How much compensation am I likely to recover?
Your claim for compensation can include compensation for your pain and suffering and for any financial losses and expenses suffered, e.g. loss of earnings, medical expenses, etc. It is very difficult to accurately estimate how much compensation an injured person may receive. The amount of compensation you may recover will depend on your injuries and your financial losses incurred as a direct result of the accident.
Compensation is awarded for your pain, suffering and your inability to do things that you were previously able to do before the accident. This is known as general damages. English law does not provide a set amount of compensation for a particular injury and every claim is assessed on its own individual merits.
General damages will largely be based upon the medical evidence we obtain in relation to your claim, in the form of medical expert reports dealing with the injuries you suffered. The compensation would take into account the effect your injuries have had on you to date and any effect they are likely to have on you in the future.
Once full medical evidence has been obtained, we should be in a better position to provide you with an estimate of the amount of compensation for general damages you may receive.
Compensation can also be claimed for any financial losses you incur as a direct result of the accident. For example, loss of earnings, medical expenses, travelling costs, etc. This is known as special damages. The purpose of compensation for special damages is to return you to the position you were in, financially, before the accident had occurred. It is very important that you keep all receipts in relation to any financial losses you incur relating to your accident, e.g. prescription/medication costs, travelling expenses, etc, as this will assist recovery of these losses. We may also be able to recover something for the loss of time of friends/relatives, assisting you with daily tasks due to your injury.
In fatal accident claims, compensation can be claimed for funeral expenses, bereavement damages (for spouses and parents of young children) and compensation for any living relatives who were financially dependent on the deceased for their income or their time, e.g. spouses and children of the deceased.