Are you hesitant to make a personal injury claim because you have no idea what it could be worth?
There is often a sense of mystery surrounding how much compensation you may get for your injuries. In this article, I will break down the process of how your solicitor will value your injuries in order to demystify the process and give you a better understanding of what your claim could be worth.
Your personal injury solicitor will start valuing your claim once they have gathered all of the necessary medical evidence in respect of your injuries. Medical evidence usually includes a review of your medical records and one or more independent reports on your injuries prepared by an expert in the relevant field of medicine (usually after an examination with you). This will tell your solicitor whether you have made a full recovery or if not, what your prognosis is, including whether you have any permanent symptoms. The expert will also usually comment on the effect your injury has had on your ability to work and your day-to-day activities, as well as any treatment you need to assist your recovery.
Your solicitor will consider various factors when valuing your injury, such as:
- The severity of the injury;
- Whether there has been a full recovery;
- Whether there are any permanent symptoms or side effects;
- How the injury has affected your day-to-day life and how it will do in the future;
- What treatment was required or will be required, such as surgery or physiotherapy; and
- Whether there are risks of future deterioration, such as the risk of developing arthritis or any other degenerative condition.
When they have a good idea of your injuries and prognosis, they will use a tool called the Judicial College Guidelines, which are a set of guidelines published by the Judicial College. These are the same guidelines that a judge will use if your case ends up in court for a judge to decide on your compensation award. The guidelines describe different types of injuries and provide broad valuation brackets for each type of injury. They cover both physical and psychological injuries, from injuries to the arms to lung diseases to post-traumatic stress disorders. The guidelines do not provide an exact valuation figure; however, they provide a starting point and an approximate compensation bracket for anyone looking to value a claim. The guidelines are updated regularly, having last been updated in March 2024.
After looking at the guidelines, your PI claim solicitor will also then look at previous reported cases with similarities to your own, such as similar injuries, similar recovery time, and a similar impact on daily life. As with the guidelines, these cases do not provide an exact figure but, rather, give a general idea of how much a similar case to yours could settle for in the real world. These cases can be useful negotiation tools when trying to agree a valuation with the opponent.
In addition to valuing your injury itself, your solicitor will also consider and include any other financial losses that resulted from your accident. These can be lost earnings, medication costs, travel expenses, medical expenses, and damaged property, such as a bike. It can also include anticipated future losses such as surgery costs or equipment you will need to aid you in daily life. If you are thinking about making a personal injury claim, it would be a good idea to start thinking about what losses you might have and save any evidence of these, such as receipts.
Once your solicitor has reviewed any medical evidence, the guidelines and past cases, as well as any evidence of financial losses provided by you, they will provide you with their overall valuation. This may be in the form of a bracket which they believe is reasonable. They may then advise on recommended offers to make to your opponent based on this. Your solicitor will also be happy to provide a breakdown of how they reached these figures, which will give you a better idea of why they have advised of that bracket.
Your solicitor is not able to inflate the valuation of your injuries in line with what you think may be a reasonable sum for your injury as, unfortunately, insurers, solicitors, and judges will all have access to the same guidelines and past cases when valuing any given case. Any good solicitor will provide you with accurate advice on the valuation of your injuries, taking the time to thoroughly review the evidence to achieve a fair and reasonable settlement for you. However, there are no specific answers in respect of valuations as calculation of damages is not an exact science and will vary from case to case depending on the circumstances. This is why it is very difficult for solicitors to advise you on the likely value of your claim at the start of your case, when they do not have the medical evidence referred to above or full details of your financial losses resulting from the accident.
If you have suffered a personal injury and would like to speak with one of our specialist solicitors call us today on 0161 696 6235 . You can also use our personal injury compensation calculator to get an estimate of how much your claim may be worth.
By Lilia Williams, personal injury team
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