When a person is injured (the Claimant) and the cause of the injury is somebody else’s fault (the Defendant) the Claimant can bring a claim against the Defendant for compensation for the injury sustained and other consequential monetary loss.
A Defendant is only liable for damages which are not too remote. This means that a Defendant will not be liable for losses which would not have been within the reasonable contemplation of the persons involved.
For example, if you were involved in a road traffic accident and because of this you were unable to purchase a plane ticket on time and thereby lost a business deal worth a substantial amount, you cannot recover the difference in the price of the ticket nor the loss of the business deal from the Defendant because this will be deemed as too remote.
1. Different types of Personal Injury Claims
a) Road Traffic Accidents (RTA)
RTA stands for Road Traffic Accident. These are the most common Personal Injury claims and are the bread and butter of most Personal Injury Lawyers firms and Claims Management Companies.
RTAs cover accidents between two vehicles on the road, as well as vehicles running into pedestrians, vehicles hitting stationary vehicles (as long as there was an occupant who sustained an injury) and the like.
The standard expected of all drivers is the same, therefore even if the Defendant is a learner driver, a newly qualified driver or a foreigner this is no defence; the standard of driving expected is the same.
b) Employer’s Liability
Employers have a duty to protect their employers. Employees are protected both by the law of Negligence and by specific legislation such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 which deals with health and safety at work, Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 which deals with the provision and adequacy of work equipment and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended) which deals with manual handling at work.
In negligence generally, an employee is protected against an employer employing incompetent staff, an unsafe system of work and an unsafe plant (equipment).
For example, if you work in a factory, on your way to your work station you slip on a spillage and fall to the ground thereby injuring yourself. Possible causes of this accident could be that there is no good system of cleaning spillages (unsafe system of work) or there is a system but the person with the responsibility of doing it does not do it adequately or at all when he is supposed (incompetent staff) or there is some machinery that is leaking causing that part of the floor to be wet at all times (this could be unsafe system of work as well as incompetent staff).
Employers are vicariously liable for the acts of their employees as long as those acts where done in the course of their employment. So even though the accident was caused by a fellow employee, you can make a claim directly against your employer as being vicariously liable. The advantage of this is that more often than not an individual will not have the funds to compensate you, whereas an employer is duty bound by law to have insurance in place to cover these eventualities.
c) Public Liability – Trips and slips
Local authorities owe a duty to users of public places under their jurisdiction. They must ensure that the roads and pavements for example are fit for use. These cases are not always so straight forward however because Section 58 Highways Act 1980 provides a defence if the Highway Authority can prove that it has taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to secure that part of the highway to which the action relates was not dangerous to traffic.
This requires, among other things, that a Highway Authority must have a system of inspection which is reasonable and adequate. If the Defendant Highway Authority can show that they have a system of inspection and repair and further that your accident occurred in between 2 occasions that that area in question was inspected, as long as they can prove that their system is adequate this will serve as a defence to your claim.
d) Occupiers Liability
The owner of property has a duty to ensure the safety of the users of his premises whether they are visitors or trespassers. A brief overview is as follows:
An Occupier’s duty to lawful visitors is contained in the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 which basically says an Occupier must ensure the reasonable safety of people using their premises. An Occupier is defined as the person/body with “sufficient control” of the premises.
An Occupier’s duty to a trespasser is contained in the Occupier’s Liability Act 1984. An occupier owes a duty of care to a trespasser to protect him against the state of the property causing injury if
i. the Occupier was aware or had reasonable grounds to know of the danger
ii. he knows or has reasonable grounds to believe the trespasser is on the premises
iii. the risk to the trespasser is one against which the Occupier can reasonably be expected to offer protection against.
As you can see the duty owed to visitors is higher than that owed to trespassers which is more “qualified” however an “Occupier” must ensure his premises are safe to use.
e) Industrial Disease
Industrial Diseases are a distinct type of Personal Injury. It covers diseases or ailments caused through work such as mesothelioma which is caused by exposure to asbestos, deafness, repetitive strain injury (RSI) and the like.
This Personal Injury Guide was prepared by Balinda & Co Personal injury solicitors.
Balinda & Co have many years experience and have helped a lot of people who have suffered injuries to get compensation.
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