Your Damages and compensation explained
By: Helen | Posted: 15th October 2008
Every year in the UK alone millions of accidents occur, accidents that should have been avoided but occurred due to the negligence of another person. These accidents could be a road traffic accident, an accident in a public place, such as a slip, trip or fall or an accident in the workplace as well as a possible accident while playing sport but one thing that all of these accidents have in common is that fact that they can all potentially cause us serious personal injury.
Personal injury is a broad term that is used to describe injury that is sustained due to the negligence of another person. This personal injury can vary in where it affects us and how badly it affects us. For example you could suffer personal injury in the form of whiplash after becoming the victim of a road traffic accident or you may be suffering from fractured or broken bones due to a slip, trip or fall; you could even end up suffering spinal cord damage due to suffering an accident whilst at work.
If you are one of the many unfortunate people who find themselves suffering from a personal injury after an accident that was caused through no fault of your own then you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation with the help of a personal injury solicitor.
Compensation or damages as it is commonly known can be broken into two sub categories, which are general damages and special damages. There is a significant difference between the two of them for the fact that general damages are designed to compensate you for your pain, suffering and loss of amenity. Examples of this includes; physical or emotional pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, disfigurement, loss of reputation, loss or impairment of mental or physical capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.
When it comes to special damages you will receive compensation for aspects such as extra costs you have encountered, such as repair or replacement of damaged property, lost earnings (both historically and in the future), loss of irreplaceable items, additional domestic costs, etc.
Compensation, believe it or not, can play a very big part in your recovery; in some cases of personal injury compensation can prove to be vital such as when a disability requires adaptations to be made to the injured person's house or car. Compensation can also make a huge difference to someone's life who has lost a relative in an accident who had previously supported them financially. Compensation is sometimes needed to fund medical care for an ongoing injury / illness or even to make up for lost earnings where an injured person is not able to earn a living to pay their bills because of their accident.
The amount of damages that you will be awarded in a successful claim for compensation varies from claim to claim as it depends on many different factors and injuries always affect people in different ways so when it comes to making a claim for compensation every person's individual circumstances are taken into account.
If you want to know more about making a claim for compensation or you wish to have your claim for compensation assessed then get in touch with a personal injury solicitor today as they will be able to assess your case for compensation in order to find out where you stand legally with making a claim for compensation.
Help with Your Claim are personal injury experts who have many years experience in dealing with all forms of making a Claim for Compensation , so get in touch with them today to find out more.
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Tags: earnings, reputation, companionship, accidents, general damages, negligence, pain and suffering, emotional pain, spinal cord, broken bones, personal injury solicitor, whiplash, road traffic accident, special damages