A Guide To General Damages and Special Damages of a Personal Injury Claims

Suffering from personal injury through no fault of your own can be an unpleasant experience. Personal injury can happen at any time from almost any cause. However, common types of personal injury include vehicle and cycle accidents, slips and trips, and accidents at work. For almost any case of personal injury that was not your fault there is financial compensation available. This article will highlight what you can claim for personal injury if you live in the UK, and what measures are best to take to ensure you have a successful claim. There are two areas that form a personal injury claim, read on to find out more.

General Damages

'General damages' is a term used to reflect the severity of your injuries and the subsequent impact they have had on your life. The courts will work out what you should be awarded by assessing previous claims. The will look at what has been offered in the past to individuals with similar injuries to yours.

To ensure that you have enough evidence for a successful general damages claim, you will have to take a few measures. You will need to gather medical reports from specialists detailing your injuries and the foreseeable recovery time. You will also need to provide details of how these injuries have made an impact on your life. It can be a wise idea to keep a log of your life from the date of your accident. You can make notes of any time the injuries have stood in the way of your day to day tasks. This will help the courts decide how severe and debilitating the injuries are, as well as give them a good indication of how likely these injuries are going to carry on interfering with your daily life.

Special Damages

'Special damages' is a term used to reflect the overall expenses you have had as a direct result of your injuries. The goal of special damages is to return you to the same financial position that you were in prior to your accident. You can make many claims under special damages. Any expense that you have had that you would not have incurred if you hadn't been injured can be claimed back. As with general damages, it is worth keeping a log of all of your expenses. If possible, keep all of the receipts you are given. It is not compulsory to keep receipts, but it can help you highlight the expenses you have had to meet and provide great supporting evidence for your claim.

To list a few examples, you can claim expenses for:

Medical bills, medicines and prescriptions, travelling and parking expenses, loss of earnings, repair costs and insurance excesses / premium increases, car hire charges, clothing and items damaged in the accident, holiday cancellation charges and more.