WHO CAN HELP YOU MAKE THE CLAIM?

It is best to contact legal professionals who specialise in making accident claims. Their job is to make an injury claim in your name, and spearhead the case so you can get the compensation you deserve. Many services are based on a “No Win No Fee” method, which means if you lose your accident claim, you don’t pay them a penny. If your injury compensation claim succeeds, the solicitor recovers all their fees or bills (payments, costs of injury assessment, medical examinations, court fees, etc.) from the losing side or their insurance company and you should get 100% of your injury compensation.

Some people try to handle the injury claim themselves, but these are some things to consider before you decide whether you’re “ready” to take on that responsibility:

An injury solicitor is there for you! They have all the necessary knowledge and skill to handle your compensation claim. The accident injury is a problem itself and it can be just a tip of the iceberg, but it doesn’t mean that you have to sink into trouble: a compensation claim can help you financially and an injury solicitor will do that for you.

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE FOR ACCIDENT COMPENSATION?

The majority of compensation claims in Europe arise following car accidents, or motorcycle accidents. However, there are various types of accident and illness that you can claim compensation for.

Solicitors like to split the amount of compensation you should receive (damages) into two separate categories called General and Special Damages. Basically Special Damages are all those which are easily quantifiable: loss of earnings, medical expenses, taxi fares, ruined clothes etc. Try and make sure you keep a record of any additional expenses that you incur (including receipts if you can), as this will ensure you do not forget any and that your solicitor can claim them back on your behalf.

General Damages are the more difficult as these have to be “assessed” ie some monetary value has to be placed on the pain and suffering that you have gone through, your possible future loss of earnings and how the injury may affect your general lifestyle in the future. It is an imprecise art, which depends a lot on you as an individual, your circumstances and how you recover the injuries you have. In order to get some guidance, solicitors look at past cases (precedents) which are similar (no two cases are ever the same!), and the level of general damages awarded and use these as a guideline (having increased the figures to allow for inflation). In the UK there is the Judicial Studies Board, which provides training and instruction for all judges in England & Wales, periodically issues guidelines for the assessment of General Damages in personal injury cases. Other European countries have their organizational equivalents.