Cosmetic Surgery / Medical Negligence Claims

General Damages in Personal Injury Cases for example; a Traffic Accident, are in place to compensate you for the impact the injury has and will have on your life. This includes pain and suffering mild or severe sustained from the injury. This pain can be physical but also physiological. Read more on Post Traumatic Stress Claims. The amount awarded will also be based on the impact of your injuries on your daily life such as short term or a permanent disability or disfigurement.  A further consideration for the compensation end figure includes what areas of the body were temporarily or permanently affected.

Read More about General Damages

Special Damages consist of your out of pocket expenses such as Loss of earnings, Medical Expenses, Travelling expenses, Care hire etc.

Read More about Special Damages

Before accepting your instructions, we will have discussed your case with you and will have advised you of the strengths and weaknesses (if any) of your case. In many cases, it is very clear from the outset that an injured party will succeed in being fully compensated, for example, where the injury results from a motor accident when the client is a passenger, to give but one example. In some cases, the courts apportion liability, i.e. they rule in favour of the Plaintiff but make a deduction from the full value of the case on the basis of the Plaintiff’s “contributory negligence.”

It is important to note that many valid claims are never brought because an injured party feels the accident was his own fault, whereas the primary cause of the accident may well rest with some other party, and the injured party’s own carelessness may only have been a contributing factor. In such cases the courts may apportion Liability. It is therefore always advisable to consult a solicitor concerning any injury resulting from an accident.

Following a settlement or a Court Award, it typically takes about 4 weeks for payment to issue from the major Insurance companies. Local Authorities can take longer, usually about 4 – 8 weeks.

A compensation figure is firstly offered by the defendants Insurance Company. Insurance Companies will often make a low value offer to your solicitor. It’s always the objective of the Insurance company to pay out  less money. In Most cases your solicitor will reject this offer when the defendant appears to be liable.

Defendants and their insurance companies will want to avoid the expense of Going to Court.

Once the insurance company realises the defendants liability position, an appropriate settlement offer will be made. If the case is complicated, this can cause delays. 

Once an insurance company has admitted liability on behalf of the defendant and agreed to process the claim, this moves quickly.  Typically, the claimant will receive their compensation payment (from initial offer to agreed  offer) within a few weeks.