It is often difficult to set a monetary value to compensate for an injury received.
Injury claims, however, attempt to do just that.
An insurance company factors in the amount of trauma and expenses that affect an accident victim and decides upon the compensation amount to be awarded.
The actual amount of money awarded varies from one case to another.
This is because no two accidents or the effects on the victims can be exactly alike.
Personal injury claims covers two types of expenses: general damages and special damages.
General damages are paid out by an insurance company for the physical pain and emotional stress that the accident inflicts on the claimant.
Emotional stress includes stress caused due to embarrassment, depression and anxiety, and strain on family relationships.
General damages also cover loss of livelihood for claimant.
Special damages include all monetary costs and losses caused due to the accident up to the time of settlement.
This includes the cost of damage to property, medical treatment, transportation costs etc.
Costs such as ambulances charges and private treatment fall under this category.
If personal injury occurs due to an accident, the first step is to inform the police.
The second step is to inform your insurance company.
Some policies have time limits which ensure that the policy become invalid if the claimant fails to report the accident.
The third step in filing a personal injury claim is to find yourself a good personal injury lawyer.
A lawyer will be best equipped to explain to you the various nuances of filing a personal injury claim.
A personal injury claim will require you to describe the nature of the accident in detail.
The lawyer will help you to adopt the best approach to ensure that you obtain your claim.
Injury solicitors offer a no win, no fee agreement ensuring that there is no personal obligation on the claimant if the injury claim is not awarded.
Out-of-court settlements in personal injury claims are sometimes not possible.
The victim should be prepared to relive the trauma of the experience once again in a courtroom.
There are four ways in which a personal injury may be compensated.
These include using a claim assessor, approaching a civil court for legal action, filing a claim with Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and through a criminal compensation order.
The choice of methodology should be decided upon by your legal counsel.
For an injury claim to be successful, the claimant will need to provide evidence from an injury specialist such as a doctor.
The doctor will have to provide medical records of the actual injuries sustained to start the process of compensation claims.
It is an injury specialist who will calculate the final compensation value to be awarded to the claimant.