If you are considering making a claim, the most important thing is to be aware that generally you should bring your claim within 3 years of the date of the accident. There is an Act of Parliament called the Limitation Act 1980 which does enable claims to be brought outside this time limit in certain circumstances, but it is preferable to bring your claim within 3 years of the date of the accident to avoid any argument that your claim is out of time.
In a personal injury action, you will be known as the ‘Claimant’ and the party you are suing will be the ‘Defendant’. You should normally write to the Defendant before you bring a claim to let the Defendant know why you believe he is at fault for the accident, as it may be possible for the claim to be settled without court proceedings being issued. For example, the Defendant may agree that he is at fault to some extent and offer you a compensation payment that you are happy with.
If you decide to issue proceedings, you will have to complete documents available from the County Court known as the Claim Form and the Particulars of Claim. In the Claim Form you provide a summary of your claim and then you give details of the accident and why you allege the Defendant is to blame in the Particulars of Claim.
You must also give details of how much compensation you are seeking. Compensation is also known as ‘damages’. The damages you claim for the injury itself and the pain, suffering and loss of amenity you sustained as a result are known as ‘general damages’, and any damages for past and future financial loss are described as ‘special damages’. You should serve a schedule setting out your ‘special damages’ with your Particulars of Claim, as well as some kind of medical report evidencing your ‘general damages’, i.e. your injuries.
To get some idea of the overall value of your claim, you should calculate all your financial losses, which are your special damages, and then put a value on your injuries, which are your general damages. The courts will normally look at guidelines published by the Judicial Studies Board when deciding how much your injury is worth. These guidelines indicate suitable awards of general damages that should be made for a whole range of injuries. As examples, they suggest that awards of up to:
- £2,550 for minor whiplash
- £4,575 for minor back injuries
- £63,625 for a below-elbow amputation of the arm
- £11,200 for a broken arm
- £4,300 for a broken wrist
- £2,800 for a broken finger
- £5,350 for a broken leg
- £1,400 for a broken nose
Once you have served the Claim Form and the Particulars of Claim, the Defendant has to acknowledge your claim within 14 days and serve his Defence to your claim within 14 days thereafter. In his Defence, the Defendant may admit or deny some or all of your claim. If the claim is contested, the court will generally then order that all documents relevant to the accident held by the parties are disclosed, following which directions will normally be given enabling the parties to serve witness statements. The court may order the parties to attend court for what is known as a ‘case management conference’, in which directions for the future management of the claim are given.
Depending on how much you say the claim is worth, the court will allocate it to one of three tracks. If you are claiming less than £1,000, your claim will generally be allocated to the small claims track. The small claims track is designed for dealing with small claims quickly, informally, and generally without the parties having to worry about paying any of the other side’s legal costs. If your claim is worth more than £1,000 but less than £15,000 and will take the court no more than one day to hear, it will normally be allocated to the ‘fast track’, but otherwise it will usually be allocated to the ‘multi-track’, which is the normal track for claims worth more than £15,000 or which will take more than a day to hear.
If you have a small claim, it may take less than 6 months from the date you issue your claim for your claim to be finally disposed of by the court. A fast-track claim may well take more than 6 months to conclude and it is not uncommon for multi-track claims to be disposed of a year or more after they are issued.
However, it is always possible for your claim to be settled after you have issued proceedings. The Defendant may not want to incur legal costs in defending the claim and may wish to avoid the inconvenience of dealing with the claim by making you an offer to settle. You can negotiate with the Defendant at any stage to settle your claim before it is finally considered by the court.
If you wish to discuss a possible claim, please consult our Directory of Solicitors to find a solicitor in your area who may be able to help you..