Personal Injury

You can make a personal injury claim within three years of the incident or the date of diagnosis for your illness.

However, it’s always better to get in touch with us as soon as possible. This way you’ll have all the relevant information readily available and will be more likely to get accurate witness statements to support your claim.

There are some scenarios that are exceptions to the three year rule, including:

• Accidents aboard ships – you have two years to make a claim from when you left the ship
• Accidents abroad – the time you have to claim depends on the country’s own laws
• Criminal injury claims – these claims are handled by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) who give a two year time limit for you to make a claim

Because of these exceptions to the rule, we’d still encourage you to get in touch with us if your claim happened over three years ago.

Although the amount of compensation for each injury claim varies dramatically, we can tell you the amounts that are commonly awarded for different types of injury during your initial enquiry.

Once we have all the information we need relating to your injury, we’ll be able to give you a better idea of how much compensation you’ll be entitled to. Compensation is categorised as general damages and special damages.

• General damages cover the amount of compensation you’ll get for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity based on the extent of your injuries and recovery time.
• Special damages will compensate you for any losses you’ve incurred as a result of the accident, like private treatment costs and loss of earnings and property.

Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer to this question. Each personal injury claim is different and how long it takes will depend on the circumstances of the claim.

However, establishing liability for the claim can often be a long process. If the other party isn’t willing to accept responsibility for your injury, for example, then this can make the claim go on for longer.

With our 'No Deductions' service, we represent you at no cost to you. We work on a 'No Win No Fee' basis, but we don't deduct anything from your final settlement. It is common for law firms to deduct a 'success fee' of up to 25% of the final figure. However, because most of our clients come via referrals or search engines, our marketing costs remain very low. We're therefore able to keep our overall costs low and can claim our fees back from the defendant (the person or organisation reponsible for your injuries).

There may be a small insurance premium to pay for 'After the Event' insurance, which is only payable if you win your case. This protects you from having to pay any of the defendant's legal fees. If you already have Legal Expenses Insurance in place (for example, it may already be included with your Home Insurance) then you won't need to pay for this insurance. 

Either way, insurance premiums will be your only costs, and you won't need to pay us anything for your legal representation. 

Depending on the circumstances of your case, your claim could go to court. It is unlikely, however, as only around 5% of all personal injury claims go to court.  

The outcome of your claim will depend heavily on the evidence you’re able to provide. The most important pieces of evidence you can provide should:

• Show evidence of your injuries
• Show evidence that someone else is responsible for said injuries
• Show evidence of the expenses you have incurred

We may ask for other forms of evidence, but these are often the most crucial. In short, keep a record of everything you think is relevant and get the details of any witnesses if there are any.