Laceration Injury Claims – How Much Compensation Can I Claim?

A deep cut in the skin or flesh is often referred to as a laceration. As well as huge amounts of pain and suffering, lacerations can damage the soft tissues beneath the skin and cause permanent and life-changing injuries. If you’ve suffered a laceration in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you might be entitled to compensation for your suffering. During this article about laceration compensation claims, we’ll explain what types of accidents and injuries could allow you to claim and what compensation claims can cover.

ClaimsAction.co.uk has a team of specialist advisors on hand if you’d like to discuss claiming compensation for a laceration. They’ll listen to what’s happened, review any proof and explain your options during a free initial consultation. Should it look like you have a fair chance of receiving compensation for your laceration, you could be partnered with a personal injury lawyer from our panel. If so, they’ll manage your laceration claim on a No Win, No Fee basis. As such, you won’t need to pay legal fees unless compensation is awarded.

To speak with a specialist about your options right away, call us on 0800 652 1345 today. To learn more about the laceration compensation claims process before calling, please carry on reading.

What is a laceration?

Lacerations are skin injuries usually caused by some form of trauma. Unlike a simple cut or graze, lacerations damage the tissues beneath the epidermis (outer layer of skin). This can include damage to flesh, muscles, tendons, ligaments and other tissues. Lacerations can also cause nerve damage as well as permanent or temporary scarring.

Lacerations can be caused by penetration wounds where a foreign object such as a knife breaks the skin and either exits the tissue on the other side of the body or remains within the body. They can also result from puncture wounds where knives, nails or other sharp objects break the skin but exit from the same point.

The suffering caused by a laceration will normally depend on its location. As such, the potential amount of compensation paid for a laceration injury will be based on the extent of your suffering. This could include compensation for psychological injuries. For example, if a laceration to your face leads to permanent scarring which causes anxiety or embarrassment, this would be factored into your claim.

How are lacerations treated?

In regard to first aid, the NHS says that pressure should be applied to bleeding cuts (with a clean cloth) so long as there is nothing stuck in the wound. They also suggest calling NHS 111 or 999 for more serious injuries.

The first thing doctors will try to do when treating a laceration is to stop the bleeding. Then the wound will be cleaned and dressed to allow it to heal. For more serious lacerations, stitches may be required to hold the wound together while it heals and to reduce the amount of scarring. Proper aftercare should prevent the wound from becoming infected.

If nerves, tendons or muscles have been damaged, surgery may be required before the laceration can be treated.

Can I claim compensation for a laceration?

Our personal injury lawyers can only help you to claim compensation for a laceration if you have a reasonable chance of being compensated. As such, when assessing your chances, they’ll check whether:

• The defendant in your claim owed you a duty of care; and
• They acted negligently and caused an accident to occur; and
• You suffered a laceration injury during the accident.

Although you might not realise it, you’re owed a legal duty of care in most public places, while driving or at work. This duty of care will be confirmed by your solicitor during your initial consultation so you don’t need to spend time researching this. However, laceration compensation claims can be made easier if you have proof to show how you were injured. We’ll look at the sort of proof that might be useful a little later in this article.

Common causes of laceration compensation claims

Essentially, you could claim for any accident that leads to a bad laceration that resulted from somebody else’s negligence. Some examples of scenarios that could lead to a laceration compensation claim are:

• Work accidents. Employers have a duty of care to protect you while you’re working. As such, if you sustain a laceration because of workplace machinery, inadequate training or inadequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), you could be entitled to seek damages for any resulting suffering.
• Accidents in public places. Business owners must try to protect customers and visitors to their premises. As such, if you slipped on a wet floor in a shopping centre that hadn’t been cleared up swiftly and put your arms through a glass window during your fall, you could be entitled to claim for any suffering caused by a laceration injury.
• Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs). During any RTA, there is a potential to be injured by broken glass or sheared metal. If the accident was caused by another road user’s negligence (dangerous or careless driving, speeding, drink-driving etc), you may be entitled to begin a claim.
• Medical negligence. The claims process for lacerations caused by medical negligence is slightly different to a personal injury claim. However, if you can show that your injuries were caused when a medical professional’s standards fell below what could be reasonably expected, you could claim for any suffering caused by a laceration and any subsequent scarring.

This list obviously doesn’t cover every accident that could lead to a laceration injury. However you were injured, if you believe you should be compensated, please call for a free assessment of your claim.

Life-changing laceration injuries

While some lacerations can be treated successfully and will heal over time, others can cause permanent damage that could affect your life for a long time. For example, a laceration that causes permanently damaged nerves in your hand could stop skilled workers like electricians, surgeons or musicians from being able to continue in their chosen profession.

In any type of personal injury claim, we believe it’s important to be represented by a specialist solicitor to try and secure the maximum level of compensation possible that fully reflects all the ways in which your injuries will affect you both now and in the future.

How much compensation for a laceration can I claim?

Typically, compensation claimed for a laceration injury will be calculated on how much pain and suffering you’ve endured as well as any costs you’ve incurred (or will incur) as a result of your laceration.

If you work with a solicitor from our team, they’ll fully assess your suffering and could claim compensation to cover:

• Any physical pain endured because of your injuries.
• Psychological harm caused by the initial accident or injuries such as permanent scarring.
• Any negative effect on your hobbies or other usual activities.
• Medical expenses such as private plastic surgery costs.
• Care costs (to cover a professional carer or a loved one’s time).
• Loss of earnings.
• Travel costs.
• The cost of replacing clothing or other personal items damaged during the accident.
• Future loss of earnings for long-term injuries.
• Home adaptations to try and improve your quality of life if your laceration leads to long-term disability.

To help prove how you’ve suffered physically and mentally from your laceration, you’ll need to be assessed by an independent specialist. You shouldn’t worry about this part of the laceration compensation claims process as it’s quite straightforward and usually held locally. After the specialist has examined your injuries and discussed how you’ve been affected, they’ll explain their prognosis in a report that will be sent to all parties involved in your claim.

Providing proof for a laceration compensation claim

Most injury claims are handled by insurance companies. As you may be aware, they don’t usually pay out unless there is compelling proof that their client caused your injuries. As such, your solicitor will try to collect as much proof from the list below to try and improve your chances of being compensated for a laceration.

• Medical records. Hospital records, x-rays and test results can all be obtained to try and prove how you have suffered.
• Accident report forms. If your accident happened in a public place or at work, it should’ve been recorded in an accident report system. Your solicitor will request a copy of the report about your accident to prove the date, time and location of your accident.
• Witness statements. When liability is denied for your laceration, your solicitor may ask witnesses to explain what they saw.
• Security camera footage. CCTV and dashcam footage can be an excellent way of proving how an accident occurred. You may wish to act quickly on this point as such data is often deleted within a matter of weeks.
• Photographic evidence. You can supply before and after photographs to show the effect of your laceration injury. Furthermore, accident scene photos can be another good way of proving the cause of an accident.
• Financial records. Receipts, bank statements and other financial records must be provided if you’re to claim back any losses caused by your injuries.

During your free consultation, we may ask if you’ve any proof for your claim, and if so we may wish to review it with you.

Laceration injury claims time limits

In line with the Limitation Act 1980, laceration injury claims have a 3-year time limit. In the majority of cases, this will start from the date you sustained the laceration. If the claim is on behalf of a child under 18 years old, the time limit does not begin until their 18^th birthday which means parents or guardians can start the claim at any time before that date (as a litigation friend).

Starting a laceration claim asap can make the claims process a lot easier. Firstly, your solicitor will have ample time to collect evidence and secondly, they could request interim payments to cover any immediate costs (loss of earnings, medical expenses etc) before the claim has been finalised.

No Win, No Fee claims

The thought of appointing a personal injury solicitor for a laceration claim might seem quite daunting especially if you’re worried about the associated costs. However, our solicitors offer a No Win, No Fee service for all laceration claims they take on. That means they’ll begin working on your claim but you won’t need to pay any legal fees upfront.

That means your solicitor’s main aims will be to:

• Discuss your claim with you to understand how you have suffered.
• Collect proof and supporting medical reports.
• Send your laceration claim to the defendant (or their insurance provider).
• Shield you from any technical questions by handling all communication on your behalf.
• Fight your corner and try to handle any objections or arguments raised by the defendant.
• Try to make sure that any laceration settlement offer is fair and fully covers the suffering you’ve endured.

If the claim is unsuccessful, you won’t need to pay for any of your solicitor’s work. If you are compensated, your solicitor will deduct a success fee from your settlement payment to cover the cost of their work. Legally, success fees are capped at 25%.

To see if one of our solicitors could help you, please call today.

Start a laceration compensation claim today

If you have decided to claim compensation for a laceration injury, why not call our team on 0800 652 1345 to start the ball rolling? If you do, a specialist will review your claim with you and answer any questions that might arise. We’ll provide free legal advice about your claim and you’ll be under no obligation to proceed.

If your claim is strong enough, we’ll connect you with one of our specialist injury solicitors. They’ll manage your claim on a No Win, No Fee basis if they agree to work for you. Usually, knowing that you don’t pay legal fees unless compensation is paid will make the claims process a lot less stressful.

Our live chat team and telephone advisors are available if you have any further questions on laceration compensation claims so please feel free to get in touch.