What can you claim in a personal injury claim?

(prHWY.com) February 14, 2013 - North Shields, United Kingdom -- If you have been involved in an accident you should contact a personal injury claims lawyer to organise making a claim against the party responsible.

When making a personal injury claim, compensation is awarded in two categories -
1. General Damages
2. Special Damages

General Damages
General Damages is essentially the compensation you will receive for the injury you sustained as a result of the accident. It is compensation for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity you have experienced.

General Damages cannot be specifically calculated and there is no minimum or maximum award for pain suffering and loss of amenity. The amount depends on your own circumstances. The types of injury can include physical harm and psychological harm.

In order for a personal injury claims lawyer to calculate your general damages they will need to examine your witness statement and the medical evidence to ascertain the necessary details about the exact injury you have experienced.

In order for the personal injury claims lawyer to have full information on your injury, they will need to obtain expert medical evidence confirming the nature of your injury and how long it will take you to recover (if you are expected to make a full recovery). Once the medical expert has examined you, he will prepare a medical report clearly setting out his opinion on your injury. The personal injury claims lawyer will use this as their evidence supporting your injury. Your witness statement will then be used to expand upon the effect the injury was having on you and your lifestyle.

A personal injury claims lawyer will take into account the injury you have sustained, how this affected you, the prognosis for the injury, the effects of the injury on your lifestyle and any possible risk of deterioration of the injury in the future.

Once that information has been established, the personal injury claims lawyer will need to carry out research into similar cases which have been decided by the courts. These cases will have similar injuries to your own and will give the personal injury claims lawyer an indication as to the level of general damages you can expect to achieve if the matter proceeded to court.
Special Damages
In addition to making a claim for general damages, a personal injury claims lawyer can help assist you to make a claim for special damages.

This head of loss is compensation for money you have had to pay out and have lost because of the accident and/or injury. This can be more easily quantified than General Damages and you can put a specific figure on the loss.

This head of loss can include the following - loss of earnings, travel expenses, rehabilitation treatment, damaged items and care and assistance.

Once you have provided full information in relation to your losses your personal injury claims lawyer should be able to calculate the total losses you wish to seek and prepare a schedule of special damages which will clearly quantify each loss.

If you are interested in making a personal injury claim then contact the personal injury specialists, TLW Solicitors by telephoning 0191 2931500 and we will help you make a claim.

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