What Is a Personal Injury Claim?
Personal injury is the legal term used to describe an injury or illness that has been caused to a person. You can open a personal injury claim if you’ve been hurt in an accident, and it was someone else’s fault.
A personal injury compensation claim is the formal process of recovering compensation from the party responsible for your injury. When pursuing a claim, we need to prove that your injury was caused by their negligence. The majority of personal injury claims can be made using a no win no fee agreement*, which means there are no upfront costs and you pay nothing if your claim is unsuccessful.
Types Of Personal Injury Claims
Personal injuries can take many different forms. We can claim compensation for physical or emotional suffering for a number of circumstances, including:
– Road traffic accidents (RTA’s), which includes cars, motorcycles, bicycles, passengers and pedestrians
– Accidents at work, such as warehouses, manufacturing, offices, and farms
– Injuries caused by criminal activity, including sexual and physical abuse
– Injuries caused by defective products
– Injuries caused due to beauty treatments
– Accidents in public places, such as supermarkets and on a holiday
Injuries caused by accidents are extremely rare, however when it does happen, it can be life changing, devastating and stressful. Our team of personal injury solicitors want to hear your story and offer you the correct support possible.
Fill out an assessment form or call us on 0114 2496 611 to book your free appointment today.
Specialist Personal Injury Advice You Can Trust
Everyone is entitled to go about their everyday life in safety. Our personal injury team understand the emotional and psychological strain and stress an injury can cause, and therefore are empathetic and understanding with all their clients. It is important you choose a specialist personal injury solicitor with a proven track record of handling complex accident and injury cases.
From the start of your claim, our personal injury solicitors will guide and support you through the claims process with compassion and understanding. We offer a free consultation to discuss your personal injury story, and we will signpost you to the best possible support for you based on your situation.
If we take your case on, we will explain everything to you clearly , offer support, and help you find a suitable funding option for your claim. We will aim to provide straight forward advice that seeks to limit both legal and medical jargon, to ensure any stress and anxiety relating to the claim is kept to a minimum. Our personal injury team will be with you every step of the way. We want to ensure that you are properly looked after so we focus on you and your recovery as well as your compensation claim.
Can I Make a Personal Injury Claim?
If you were hurt in an accident that was someone else’s fault, you may be able to make a personal injury compensation claim. To better understand the claims process, here’s what you can expect if you choose to pursue a claim:
- The injury, illness or accident will need to have occurred in the last 3 years (exceptions may be made, for example in children’s claims)
- You will need to be honest, and you need to tell us when, where and how you suffered your injury
- We will listen, be sympathetic and listen to your story, and we will offer advice when suitable
- We will help you gather all information and evidence needed for your case
- We will then work with you to prove that your injury or illness was caused by someone else’s actions
- We will work hard to help you receive interim payments where possible
- We will try our best to use dispute resolution methods to keep your claim out of court
- We can help with rehabilitation, therapy and specialist medical care to help you get back on your feet
- We can help get compensation for damage to personal property or vehicles out of pocket expenses
There are other factors that can impact your personal injury claim which can be discussed when you contact our personal injury team. Fill out an assessment form or call us on 0114 2496 611 to book your free appointment today.
How To Make a Personal Injury Claim
If you think you may have grounds for a personal injury claim, take legal advice first. After determining your injury or illness was at the fault of someone else, you should then make a compensation claim with a qualified personal injury solicitor who will be with you throughout the entire process.
- Contact our personal injury claims team and have a confidential discussion about your injury or illness
- We will listen to your story and advise you on the best solution based on your situation. We will let you know if you are eligible to make a personal injury claim
- We will then explain your options and talk you through the next steps
If you think you have a claim and would like to speak to us, you can fill out an assessment form or call us on 0114 2496 611 to book your free appointment today.
No Win No Fee Injury Claims
At Howells Solicitors, we believe that everyone deserves access to justice, regardless of their financial circumstances. Our no win no fee (CFA) structure is designed to empower you to make a personal injury claim without worrying about upfront costs*. Here’s how it works:
Zero or Minimal Upfront Fees: In most cases, if accepted on a no win, no fee basis, you won’t pay a penny upfront for our legal services*. The basis of a CFA is that you will not be required to pay our legal fees if the compensation claim is unsuccessful. Meaning, you will not pay any fees to us unless we win your case for you*.
Free Initial Consultation: Begin with a free, no-obligation consultation. Our legal experts will assess the merits of your case and provide honest advice about its viability.
Transparent Communication: We believe in clear communication from the start. We will outline the potential risks and merits of your case, ensuring you have all the information needed to make informed decisions.
Focused Legal Representation: Our experienced solicitors will guide you through the claims process in a way that is tailored to your situation. We’ll fight tirelessly to secure the best possible outcome for you.
Succeed Together: the damage from medical negligence can never be undone. However, our medical negligence team are motivated to get you back to the position you were before the negligence happened, as much as we possibly can. We can help you live your life as independent as possible. Our success is aligned with yours.
There are circumstances where you would be asked to pay any outstanding costs even if you don’t win your case. This can include:
1. Situations where you are dishonest – if you are always fully honest with your solicitor then there is nothing to fear.
2. Failing to give your solicitor instructions.
3. Rejecting an offer against your solicitor’s advice.
4. Death of the claimant
5. Cancelling your claim.
6. Relocating without informing your solicitor.
However, in some instances you may be required to pay for medical reports or other third-party payments upfront. We would discuss this with you in advance of any decision being made.
Want to find out more on our no win, no fee injury claim agreements? Find out more information, including a full list of terms and conditions on our No Win No Injury Claims page.
Accident Claims
We can help claim compensation for a wide range of cases, such as fatal accident claims, serious injury claims, accidents in a public place, child accident claims, sport injuries, package holiday accident claims, and supermarket accident claims, to name a few.
Road Traffic Accidents
A road traffic accident can have a big impact on your life. If you’ve been hurt by another’s negligence, we can help you get the recovery, support, and the compensation you deserve. We can help you claim compensation for car accident claims, cycle accident claims, motorcycle accidents/ passenger and pedestrian accident claims.
Find out more on our Road Traffic Accident page.
Work Accident Claims
While we don’t expect them to, work injuries can happen due to negligence or poor work safety standards. They can also be caused by inadequate training or work practices. We can help with compensation claims for industrial accidents, factory accident claims, warehouse accident claims, farm accidents, office accident compensation claims and machinery accidents.
Fine out more on our Accident at Work Claims page.
Criminal Injury Claims
If you’ve suffered from any form of violence or abuse, you may have the right to compensation. We can help claim compensation if you have suffered criminal injuries, including physical assault and sexual abuse claims.
See more on our Criminal injuries Compensation page.
Beauty Treatments
When visiting a beauty salon, you expect professional service from trained members of staff, so when this isn’t the case, a routine treatment can end up causing you harm. If you believe you have suffered an injury at a beauty salon, our accident and personal injury solicitors can help.
See more on our Beauty Treatment Claims page.
Defective Products
We expect the products we purchase to be safe and meet certain standards and have been tested thoroughly. However too often unsafe and defective products can find themselves on shelves of stores or into our homes. We can help you make a compensation claim for an accident or injury caused by a defective product.
See more on our Defective Products Claims page.
Neglect And Abuse Claims
Injuries received due to neglect or abuse can be life changing to some and traumatic for all involved, and it’s difficult to know who to turn to. If you or a loved one has received an injury or psychological trauma due to neglect or abuse, you may be entitled to compensation.
Our Personal Injury Solicitors
Our personal injury team cover the entirety of England and Wales, and have physical offices in:
- Sheffield
- Barnsley
- Rotherham
You can arrange appointments face to face, or we offer telephone or video call options available. If you can’t make it to our office, we could arrange for a member of the team to visit you at home. We can also make flexible appointments that can be arranged to fit around lunch breaks or work commitments.
Fill out an assessment form or call us on 0114 2496 611 to book your free appointment today.
Free Personal Injury Initial Appointment
Do you think you have a claim? Our Personal Injury team offer a free initial appointment on all types of potential compensation claims, big or small. Our compassionate and friendly Personal Injury team will discuss your concerns with you and will let you know as soon as we can whether we can help. We will first ask you to provide some basic information about what has happened and how. We will then take you through it step by step, at your own pace, and if we feel your claim warrants further investigation, a case will be opened, and your solicitor will go through your claim options with you.
Your initial appointment will be made by telephone, offering you complete flexibility. The appointment can be arranged to fit around lunch breaks or work commitments.
Fill out an appointment form or call us on 0114 2496 611 to book your free appointment today.
Personal Injury Claims Frequently Asked Questions
How many personal injury claims go to court?
Most claims reach a successful settlement before a final hearing at court. Your personal injury solicitor would always prefer to settle the case before a court hearing so that you don’t have to give evidence on a witness stand. Our personal injury team have a reputation for proactively promoting dispute resolution options with claims, ensuring they do not reach a court room. This helps keep costs low and can speed up the claims process. It also reduces stress on the family involved. If your case does go to court, our solicitors will be with you every step of the way.
How long does a personal injury claim take?
The length of personal injury claims varies considerably and is quite often affected by external factors, such as waiting for experts to complete their reports. It can also depend on how complex the case is, the issues that need to be investigated, and the extent of the evidence that needs to be gathered. In all appropriate cases, we will apply for interim payments.
How long do you have to claim personal injury?
The general rule is a claim should be brought within three years of the date the incident causing an injury or illness occurred or from the date you were first aware you had suffered an injury or illness due to negligence. There may be occasions when the court could make a discretionary decision to pursue a claim outside the general time limits, but it’s always best to speak to a specialist injury solicitor who can advise you on whether you can pursue a claim.