Personal Injury - The Basics

Over the next four weeks Lauren Martin, from the Personal Injury team at Thatcher + Hallam Solicitors, will be sharing information about an area of law that is known as 'personal injury'.

Look out for news items over the next three weeks that cover:

- What is meant by personal injury claims?

- Misconceptions about making personal injury claims

- The process of making a personal injury claim

- What you can claim for and how compensation is calculated  Today Lauren starts by looking at what is meant by the phrase 'personal injury claims'. Over to Lauren.... - "Can I make a claim?"

- "How much is my claim worth?"

- "How much will it cost me to make a claim?"

- "Can you help me access private medical services?"

As a personal injury lawyer, these are all questions I am frequently asked, and they are all completely valid. Over the next few weeks we will break down the various aspects of personal injury claims and what they mean, so we can hopefully clarify this area of law for you.

The term 'personal injury claim' is something you may be familiar with. But you may not be entirely sure what it means or how it applies to your circumstances. Or you might think an injury you have suffered means you could make a claim, but you don't know what to do to progress this or what to expect when you decide to go ahead and make a claim.

So what is a personal injury claim? It's a claim you can make against another party when you have suffered an injury as a result of an accident that wasn't your fault. If you've had an accident caused by someone else's negligence you have the right to seek rehabilitation and compensation for your injuries and this is where making a personal injury claim comes in. You might be surprised at the number of different ways our clients come to harm. To keep things simple, we split injury types into into three main categories:

1. Road traffic accidents
2. Public liability accident (such as if you slip on something in a supermarket and suffer injuries)
3. Employers liability (where your employer does or fails to do something which causes injury)

You can read more about the various types of injuries that can occur and that people claim for on our website In most of the above scenarios it is almost always the case that the party you make the claim against has insurance that will cover the cost of an injury claim. Essentially, this means the insurers step in and take over the handling of the claim on behalf of the person or company that caused you injury. The team at Thatcher + Hallam hope that no-one ever causes you harm or injury due to their negligent actions, but if something should happen to you the process of making a claim can often seem a daunting process. We are here to support you through this process. If you've suffered a personal injury that wasn't your fault and want to chat with us about the potential to make a claim please get in touch. We don't charge for initial advice and all our personal injury claims are taken forward on a 'no win, no fee' basis. We explain this in more detail with you when you get in touch about making a claim. You can contact us via our online form or by calling 01761 414646. Next week, we'll talk about the misconceptions that surround personal injury claims and people who make them. But if we can help you in the meantime, please get in touch.