Types of claims
The law surrounding personal injuries and compensation claims covers a wide variety of different situations, including:
- Car, motorbike, boat and other motor vehicle road/traffic accidents, including whiplash, neck, back, spine and psychological injuries.
- Work and workplace injuries, and workers’ compensation/WorkCover.
- Public liability, including slip, trip and fall accidents in public places, such as footpaths or roadways.
- Medical negligence, including malpractice of a doctor or specialist surgeon prior to, during and after an operation, and failure to warn of the adverse risks of an operation.
- Nervous shock causing psychological injury, for example, due to witnessing the death of a family member or being advised of the death resulting from a horrendous accident.
- Product liability, such as a defective hip replacement.
- Industrial disease, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma.
- Occupational health risks.
You have a right to be compensated for someone else’s negligence.
You must issue proceedings in a Court within three years, otherwise your action may be statute barred, meaning you cannot pursue your claim.
Heads of damage
There are a number of different types of damages you can claim in a “common law” action for negligence, including:
- General damages, which compensate you for your pain, suffering and “loss of amenities” (ie. the negative effect on your life)
- Past and future loss of income
- Special damages, which is your out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of your inuries
- Future medication and aids
- Past and future care and assistance if you require someone to assist you with normal daily activities, or with things such as cooking, gardening and cleaning
Please note that there are restrictions on the different types of damages depending on the category of your claim, which we will advise you about.
Whether injured at work, in a car accident, or whether your injuries result in a public liability claim, ask to speak to our personal injury lawyers, who will be able to advise you as to the merits of your personal injuries claim, time limitation periods, and the possible amount of compensation or injury awards.
“No Win, No Fee”
For certain personal injuries cases, if we believe you have reasonable prospects of success, then we may elect to enter into a “no win, no fee” agreement with you.
What we mean by this is that our firm and the barrister we instruct will not charge you professional fees if the claim does not settle in your favour, or you are unsuccessful in court.
However, we will charge you any outlays, such as medico-legal reports, investigator reports and filing fees (if you have not paid these upfront), regardless of whether your case is successful.
We may also charge a success (or “uplift”) fee of up to 25% of our professional fees to compensate us for the risks we undertake with your claim.
If your claim is not finalised between the parties at the compulsory (settlement) conference, and you elect to proceed to trial, there could be costs consequences, which we will advise you about.
The defendant in a personal injury claim can include your employer, the other driver in a car accident, a local council, the Government, a shopping centre, the owner or occupier of a public place (such as a car park), your doctor or surgeon, or a hospital.