Personal injury

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James Gillray, Very Slippy-Weather (1808)

Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property.^[1] The term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff's injury has been caused by the negligence of another, but also arises in defamation torts.

Types

A Chevrolet Malibu involved in a rollover crash

The most common types of personal injury claims are road traffic accidents, accidents at work, tripping accidents, assault claims, accidents in the home, product defect accidents (product liability) and holiday accidents. The term personal injury also incorporates medical and dental accidents (which lead to numerous medical negligence claims every year) and conditions that are often classified as industrial disease cases, including asbestosis and peritoneal mesothelioma, chest diseases (e.g., emphysema, pneumoconiosis, silicosis, chronic bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic obstructive airways disease), vibration white finger, occupational deafness, occupational stress, contact dermititis, and repetitive strain injury cases.

If the negligence of another party can be proved, the injured party may be entitled to monetary compensation from that party. In the United States, this system is complex and controversial, with critics calling for various forms of tort reform. Attorneys often represent clients on a "contingency basis," in which the attorney's fee is a percentage of the plaintiff's eventual compensation, payable when the case is resolved. Oftentimes, having an attorney becomes essential because cases become extremely complex, such as in medical malpratice cases.

Time limitation

In England and Wales, under the limitation rules, where an individual is bringing a claim for compensation, court proceedings must be commenced within 3 years of the date of the accident, failing which the claimant will lose the right to bring his or her claim. However, injured parties who were under the age of 18 at the time of their accidents have until the day prior to their 21st birthdays to commence proceedings. A court has the discretion to extend or waive the limitation period if it is considered equitable to do so.^[2] Another exception is if the accident caused an injury, as an example industrial deafness, then the three year period will start from when injured party knew or ought to have known that he or she had a claim.^[3]

Conditional Fee Agreement

Legal Aid for personal injury cases was largely abolished in England in the late 1990s and replaced with arrangements whereby the client would be charged no fee if her or his case was unsuccessful (known as No win, no fee).^[4]

No win no fee is the term used to describe the Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) between a law firm and their client. In a Personal Injury claim, this is an agreement between the client and their lawyer, which will enable the lawyer to take on a personal injury case on the understanding that if they lose the case, the client will not have to pay their lawyer’s costs.

However, if the lawyer wins the case they will be entitled to their standard fee plus an uplift referred to as a success fee. In English law, the success fee cannot be greater than 100% of the lawyer’s standard fee.

Pain, suffering and loss of amenity

The amount of compensation for a personal injury will primarily depend on the severity of the injury. Serious injuries (such as broken bones, severed limbs, brain damage) that cause intense physical pain and suffering will tend to receive the highest injury settlements.^[5]

Aside from compensation for injuries, the injured person can also get compensated for how the injuries have affected his or her life. An example, a keen cricketer suffers a wrist injury which prevents him from playing cricket during the cricket season. This can be compensated for, over and above the award for the injury itself. This is called loss of amenity, and the award for loss of amenity is part of the claim for pain, suffering and loss of amenity.^[6]

In the same manner the injured person can also be compensated if, as a result of the injuries, there has been an inability to doing work which was previously really enjoyed. This is called loss of congenial employment.

Structured settlements in personal injury cases

Often, the use of a structured settlement is desired by the injury victim to help protect him or her financially after an injury settlement.^{[citation needed]}

Structured settlements provide injury victims with tax benefits and enable proper financial planning for future needs of the injury victim as a result of the injury.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
• Big Apple Pothole and Sidewalk Protection Committee
• Pain and suffering

References

Notes

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