Injury Claim Calculator – find out what level of damages you could claim
The Goodge Law Injury Claim Calculator has been designed to provide an estimate as to the amount of compensation you could receive in for the personal injury element of the claim in the event of a successful personal injury claim.
To further help you understand, there are two types of damages in a personal injury claim – special and general damages.
What are Special Damages?
Special damages is compensation awarded to cover the financial losses incurred as a result of an accident or negligent medical treatment. The aim is to put you back in the financial position you would have been in, had the accident or medical negligence not occurred.
If you are unsure whether you can claim for a certain loss or expense, the test is to think but for the injury, would you have incurred that expense? If the answer is no, then you are likely to be able to claim for this loss.
However, you still have a duty to take reasonable steps to minimise all losses. This is called your duty to mitigate. For example, if the medical expert believes that your injuries only warranted an absence of, say, two weeks from work, but you were absent for four weeks, then it is likely that an insurer will say that you have not mitigated your losses and will, therefore, only offer you lost earnings of two weeks.
Common types of special damages are:
- Loss of earnings
- Medical expenses
- Damaged clothing if you were involved in a motorcycle accident
- Travel expenses to medical appointments in relation to your injuries or as a result of not having use of your car if it was involved in the accident
- Cost of care where the injured claimant relies on assistance with household or personal care tasks which, but for the accident, they would have completed themselves. This can be performed by a family member or friend.
What are General Damages?
General damages is compensation awarded for pain, suffering and loss of amenity – the personal injury element of your claim. Loss of amenity means the inability to perform activities which you could do before the accident. For example, being unable to pursue certain hobbies or socialise with friends.
Put simply, this is an award designed to compensate you for the actual injuries suffered and the effect they have had on your quality of life. The value of the injury is not always simple. The severity of the accident does not always dictate the valuation. Often the longevity of the injury is more important.
The parties will look at two things when valuing your injuries:-
- The Judicial College Guidelines
- Case law (precedent)
The Judicial College Guidelines is an assessment of general damages, which are used to determine the value of a personal injury claim. These Guidelines are only guidance, not law, and are reviewed intermittently to reflect inflation and new changes in the law.
In addition to the Judicial Guidelines it is always helpful to have knowledge of previously decided cases (precedent). This case law will depend on facts such as the similarity of the injuries sustained, the claimant’s age and sex as well as the likely future course of the injuries.
Case law may differ slightly from the Guidelines but they will both be used to give the best advice on the likely award that a court will make.
We have put together a useful tool which reflects the use of the Judicial College Guidelines. Feel free to view our Personal Injury Claim Calculator to obtain an estimate of the value of various injuries.
