No Win, No FeeInjuries affecting the spine can be painful and cause long-term complications. They can have a massive impact on your own life as well as your loved ones. As such, if your spine has been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you might be entitled to compensation from the responsible party.
In this claims guide, we’ll explain what scenarios might lead to compensation and how to make a spinal injury claim. Whether you’re claiming for a slipped disc or on behalf of a loved one who’s been paralysed, this guide should help.
If you do decide to take action and claim compensation, our team can support you. We’ll begin by assessing the merits of your case during an initial consultation. During your free call, you’ll get legal advice about your options. If there appears to be enough evidence to support a spinal injury claim, we’ll refer you to one of our personal injury lawyers. They will provide their legal experience on a No Win, No Fee basis if your claim is accepted.
We’re ready to help if you’d like to take action today. If that’s the case, please call our advice line on 0800 652 1345.
Am I Entitled to Compensation for a Spinal Injury?
Personal injury and medical negligence solicitors have to be sure that there are sufficient grounds to proceed before they’ll take on a spinal injury claim. As such, when you call, an advisor would assess whether:
- The defendant in the case owed you a duty of care; and
- Their negligence caused an accident meaning they’d breached that duty; and
- You suffered spine damage as a result of the accident.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure whether a duty of care was owed to you or not at this stage. This will be reviewed during your free consultation. There are many ways to establish this though. For instance, if your injury was from a cycling accident, other road users owe you a duty of care to keep you as safe as possible because of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Similarly, while you’re in a shop, the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 might be used to show that the retailer owed you a duty of care.
Once that has been established, you’ll need evidence to prove how your accident occurred and how you’ve suffered. We’ll explain how this is done later on.
Common Examples of Spinal Injury Claims
You may be able to claim compensation for a spinal injury if it was caused by someone else’s negligence. Common examples include:
- Accidents at Work: If unsafe working practices, inadequate training, or faulty equipment led to your spinal injury, your employer could be held liable.
- Car Accidents: If another driver’s recklessness or failure to follow road laws caused a crash, resulting in your spinal injury.
- Public Place Accidents: If you suffered a spinal injury due to hazards like unmarked wet floors, uneven pavements, or poorly maintained public areas.
- Medical Errors: If a spinal injury occurred due to mistakes during surgery, improper treatment, or a misdiagnosis by healthcare professionals.
- Sports or Recreational Accidents: If the spinal injury was caused by insufficient safety measures, defective equipment, or negligent supervision during an organised activity.
There are many other examples of how spinal injuries can occur so don’t worry if yours isn’t listed.
What Types of Spinal Injuries Can I Claim For?
You could claim for a range of spine and back injuries if they were caused by someone else. Your claim could be based on:
- Herniated or slipped discs.
- Fractured vertebrae.
- Spinal cord compression.
- Nerve damage.
- Paralysis.
- Whiplash-associated injuries.
- Spinal fractures.
- Cauda equina syndrome.
- Chronic pain.
If you or a loved one has been affected by a spinal injury that was someone else’s fault, please get in touch to discuss your options.
What Evidence Do I Need for a Spinal Injury Compensation Claim?
Many claims for injuries to the spine are passed to the defendant’s insurance company. As you might imagine, they will only compensate you if there is sufficient evidence to prove the extent of your injuries and that their client caused them. To help do this, the following could all be useful:
- Accident Reports: Any accident on business premises must be logged. As such, if you have an accident in a public place or at work, you should ask for a copy of your report. This will make it easier to prove when and where the accident took place.
- Medical Reports: You can request medical records and x-rays from the hospital that treated your spinal injuries. These can be used to show what injuries were diagnosed and the treatment that was required.
- Witness Information: If it’s proving difficult to establish how your accident happened, your solicitor could ask any witnesses for a statement. As such, it’s a good idea to collect their contact details as soon as possible.
- Camera Footage: Some personal injury claims can be supported by CCTV camera or dashcam footage. If your accident was caught on film, data protection laws mean you could request a copy.
- Photographic Proof: Additionally, it’s always a good idea to take pictures at the accident scene to help you describe what happened. If you can, this should be done before any items are moved or replaced.
If you’ve collected any evidence for a spinal injury claim already, please get in touch if you’d like an advisor to review it with you.
Is a Medical Assessment Required for My Spinal Injury?
As well as the proof listed above, there is a requirement for an independent medical assessment for spinal injury claims. Your solicitor will usually book a local appointment with a medical expert where possible.
During your appointment, the specialist will assess your spinal cord and your injuries and discuss how you’ve been affected. They will probably also refer to your medical files. Once they have finished, they’ll explain your injuries and prognosis in a report and send it to all parties involved in the claim.
What Is the Time Limit to Make a Spinal Injury Claim?
You must begin your compensation claim within a 3-year limitation period. This will either start from the date of your accident or from when you found out about your spine injuries (the date of knowledge).
Crucially, there are exceptions to the limitation period. These include:
- An adult who hasn’t got the mental capacity to deal with the claim themselves.
- A child under the age of 18.
In these scenarios, you could become the claimant’s litigation friend. Once the paperwork has been accepted, the claim will proceed in much the same way as normal. You’ll deal with the solicitor on behalf of the claimant and make decisions in their best interests. If the claim is successful, a court will typically manage the award until the claimant becomes 18 years old or regains their mental capacity. Until then, you can request money from the court by explaining how it will help the claimant.
Our solicitors can help manage the litigation friend process as well as your claim so please get in touch if you’d like to know more.
We would also suggest that it’s best to start as early as possible to allow your solicitor plenty of time to collect evidence to support your case. Also, as explained earlier, you could benefit from an interim payment to cover private medical treatment if your claim starts sooner rather than later.
How Much Compensation for a Spinal Injury Can I Claim?
While the fact that someone else has caused you to suffer might be enough to make you claim compensation against them, there are other things to consider when calculating how much compensation for a spinal injury to ask for too. As well as the physical side of things, you should also consider what impact your injuries have had on your finances. When making a personal injury claim, you should think about:
- The pain and suffering your damaged spine have caused.
- Any impact on your ability to participate in hobbies, social events or family gatherings (loss of amenity, explained here).
- The cost of a carer.
- Any medical expenses and rehabilitation costs.
- Travel expenses.
- How much it will cost to modify your home to help you deal with your injuries both now and in the future.
All of these things could be included in a spinal injury compensation claim.
Can I Claim for Loss of Earnings Due to My Spinal Injuries?
Any income you’ve lost because of your spinal injuries could be paid back as part of a successful compensation claim. The figure awarded could take into account loss of commission, overtime and bonuses as well.
You will need to provide evidence to prove how much money you’ve lost. This could include old wage slips, bank statements and other financial evidence.
To learn more about what damages you could include in your claim, please call our team today.
Spinal Injury Compensation Amounts
For spinal injuries, there are guidelines outlining what amount of compensation might be due for general damages. As such, we have included several examples here:
- A few hundred £’s – £15,260 compensation for minor spinal (back) injuries.
- £15,260 – £47,3200 compensation for moderate spinal (back) injuries.
- £47,320 – £196,450 compensation for severe spinal (back) injuries.
- £30,500 – £46,970 compensation for moderate spinal (neck) injuries.
The amount of compensation awarded will depend on the nature and severity of the spinal injury, so these examples should be used as a general guide only.
Will I Need a Solicitor to Claim Spinal Injury Compensation?
If you’ve suffered any type of spinal injury, securing the correct level of compensation is important as it may be needed to help you cope with your injury for some time. As such, while you can manage the claims process on your own, it might be better to engage the services of a specialist solicitor. Their skills and training should make the whole process much easier and could lead to an improved settlement offer.
Additionally, it’s quite natural to worry about the cost of using a solicitor to make a spinal injury claim. After all, cases that run on for months or years can be expensive. You shouldn’t let that put you off though as our panel of solicitors work on a No Win, No Fee basis for any accepted claim. As such, you won’t have to pay your solicitor for their work if you don’t receive any compensation.
To formalise this arrangement, you’ll receive a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) if a solicitor agrees to represent you. This will explain what work will be carried out and when you’ll need to pay your solicitor.
If compensation is awarded, your solicitor will deduct their success fee from the settlement amount to cover their expenses and the cost of their work. Should the claim fail, you do not need to pay the success fee (hence, No Win, No Fee).
By law, the maximum success fee when using a CFA is limited to 25% of your compensation. To see if you could claim with one of our personal injury solicitors by your side, please contact our team today.
How Long Will a Spine Injury Claim Typically Take?
It is important to point out that some spinal injury claims can be quite lengthy. That’s because it might take many months or even years to fully understand how you’ve been affected and whether you’ll ever fully recover. Don’t be put off from claiming though. Compensation is important as it can help you deal with the impact of your injuries. It could be used to cover the cost of a carer, medical treatment or rehabilitation.
Where liability is admitted by the defendant early on in the claims process but a prognosis can’t yet be established, your solicitor could ask for an interim payment to be made to help cover any immediate financial implications. This process can happen more than once until your claim is finally settled.
In more serious cases, a claim can take many years to settle, more commonly for clinical negligence cases. However, if you’ve recovered fully from your damaged spine and the defendant has admitted responsibility for it, you could receive a compensation payment in well under a year.
Spinal Injury Claims Frequently Asked Questions
Are Ongoing Treatment Costs for My Spinal Injury Covered?
A long-term spinal injury could result in the need for ongoing care, treatment and rehabilitation. As such, any costs would need to be included if you were to receive compensation for your suffering.
It is always worth checking these types of costs are included before agreeing to settle your claim. That’s because once you have, you cannot ask for further compensation later on in life.
Can I Claim for the Emotional Distress Caused by My Spinal Injury?
Anxiety, emotional distress and other types of psychological suffering linked to your spinal injury could be factored into any compensation you are awarded.
Similarly, if you’ve been left with a long-term spinal injury, the fact that you won’t enjoy the same type of life as you might have before the accident could lead to depression which could also taken into account.
Start a Spinal Injury Compensation Claim Today
Thank you for reading our article about spinal injury claims. We hope it has made things clearer and you know what you’ll do next. If you’ve decided to take action, you can reach our team on 0800 652 1345. No matter what you decide to do next, you’ll receive free legal advice during your initial consultation.
Our solicitors are registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and will represent you on a No Win, No Fee basis if your claim is accepted.
You’ve come to the end of this guide about spinal injury compensation claims, so if you have any extra questions, please feel free to ask them via live chat.
