Frequently Asked Questions

In Northern Ireland, we have a 'fault-based' system which places an onus on the person making a claim to prove that the accident or injury was caused by someone else's fault or negligence. If you have been injured or suffer from an illness or disease caused by the negligent behaviour of another person or organisation, you may be able to claim compensation.

This might include injury, illness or disease caused by road accidents, accidents at work or accidents caused by medical negligence. If you have been injured as a result of the criminal behaviour of other persons you may be able to claim compensation if you satisfy certain criteria.

If a member of your family has died due to an accident or industrial disease, you may also be able to claim for compensation on their behalf.

If you have an accident during the course of your employment then your claim will probably be against your employer, but might also be against another organisations such as sub-contractors or the owners of any property/structure depending on the circumstances and on who or what has caused the accident or injury.

If you have a road traffic accident you might be able to claim against the other driver; or the driver of the vehicle in which you were travelling, or both. If the driver that caused the accident does not have insurance or does not stop and cannot be traced, a claim might still be pursued against the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB).

If you have fallen or tripped as a result of defective pavement then a claim might be pursued against the Department of Regional Development (formerly the DOE), the local council or land owner.

If the accident occurred on private property you may have to sue the owner or occupier of the property.

If you slip on flooring at a supermarket or other public premises because the flooring is wet for example, then you may have to sue the supermarket, the owner of the property or any contract cleaners depending on the circumstances.

You may have to sue the manufacturers if you have become ill because of a defective chemical or product. Or you may be able to sue the company or organisation that sold or supplied you the defective chemical or product.

If you have sustained injury as a result of medical negligence you may have to sue the hospital involved or your GP, or even your dentist. Normally they will have insurance to cover claims made by patients.

We will be able to tell you more about the correct person or organisation to sue if you have a claim.

Contact our Claims Team. First of all we will take detailed instructions, assess whether you have a good claim. We will take instructions and try to establish who is to blame for causing your injury.

If you are a victim of a crime or have been involved in a car accident we will obtain a Police Report as this will contain much information likely to help us. If you have tripped or fallen in the street we will advise you of the need for photographs and if necessary arrange for these to be professionally taken. If you have suffered an injury at work we can arrange for a health and safety expert orengineer to evaluate your workplace conditions and provide an assessment of the working practices.

If you have good grounds for a claim we will contact the responsible party and any relevant Insurance Company. We will press the Insurance Company to admit liability for your claim or at least to confirm that compensation will be paid.

As soon as this has been done, we will try to negotiate settlement of your claim as soon as possible. Settlement may take some time depending on the nature of your injuries or extent of your losses. Medical evidence may have to be obtained from a range of medical experts and Forensic Accountants may have to be retained to calculate any financial loss. If it is likely to take time, or if negotiations are not successful, we will advance your case to Court as quickly as we can. We will ensure that your case is well prepared and a Barrister briefed to present your case in Court. In cases commenced in the High Court, we may also retain a Senior Barrister or QC on your behalf.

Litigation can be worrying, frustrating and potentially expensive. To succeed in a personal injury legal action you must prove all of the following:

1. You must make your claim within the 3 year "limitation period" which starts with the date of accident or onset of symptoms. Claims after that third anniversary are likely to be statute barred. The limitation period may be only 2 years if your accident was whilst aboard a ship or even less than 2 years if while abroad on holiday. If the symptoms of the injury, or of exposure to a dangerous chemical, only become apparent some time after the negligent event (such as exposure to a dangerous chemical or substance, such as asbestos) you may become involved in a legal argument about the date at which you had knowledge of the injury and that it was attributable to your work conditions. GP records may be of help in such an argument. More details in relation to the question of limitation can be found in the answer to the question "Is there a time limit for making a claim?"
2. You must convince the Court that your opponent was negligent i.e. that they failed to have due care for your safety, or were in breech of their statutory duty such as Safety Regulations in the workplace.
3. You must convince the Court that you have suffered an injury that is recognised by medical science. This is controversial in for example Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) cases.
4. You must prove that your injuries and losses were caused directly by your opponent's negligence or breach of duty and that the result was foreseeable. The requirement of foreseeability may be controversial in, for example, claims for work related stress, because it has only recently been recognised as a problem.

If you have suffered an accident or injury it is important that you contact us as soon as possible so one of our specialist personal injury lawyers can immediately help you.

Keep a record of the accident details. The following checklist may help:-

• Name
• Address
• DOB
• National Insurance number
• Employer
• GP
• Hospital attended
• Date of Accident
• Place of accident
• Time of accident
• Identity of any other person/party involved
• Witness details
• Was the accident reported?

Injuries - keep a diary of any ongoing symptoms and how the accident has affected you generally.

If you have been involved in a car accident - the following information may be required: Your insurance details; the other driver's insurance details; vehicle registrations; the identity of the investigating Police Station.

It always helps to take photographs of where the accident occurred or draw a sketch plan.

It also helps to get the name and address of the person, company or council who you will be suing.

If you attend hospital you should keep details of your hospital reference number, the doctor or consultant who treated you and the date of your operation or treatment.

If you are off work and lose earnings as a result of an accident or injury we will contact your employer to obtain all the necessary details. If you have been in a car accident and your vehicle is damaged we will tell you about the insurance position, the situation regarding repairs and the possibility of hiring a replacement vehicle. We will also advise on the prospects of recovering the hire costs, towing and storage costs, as well as your insurance excess.

You may also claim for the care given by relatives or friends when looking after you during your illness or for the time spent by you looking after loved ones who have been injured. Keep a record of the time spent and of any expenses incurred and we will advise whether such sums might be recovered.

If you are worried about proceeding we will advise you about the availability of Legal Aid.

You may qualify for free Legal Aid or some Legal Aid assistance subject to a contribution depending on your financial circumstances. We will guide you on how to apply and will explain how the system works. Legal Aid is a great benefit, protecting you from having to pay not only your own costs but often also your opponent's costs should you bring your claim and lose.

More details in relation to legal aid may be found in the section entitled Legal Funding.

In many cases, where liability is accepted, you will not require Legal Aid. However, if liability is not accepted and you wish to pursue your claim further by way of Court proceedings in the absence of legal aid, our claims team will advise you about other ways of funding your case such as legal expenses insurance.

Normally a claim must be commenced within 3 years of the accident or illness, so it is very important that you contact our claims team as soon as possible.

There are certain exceptions to the 3 year limitation period.

If the accident occurred at sea the limitation period may only be 2 years. If the accident occurred while on holiday abroad, the time limits will also vary.

If the accident/illness occurred before you were 18 years old then the 3 year limitation period does not start to run until you are 18.

If you did not appreciate at the time that you were injured or ill then the 3 years might start from the date you first realised that you were injured or ill as a result of the negligence of others. For example, in the case of asbestos exposure in the workplace, the date of exposure might be 40 years ago, but the 3 year limitation period does not begin until you are aware of an asbestos related injury and relate it to your employment.

The costs of bringing a claim are very often a worry.

However, if you have a good claim and win your case almost all of your costs should be paid by the other party and, if insured, by the relevant Insurance Company.

These will include Worthingtons's professional fees, doctor's bills, engineer's bills and witness expenses etc. Only if there is any shortfall in costs will you have to pay anything. In most cases the amount would be minimal and we will advise you of this at the beginning. Alternatively, your case may be supported by your trade union, legal expenses insurer, legal aid or even your house contents insurance policy. More details in relation to legal aid may be found in the section entitled Legal Aid under the Useful Info menu option.

If you were partly to blame for the accident which caused your injury or illness, you can still claim compensation if someone else was also to blame.

However, your compensation may be reduced because you were also at fault. This is called Contributory Negligence.

If liability is accepted promptly, then subject to obtaining satisfactory medical evidence, the case may resolve within 6-12 months approximately. This is a guide only as every case is different and the approach adopted by the Defendant and their representatives can vary considerably from case to case. Different factors can impact on the progress of your claim such as:

• the absence of legal aid; the Legal Services Commission may take 12 months or more to process an application for legal aid.
• multiple Defendants; where there are several Defendants, it may take some time for them to reach agreement between themselves.
• whether review medical evidence is required to properly investigate the full extent of any injury and the long term prognosis for the future. Sometimes the Defendants will request that you are examined by their expert.
• Whether court proceedings require to be commenced.
• Should court proceedings have to be issued, various court documents need to be drafted and exchanged between the respective solicitors and the timetable will depend on whether proceedings are commenced in the High Court (cases having a potential value in excess of £15k) or County Court (cases having a value below £15k).

If commenced in the High Court, the following timetable will apply:

1. Issue and Service of the Writ of Summons upon the Defendant(s)
2. The Defendants are then obliged to serve an acknowledgement or Memorandum of Appearance within 14 days of service.
3. We are then obliged to serve the Statement of Claim, in which we must provide full particulars of the alleged negligence and breach of statutory duty together with a summary of your injuries and loss. This is a key document which will be drafted by your barrister.
4. The Defendants should serve their Defence within 21 days of receipt of the Statement of Claim although in practice they normally serve a List of Questions or Notice for Particulars first. This Notice will seek to elicit more information about the claim and if we have sufficient information on file, we will update papers for your barrister to draft Replies. On occasion we may have to contact you for further information so that we can answer any question in full.
5. Once we receive draft Replies back from your barrister we will be able to serve Replies to the Notice for Particulars whereupon we can insist on service of their Defence. If no Defence is forthcoming we can make Application to the court to compel same.
6. Once we receive the Defence we will be able to request Discovery of all relevant documentation in their possession and upon which they intend to rely upon at trial. Again, if they fail to provide Discovery we can issue a Summons to require the Court to compel production of Discovery.
7. A Reply to Defence is usually drafted by your barrister and served upon the Defendants upon receipt.
8. At this stage the brief is updated and sent to a Senior Counsel for Advices and Directions, which are normally received within 4 weeks. We will discuss the Advices with you and once we have attended to any of the further enquiries directed by Senior Counsel, the case will be ready to Set Down for Trial.
9. A case may be Set Down for Trial after a period of 21 days from the date of the final pleading assuming the case is ready or almost ready for trial.
10. After Setting Down, the case will join a queue of other such cases and after approximately 6 weeks or so, the case should appear in a Provisional High Court Callover List along with numerous other cases, whereupon we will be obliged to attend the Callover and advise the court whether the witnesses are available and whether the case is ready to proceed during a particular week, usually 4 weeks after the Provisional Callover. The Defendant's representatives will also be asked to confirm whether they too are ready. Normally the case will only be listed if both parties are ready. If there is any dispute about listing the matter may be referred to a Judge.
11. Once listed, we will arrange a pre-trial consultation with both your Junior and Senior Counsel and will often invite the Defendants in the hope that they will engage in joint discussions with a view to settlement.
12. If the matter does not settle and proceeds to trial, then you and your material witnesses as well as any medical experts and other experts (engineer or accountant) will need to attend court. There are often discussions on the morning of hearing which may result in settlement but if no discussions take place, then the case may have to proceed before the Judge.

If commenced in the County Court, the following timetable will apply:

1. Civil Bill issued and served upon defendant(s).
2. The Defendant's solicitors are obliged to lodge a Notice of Intention to Defend within 21 days.
3. Usually a list of questions, known as a Notice of Particulars accompanies the Defence. We may need to discuss this with you before sending papers to your barrister to draft final Replies.
4. Once Replies to Particulars are served, the Defendant has 28 days with which to lodge a sum of money in court which they believe represents the full value of your claim, assuming of course that they are minded to try and resolve your case. If the medical evidence is not finalised, the Defendants may make a lodgement within 21 days of receipt of any up to date medical evidence.
5. We will often require Discovery from the Defendants of all documentation upon which they intend to rely on at Court. If Discovery is not forthcoming, we can make a Court Application to compel delivery of same. Discovery may require to be discussed with you and considered by an engineer or by your barrister.
6. Once the above matters have been attended to and assuming funding is in place and medical evidence up to date, we will notify the Defendants solicitors and assuming they too are ready to list, a Certificate of Readiness will be lodged in Court and a date for hearing allocated by the Court.
7. If after 6 months from the date of the Notice of Intention to Defend, the Certificate of Readiness is not lodged in Court, then the case will be reviewed by the Judge at Callover. The Judge will decide whether to allow more time to attend to any outstanding matters or whether to impose a date upon both parties.

This is another name for compensation paid to you because of your accident / injury / illness.

This is a term used to describe pain and suffering and other losses which are likely to continue into the future and where it is difficult to put a final figure on the losses.

General damages may include compensation for loss of promotion or other opportunities, disadvantage in the labour market, pain and suffering, inability to carry out day to day tasks / hobbies, future loss of earnings etc.

This is compensation for money you have had to pay out or have lost because of the accident / injury / illness, and which you can put a figure on.

Examples are money spent on travel, prescription fees, buying special equipment, damage to property, wage loss, care hire, insurance excess etc.

If you are the victim of a crime and have sustained personal injuries, a claim can be pursued against the Compensation Agency, provided you satisfy the following initial criteria:

1. The incident must be reported to the Police within 48 hours.
2. The initial claim form must be served on he Secretary of State for Northern Ireland c/o The Compensation Agency, within 28 days from the commission of the criminal injury and must contain full and true disclosure of all relevant facts within your knowledge or belief. The second claim form must be lodged within 3 months thereafter and within 3 years of the date of criminal injury.
3. The value of your claim for physical injuries must be worth more than £1,000.
4. Any claim for any psychological injury must fulfill the following additional criteria:
   1. The injury must amount to a serious and disabling mental disorder;
   2. psychological injury must have been sustained by virtue of being present when the criminal act was committed; and
   3. the value of any such claim for psychological injury must be worth more than £2,500.

There are other criteria specified in Articles 5 and 6 of the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) (NI) Order 1998. We will be able to advise you of the additional criteria.

On General Damages you are entitled to 2% per year, but only for those losses relating to your "pain and suffering" and inability to carry out day to day tasks or hobbies. The Court may in special circumstances be able to award more than 2%.

On Special Damages you are entitled to interest at 6% per year from the date of accident.

Damages for expenses and losses already incurred will carry interest at the applicable judgement rate which is currently 8%p.a. from the date the expenses were incurred until the date of judgement

In the case of a bereavement award where someone has been fatally injured, interest will be awarded at the rate of 8%.