Someone I know had the same injury as me but got more than I did for the same injury!
Clients often say this when we are advising them how much their claim is worth.
They are usually right, which doesn’t surprise us because everyone is different and similar injuries may result in very different financial outcomes depending on a number of factors including:
Compensation for the injury/injuries
There are currently no fixed tariff amounts in personal injury cases, with the exception of Criminal Injury Claims, which we will ignore for the purposes of this article.
The award of damages for the injury itself, known as “Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity” is tailored to the individual and will reflect how it has affected them personally, particularly in relation to their work, lifestyles, hobbies and other personal interests. For example, if a middle-aged man was left with a 3cm scar on his forehead, it would be worth in the region of £2,000, but if a young person in their teens had the same injury, it might be worth £10,000 or more to them, particularly if it caused great embarrassment leading to psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression. Courts have always tended to award more compensation to females with visible scars than men with similar injuries.
If one person suffers a “whiplash” type injury to their neck and back and recovers within 6 months, they might normally expect to recover a sum up to £2,500, but another person’s claim for the same injury might be valued by a Court in a higher sum, for example, it happened just before their wedding or holiday of a lifetime or prevented them taking part in something they had been looking forward to for a long time like running the London Marathon.
Such an injury would cause more pain and distress to, say, a pregnant woman or a person with pre-existing conditions or disabilities such as arthritis so they would be awarded more compensation than the average person who would generally suffer less pain and discomfort during their recovery.
As the amounts of personal injury awards are not fixed and if the parties cannot agree a settlement, a Judge will decide how much a claim is worth. Judges vary in their approach to cases and some are more likely to award higher sums than others, so how much you receive in compensation will largely depend on the views and opinions of the Judge who hears your case. We often tell clients that if we asked five judges to value their claims, then they would probably be given five different amounts.
Awards for loss of earnings
Awards are affected by the amount of earnings lost by the injured Claimant. In the “whiplash” example, a person earning £400 per week net of tax who is off work for 2 weeks would have £800 included in their award for loss of earnings whereas a person who is not employed would not recover anything under that head of damages. A person earning £250 net per week would only recover £500 for loss of earnings, again making a noticeable difference between people with an almost identical injury.
Care and assistance
Personal injury damages may include sums for unpaid care and assistance provided by relatives and friends as well as sums paid to others to carry out work that the injured person would have done themselves such as gardeners, decorators, cleaners, builders and the like. For example, Person A who lives alone may receive less care than Person B who lives with a partner that assists them for say 100 hours during the early stages of their recovery which was reimbursed by the opponent at £7.00 per hour.
Person C may have been in the process of decorating their house at the time of the accident and had to pay a decorator’s labour charges of say £800 to ensure the work was completed which they will be able to claim as compensation, whereas persons A and B who had no plans to decorate their homes at the time of the accident would not receive such a sum.
Ruined holidays
If the victim was injured just before a holiday, the enjoyment of which was clearly ruined by their injuries, then they will be able to recover part of the cost of the trip in their damages. If person A was going to Barbados for two weeks, they would probably recover more than person B who was going for a weekend caravan holiday on the East Coast of the UK as the cost of the holidays would vary considerably. Those who recover fully before their next holiday would recover nothing under this head of loss.
Future losses
Some people suffer injuries that lead to them incurring losses after their claim is settled such as lost earnings or the need for paid care. If they do, that normally leads to a large increase in the value of their claim. An example of how these awards vary would be two people of the same age who suffer a foot injury that leads to a permanent disability so they can no longer walk long distances or run at all. If one of them is an office-based worker, they would receive very little or no damages for future earnings, whereas if the other was a professional footballer, their lost future earnings award might be huge!
These are just some examples of how personal injury awards vary from person to person and why two people with very similar injuries may recover very different amounts of damages.
The best way to maximise your damages is to instruct an experienced personal injury solicitor, preferably one who will be able to see you face-to-face and take detailed instructions from you on your losses. That way you are likely to be the one that your friends will say “got more than I did”
If you have would like some advice then call our expert Solicitors on 0114 218 4000 or email info@tayloremmet.co.uk.
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