 |
| ANIDRAJ & LEVINE |
How to win your personal injury claim 2022 following a Catastrophic Personal Injury. Here we focus on survivors of serious injury. Many of our clients are amputees or have sustained serious brain or spinal injury. If you choose to make a claim through us we will guide you through the process. This article is a brief overview of the main steps.
How to win your personal injury claim pdf
Legal Consultant
The first step is the initial legal consultation. This is to establish the likely success of your claim and will guide your decision on how to proceed. Catastrophic personal injury cases can last for years, so it's important to appoint a specialist lawyer.
It's also important to meet your lawyer as you will be working closely together. Your lawyer will go through the major steps of the process and advise you on the likely value of your financial claim.
They will also go through your options for funding your case. This initial consultation should also focus on the need for early rehabilitation as well as any other issues or questions you may have.
At Barr Ellison this initial consultation is always free and will last as long as you need.
CLAIM LETTER
The next step to win your personal injury claim is sending a Letter of Claim. But before sending a Letter of Claim, all Defendants must be correctly identified. Key information and evidence must be compiled in accordance with the Pre-action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims.
Once everything is in order the Letter of Claim can be sent to the Defendants. They then have three weeks to acknowledge its receipt.
Following that the Defendants have three months to investigate.
REHABILITATION
The next step to win your personal injury claim is to consider rehabilitation, including interim payments. This step overlaps with and continues in parallel to all the other steps. Obtaining funding for rehabilitation treatments is an immediate top priority.
The goal is to enable you or your loved one to live as full a life as possible. Early rehabilitation is essential to this and interim payments are likely to be needed to fund it. Whether to appoint a case manager and commission expert reports is considered.
Medical needs after a serious injury are often complex and long term. Intensive recovery therapies, and the need for carers and physiotherapists, must be factored in.
For many, it might not be possible to return home without at least some adaptations to the home. Or, to enable as much independence as possible, it may be necessary to move home.
Other issues to be considered are education needs - for example to enable a return to work - or prosthetics care and maintenance. Ideally these needs are met through interim payments whilst the claim is ongoing. For more, see our article Early Rehabilitation is Critical in Catastrophic Personal Injury Cases.
Final Step: to win your personal injury claim
The outcome of the final step to win your personal injury claim will depend on whether the defendant admits liability, or denies some or all of liability for your injury. Where liability is admitted, the main work to be done is to ensure that you receive a fair and just settlement.
Your lawyer will provide advice and clarity on the level of compensation you should receive, including medical costs, loss of earnings, the need for care and assistance, rehabilitation treatments and therapies, and legal costs.
There are likely to be intense negotiations over the level of compensation, especially when calculating the future cost of rehabilitation and care, as well as loss of future earnings, and any adaptations to the house that might be needed.
If the parties can agree the level of compensation, the case will settle and there is no need to go to court. Where liability is only partially admitted or fully denied there will usually be negotiation to review liability and the level of damages.
It is possible that the Defendant may allege contributory negligence, meaning that they believe that you or others contributed to the cause of your injury.
Before discussing the details of a potential settlement, the Defendants will be asked to provide a 'disclosure of evidence' which details why the Defendants believe they are not liable or only partially liable.
If the parties can agree a new position on liability and damages, the case ends and the Defendants pay the agreed settlement.
If terms cannot be agreed, you may decide to issue proceedings against the Defendant (your solicitor will advise you on this). At this point either you or the Defendant may decide to make an offer to settle, known as a 'part 36 offer' under the Civil Procedure Rules.
If this offer is accepted, the case will end and the Defendants will pay the agreed settlement. If the offer is not accepted, you have the option of taking the Defendant to court. The courts will then determine liability and level of compensation.
So this is How to win your personal injury claim pdf without any issue. We have explained the major steps that you should take before proce