What can I claim for following my accident?

Special Damages

Any financial losses you have suffered.

In order to prepare your claim for possible agreement or for the issuing of court proceedings, we need to ascertain details of your financial losses and expenses (known as “special damages”). Where possible supporting documentation should be retained and sent to us. Attached you will find guidance on the various aspects in respect of which you may wish to make a claim. We appreciate that you may already have supplied some of the information requested or that some of the heads of claim may not be applicable. Examples of financial claims you can make are listed below: –

Items of financial loss or special damages

Loss of earnings

If you have been absent from work as a result of your injuries, please inform us of the exact dates of your absence, and supply the name and address of your employers and, if at all possible, the name of the person who will supply earnings details. It would also be useful to know your staff number or the name of your department. We also need your National Insurance Number.

We will need to write to your employers even if you have been paid in full during your absence, as you may have a contractual duty to your employers to claim from the other party sums paid to you during your absence.

If your absence from work is continuing, you should tell us, and you should also keep a note of any further days or periods off work incurred as a result of your injuries, and inform us of these.

Medical fees

You are entitled to claim for payments you make in respect of private medical advice or treatment. This may include private physiotherapy. You should forward invoices to us when they have been paid for. If you are a member of a private health insurance scheme (eg BUPA), you should inform us of the name and the address of the insurers and your scheme reference number, as the insurers may require us to claim back sums paid on your behalf. It helps if you keep a note of any invoices forwarded to your insurers for cross checking purposes.

Medication/prescription charges

You should keep a note of all expenditure in this respect which arises from your injuries. You should make a note of the date of payment, the amount paid and retain any receipts ect as proof.

Public transport fares/taxis/lifts

You should keep a note of journeys made and fares involved, and retain any receipts, tickets etc as proof. You should bear in mind your duty to minimise your losses, and therefore, you should make journeys by the cheapest means possible. If you receive a lift from a friend or work colleague and make payments for this, eg a contribution towards petrol, you should keep a note of the journeys paid for, the mileage involved and the payments made.

You should continue to keep a note of all such expenses (and retain any receipts, tickets, etc) and supply us with the relevant details at that point.

Travelling to medical appointments/inability to drive

Please keep a note of all expenses in travelling to medical appointments, including physiotherapy. If you are unable to drive for a period as a result of your injuries, you should make a note of any travelling expenses resulting from this.

We would refer you back to paragraph (A) in respect of keeping a note of travelling expenses.

Relatives’ travelling expenses

If your injuries resulted in an in-patient stay at hospital, you may be able to claim for the expenses incurred by the relatives in visiting you. You should supply details of the journeys made and the expenses incurred.

Aids, equipment etc.

You may be able to claim for aids and equipment in order to continue with your day to day life. These could be an orthopaedic bed, wheelchair, etc. You will need to keep receipts for these and provide them to us. These items may have to be backed up by a recommendation of the medical expert.

Household help

If you require household help as a result of your injuries, you may be able to claim the cost of this help provided it is reasonable. You should keep a note of the date and amount of any payments to helpers. If relatives have provided help free, you should keep a note of the hours for which they have helped and the dates on which they helped.

Decorating/gardening/DIY etc

If you are seriously injured, you may require help in these respects. Obviously, if you had such help prior to your accident, you will not be able to make a claim. If you feel that a claim is justified, please tell us and we shall discuss with you the formulation of an appropriate claim.

Increased bills

If you are seriously injured, you may find that your gas and electricity bill have increased – this may be because you are spending more time indoors and also because you may find that a warmer atmosphere helps ease your symptoms. If you think your bills have increased, and this is related to the accident , you should supply us with comparative bills for the periods before and after the accident, and we shall consider this further.

Holidays/activities

You may be prevented from going on holiday because of your injuries, or a holiday may be spoiled because of your injuries – this is something you should mention to the consultant at your medical examination. If the cancellation of a holiday involves financial loss, you should let us know and supply documentation evidence.

You may be prevented from pursuing certain activities because of your injuries, eg sports. If so, please, again, tell the medical consultant. If membership fees for clubs have been wasted as a result, you should supply details of the relevant fees and documentary evidence in support.

Other Important Points

Social Welfare Benefits

If as a result of your injuries, you have received any DSS benefits, you should let us know which benefits you have received and the approximate amounts.

In any claim for Clinical Negligence, the Defendants obtain a certificate from the DSS to see whether you have received any benefits, this would be offset against any related claim for compensation. For instance, any income support received as a result of your incident may be set off against your claim for loss of earnings. The section of the DSS which deals with this is known as the Compensation Recovery Unit.

Other losses and expenses

The above list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of possible heads of claim. If there are any other losses or expenses which you think may be related t o the incident, please supply details and forward any documentary evidence as proof.

Evidence of losses

It follows from the above that you should keep records and documentary proof of special damages. It is up to you to be able to prove the extent of loss to the Court.