such as physiotherapy.
   • Travel Expenses – any travel costs directly related to the accident/injury, such as taxi fares, public transport to and from the hospital, or car parking.
   • Loss of Earnings – a calculation will be made as to how much earnings you have lost as a result of being out of work due to the injury, as well as any future loss of earnings. These will also be calculated and included in the final amount.

   Learn more about Special Damages

3. Loss of Amenity

   Loss of Amenity refers to the effect on a person’s enjoyment or quality of life or to a person’s failure to carry out a task that they were once able to do. It illustrates the non-financial impact that a personal injury has on a person’s work, family and social life. Loss of amenity takes into consideration all resulting restrictions that the injury has forced on a person through no fault of their own.

4. Material Damages

   Material damages refers to damage caused to your personal property. For example, in a road traffic accident, the material damage would be the damage to your car.

The consequences of the same injury or illness will vary between individuals. So the amount of compensation you could receive will be personal to you. Our personal injury solicitors are experienced in accurately valuing claims based on your particular circumstances, to ensure you get the compensation you deserve.

Assisting your Solicitor

In order for a solicitor to advise you on your accident and whether you may be entitled to make a claim, when bringing the claim to a solicitor, include all facts surrounding the accident. Even the facts that you may think are not as important. Also remember to include things like how the accident happened, what exactly you were doing at the time, who was involved and who witnessed the accident.

The following pieces of information are important for you to bring with you, where possible when you start the claims process with your solicitor:

• A detailed description of the accident and how it happened.
• Pictures of the scene of the accident to show how it happened.
• Specific time and date of the accident.
• Was there any CCTV in operation where your accident happened? Your solicitor can request the owner of the CCTV to send over the recordings.
• Witness Details – was there any witnesses to the accident?
• Medical Reports – if you have copies of them to hand, if not your solicitor can request these from your doctor.
• Details of Loss of Earnings – how much wages have you lost as a result of the accident?
• Details of Medical History – did you have any medical conditions before the accident occurred?
• Claims History Details – have you made any personal injury claims in the past? Details of the party at fault for your accident. – it is of the utmost importance that you have the correct party identified when making a claim.
• A list of any expenses you incur as a result of the accident (for example, medical costs, travel costs, home care costs or any other costs involved).