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Personal injury claims - evidencing losses

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When should an accident or disease be reported to the Health and Safety Executive?

Pursuing a personal injury claim can be a very daunting prospect and very often prospective claimants (the legal name for the individual pursuing the claim) are unsure about the types of items claimable.

As well as being awarded compensation for any injuries you may have sustained, there may be other financial losses you have incurred as a direct result of being injured, and these can be numerous. With that in mind, please see below for the types of losses that can be claimed and the supporting evidence required to prove each loss. Please note this is not an exhaustive list and if you are in doubt please discuss with your legal advisor and always retain documentary evidence of the loss/cost incurred.

Personal injury

A medical report will be required to evidence the injuries sustained. This will involve the claimant attending a medical examination with a medico-legal expert and the legal representative will arrange this.

The medical report must be from an independent medico-legal expert (not the GP or hospital consultant).

Care and assistance

Depending on the severity of the injuries sustained, a claimant may require assistance from a friend or family member. Such assistance may be in the form of hoovering, ironing, preparing meals or even assisting with personal care. Provided the medical evidence (as detailed above) supports the need for such care, it is possible to claim.

In such cases, it is helpful to keep a diary detailing the care required. For example, how many hours per day/week the care has been needed.

Loss of earnings

If you have been unable to work as a result of your injury, it is possible to claim for any earnings lost. Again medical evidence will be required to support the need to be off work together with evidence of your loss from your employers in the form of payslips.

Sometimes an employer will pay an employee for the entire period of absence and so a claimant may be of the view that there is no loss. Whilst there may not be for the claimant, it is important that they check their contract of employment as it may be a requirement to include a claim for the employer in terms of the monies they have paid out to the claimant.

Medication

In order to claim for medication you would need to provide receipts or copies of prescriptions. It may be that equipment has also been used to assist with symptoms such as specialised pillows/TENS machine. Again receipts would be required and the medical evidence would need to support the need for such items.

Travel expenses

It is possible to claim for mileage incurred as a result of the claim. For example, travel expenses may have been incurred in attending physiotherapy treatment. We usually claim mileage at 45 pence per mile. There are occasions when parking expenses will have been incurred – receipts will be needed.

There will be occasions when numerous travel expenses will have been incurred. In this situation, it is helpful to keep a diary so that the reason for the travel costs can be explained for each journey.

Vehicle related losses

In the case of a road traffic accident, there may be a vehicle damage claim. This may result in a policy excess being incurred. In this case, evidence that the policy excess has been paid will be required in the form of a receipt of letter from the motor insurers.

It may be that you have had to pay for recovery and storage fees or even incurred vehicle hire charges. It is important that you retain all receipts to prove the expenses incurred.

Damaged items

There may be occasions when items become damaged as a result of an accident. For example if you were involved in a road accident, you may have been carrying certain equipment in the vehicle at the time which have been damaged as a result of the impact. If you are able to take photos of the items in their damaged state this is very helpful and it is always advisable to retain the items as there may be occasions when they will be requested.

There may be other losses which can be claimed and we can advise you regarding the potential recoverability of these items. The main point to remember is to always evidence any loss for which you are intending to claim.

If you would like to speak to us about a potential personal injury claim please call our specialist team on 01616 966 229

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