How to calculate a Personal Injury claim?
When you’ve suffered an injury that wasn’t your fault, and you begin the personal injury claim process, you’re thrust into a whole new world and it can be hard to predict just exactly how to calculate the compensation you will gain.
We’re here to help you gain the compensation you deserve! We’ve put together a few things that can affect the amount you can gain in compensation, and it just may help you to calculate your personal injury claim.
Compensation calculation
Firstly, it must be agreed that you do indeed have a claim to make. So, after having an accident that wasn’t your fault, we must decide where the blame lies. This is the same for all claims, including a road traffic accident, accident at work or medical/ dental negligence. It could be that you are partially to blame for the accident, or the other party is fully at fault.
All claims are different, and result in unique injuries with various lengths of recovery caused by a range of accident types, so determining a cost for compensation can be difficult, however…
The two most important aspects of your personal injury claim are general damages and special damages. Both elements will greatly affect how much you will receive in compensation.
General Damages
General damages are the most typical pay out for a personal injury claim. Sometimes known as non-pecuniary losses in the legal world, general damages refer to the injury, including:
- Type and location of injury
- Severity of the injury
- Time to recover from the injury
To calculate general damages compensation, courts and solicitors tend to refer to compensation guidelines from the Judicial College.
The Judicial college, established in 1979, is responsible for the training of judges in county, Crown, and higher courts throughout England and Wales. The Judicial college created a guideline for general damages based on historic accident, claims and compensation. Solicitors use this as a starting point for calculating general damages compensation, and it frequently helps all parties come to an agreement on claims compensation.
This guide gives an estimated amount based on the specific type of injury (arm fracture, finger amputation, leg break etc) and the time estimated by a medical professional for the recovery (0-3 months, or long-lasting effect on mobility etc) and can go in depth presenting a guideline ‘no less than’ amount or a ‘between’ amount.
Special Damages
When calculating special damages there are many factors to take into consideration:
- loss of earnings; both current and future.
- psychological distress.
- personal damages to property.
- medical expenses including treatment and rehabilitation.
- cost of specialist equipment (for example wheelchairs, adapted vehicles etc)
- travel costs (for example, to and from medical appointments).
The awarding of special damages aims to put you into the financial position you would have been in prior to the injury. Sometimes an interim payment may be awarded if you are unable to cover the monthly costs caused by your injury.
Proving special damages
Special damages must be proved by the claiming party, they cannot be assumed by the court. So, this means it is best for your claim if you make notes and keep receipts for anything that you believe may be linked to your claim.
This could include receipts and appointment cards for any medical treatments and rehabilitation, or it could be bank statements or information from your employer regarding any loss of income you have incurred.
How DIYPI can help
We’re here to help you throughout the whole claims process. Our team are available 7 days a week to answer any questions you may have, and trust us when we say, when it comes to claims, there are no silly questions.
We’ll guide you through the process and ensure you’ve got the best solicitor for your case by your side. We’ll ensure that you receive the maximum compensation you deserve, taking into account both general and special damages, where necessary. We’ll ensure you know exactly what you need to keep note of and build a concrete claim to present to the other party.
We will also soon be releasing a compensation calculator which will allow you to see actual monetary figured based on the Judicial college guidelines for general damages compensation.
So, get in touch today and do it yourself with a little help from us.