I'm scared to claim from my employer!Some people who have been injured at work think that by doing injury claims they're going to put both their job and the future of their company at risk. This is untrue. Firstly, it is illegal for an employer to either put pressure on an employee to leave, or to make them redundant, in the wake of them making a claim.
I'm worried I might bankrupt my company
Injury claims do not 'sue' their employer. They place a claim for compensation with their employer's insurance company. All UK companies, by law, must hold indemnity insurance to protect staff from being left out of pocket if their negligence results in an injury. This also applies in the case of a member of the public who has been injured through the negligence of a business or public authority. (For example, if they have slipped on a wet floor or tripped on a loose paving stone).
I think injury claims takes a lot of effort
It doesn't. After you have given your details to whoever you choose to handle your injury claims for you, they take care of the legal technicalities and keep you updated on the important points. But it is designed to be a relatively easy process: after all, red tape and endless form-filling shouldn't get in the way of a victim being compensated for accident injuries.
I will need money to claimYou don't need to pay anything to get your injury claims started. This regulation is known by its official title, the Conditional Fee Agreement, or more simply as 'no win no fee.'
This regulation is in force to stop members of the public who are genuine victims of accidents having their injury claims stopped in their tracks by excessive fees. The name says it all: if you do not win your case, you don't pay your solicitor their fee. Some companies take it further with '100% no win no fee' which means that not only do claimants not have to pay legal fees, but avoid having to meet any costs whatsoever.
I don't believe in claiming compensation if I've been hurt
The word 'compensation' in itself should say enough: any award that the victim of an injury receives is designed to right the wrongs that they have suffered; to attempt to return the victim to their original state of health. Some of the injury claims sustained are very serious indeed and only a financial payout can even begin to redress the balance in the individual's life. Payments are to cover income lost as the result of forced time off work and to remunerate any outlay towards medical costs, etc.
10 things you didn't know you could claim for
1. Injury on holiday - if you booked your holiday through a UK company, they are liable for any injury or illness you sustain while you are abroad, or even on the plane.
2. Accommodation in disrepair - anywhere you live that you do not own is the responsibility of your landlord, whether that is the local council, an individual or a private lettings company. If you are injured because of your accommodation being in unsafe condition, you could claim compensation for those injuries from your landlord.
3. Injury on public transport - the driver of any bus, taxi or train has a duty to protect their passengers. If you are injured because of the driver's negligence, you can make injury claims from the transport operator if the injury is not your fault. For example, if you were standing on the top deck of a double-decker bus, which is not permitted, when you were injured, you may not be able to claim. Make sure that you're the one in the right!
4. Product liability - if you are injured by a defective product, you can pursue a claim against the manufacturers, who still have responsibility for their product after they have sold it, unless the fault is the result of a change or tampering by an unauthorized person. The product could be something as small as a kettle or as big as a car. As long as an inherent fault has caused your injury, then you could make an injury claims.
5. Untraced drivers - generally, if an applicant wishes to make a compensation injury claims, they know who they are claiming from: the supermarket where they slipped, the council whose defective pavement caused them to trip. What about the unfortunate motorists or pedestrians who suffer an injury if they are struck by an uninsured or untraced driver?
That's where the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) comes in. This government-run body exists to compensate blameless victims of road accidents who are unable to claim money directly from the guilty party's insurance if they are injured.
6. Criminal injuries - and by that we mean injuries consequentially sustained during the course of a criminal act, or directly sustained as the result of an assault. As in the case of untraced drivers, there is a government organization in place to fund compensation claims from victims: the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA) which makes awards of £1000 all the way up to a maximum of £500,000. This fund is, among other cases, meeting the cost of compensation payments to the victims of the July 7th bombings in London.
7. Animal injuries - this could mean that you've been bitten by a dog or thrown from a horse. The main thrust of a successful injury claims is essentially the same as any other: somebody else must be at fault: for example, you must not have provoked the dog that bit you and the dog's owner must have been negligent in allowing its behavior.
8. Injuries that happened when you were a child - UK claimants have three years from the date of the accident in which to begin claim proceedings, but if the accident happened when they were a child, the 'three year' rule only applies from when they reach their 18th birthday. Or, to put it another way, they have until their 21st birthday. So somebody that was injured as a one-year old baby has another twenty years to make a injury claims.
9. Sports injuries - injuries can be commonplace in sports but if you are injured by an action that is outside the result of normal play, then you may have a case. For example: if you're playing hockey and a competitor suddenly comes up at half-time and strikes you in the leg, that is outside normal play. The difficulties can arise when deciding who to actually pursue the claim from, but there are ways and means. You could make injury claims from the organizers of the match for letting a dangerous competitor take part.
10. Repetitive strain injury - RSI is a common workplace injury. It takes a long time to develop on occasion. It is caused, as the name suggests, by muscles and ligaments being put under constant stress on a frequent basis, such as by operating a computer keyboard. Just because an injury is not sudden and agonizing does not mean it cannot be the subject of a successful injury claims.
