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14 Park Street
Stafford
ST17 4AL

Tel: 01785 213234 
Fax: 01785 218351
Resolution - First for Family Law
The Law Society - Family Law
The Law Society - Personal Injury
APIL - Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
Accredited Personal Injury Lawyer
An Approved Member of Accident Line

Personal Injury Compensation

Polska Wersja

Personal injuryAccident Line

At 1st solicitors, Nigel Rostance has many years experience of claiming for:

  • Car accidents
  • Work accidents
  • Hospital accidents
  • Slipping and tripping claims
  • Criminal injury claims

We can help you recover compensation for pain and suffering; psychological and brain injury; past and future loss of earnings; costs of care and out of pocket expenses. There may be other sums that we can claim for you.

In most cases after considering the strength of your case we are able to act for you on a NO WIN-NO FEE basis (known as a conditional fee agreement).

If you have had a car accident as a driver, a bike or motorbike accident then if the accident was the fault of the other driver you will be entitled to claim compensation from the other party. They should by law be insured for such claims, but sometimes they are not. You may then have to bring a claim through the Motor Insurance Bureau, which is a government-backed scheme to pay compensation to persons injured by an uninsured or untraced driver.
A passenger will usually be an innocent victim of an accident and would claim against the person who caused the accident. This might be the person with whom they were traveling. As we generally travel in a vehicle with members of our family or friends this can result in claims being made against people we know. However this should not deter a person from claiming compensation as it is usually dealt with through insurers.

Accidents at work are a common occurrence and the law places a heavy burden on employers to provide a safe place and system of work. You are entitled to claim compensation if you can prove your employer was negligent or in breach of specific duties which the law places on him. It is often difficult to decide whether a claim can be made until your solicitor has carried out an initial investigation which will often involve looking at the various employers documents for example, accident report, maintenance records, induction and training records. At 1st Solicitors we will only advise you to pursue a claim if we believe that you have a good chance of success.

Hospital accidents also referred to as medical negligence or clinical negligence do occur but it does not always mean that the hospital, doctors or nurses are to blame. Medical treatment by its nature does involve risks and you would normally be expected to be told of those risks and to consent to them. Sometimes a patient simply requires an explanation of what went wrong and it is not always in the client’s best interest to bring a claim for compensation. However where an accident has occurred and there seems to be good reason to suggest that there has been negligence it is usual for your solicitor to have to carry out an initial investigation by looking at your medical records and obtaining an expert opinion from an independent consultant before advice can be given as to the prospects of a successful claim for compensation.

In the case of slips, trips or falls in the street or on the highway this may give rise to a claim against the local authority who have a common law duty to maintain the roads. There is also a statutory obligation under the highways Act to maintain the roads and footpaths. It is not always obvious to the eye whether the point where a trip or slip occurred forms part of a public highway. It might be owned or occupied by a private person who may be wholly or partly to blame. Before a decision can be made as to whether a person can bring a claim for compensation the solicitor will have to investigate these points.

A person who suffers personal injury as a result of a crime of violence can pursue a claim for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. This is a government scheme. To be successful the claim must be worth at least £1000. Applicants must have reported the incident to the Police without delay and must be shown to have co-operated with the police enquiries. Compensation can be awarded even though no one is convicted for the offence against the victim.

In all of these cases compensation can be claimed for physical pain and suffering, these are called General Damages. This includes mental impairment or brain injury such as epilepsy.

Compensation is also claimed for Special Damage, which includes loss of earnings, care costs, car hire, out of pocket expenses. There may be other sums that can be claimed depending on each claim. For example in the case involving amputation of a limb there will be a claim for an artificial limb or prosthetic limb and future revisions.

 

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