When participating in any sport we assume a certain amount of risk of injury. Injuries may happen due to our own actions or be no one’s fault. However, sports injuries may also happen due to someone else’s negligence. They may occur due to a lack of health and safety precautions, faulty sports equipment, poor instruction or damaged facilities. If you have been harmed in an accident which was another person’s fault, you may be able to make a personal injury claim. In this guide, we look at when and how to make sports injury claims.
Key Takeaways
- If someone else has been negligent and you have been injured, you could claim compensation.
- The size of the compensation is affected by the severity of the injuries and claimable financial losses.
- In certain circumstances, it is possible to claim compensation if you were injured playing sport or even as a spectator.
- Our specialist sports injury solicitors could handle your claim on a No Win No Fee basis.
If you are ready to make a sports injury claim, please get in contact with our team.
- You can get live advice from an expert using our chat feature.
- Call 0800 073 8804 to speak to an advisor.
- Check if you are eligible to claim online by sending the details of your case.
Browse Our Guide
- What Are Sports Injury Claims?
- Who Can I Make A Sports Injury Compensation Claim Against?
- How Can A Sporting Injury Happen?
- How Much Compensation Could You Get For A Sports Injury?
- Make A Claim With No Win No Fee Sports Injury Solicitors
- Further Resources On Personal Injury Compensation
What Are Sports Injury Claims?
Whether you are participating in or a spectator at a sporting activity, you may be owed a duty of care. Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, parties who are in control of a public space have a duty of care to keep visitors reasonably safe.
If you are participating in a sporting activity, such as horse riding, football or rugby, you accept that there is a potential risk of harm. However, those providing the activity and/or facilities have a duty to reduce unnecessary or avoidable risks. If any risks are preventable, they should be managed or removed.
For example, if a defect develops on an astroturf football pitch and the occupier becomes aware of it, then they should take steps to fix it. Otherwise, it presents a foreseeable risk of injury.
The general criteria personal injury claims must meet are that:
- Another party had a duty of care to you.
- This party breached their duty of care.
- You were harmed as a direct result of this.
Please contact our team for more information on when you could make a sports injury compensation claim.
Who Can I Make A Sports Injury Compensation Claim Against?
Sports injury compensation claims will be made against the party who owed you a duty of care at the time of the accident. This is in line with the criteria set out above. The party responsible may be:
- An individual, such as an opponent (although these cases can be difficult to establish).
- A sports club or organisation.
- The venue where the activity took place. The occupier of a venue may be a private company or local authority.
If successful, your compensation will likely be paid by the insurance provider of the party responsible for your accident and sports injuries. When you contact our team, we can determine who may be responsible for your accident. One of our personal injury solicitors could then help you to build a successful case against them.
Can I Make A Claim If I Was Injured As A Spectator?
As a spectator, you should assume much lower risk than those participating in a sporting activity. However, spectators may also suffer injuries at sports venues. A spectator could be injured due to poorly maintained facilities and grounds, a lack of proper crowd control, or a general lack of safety measures at the sports venue.
Please get in touch with our experts about making a sports injury compensation claim today.
How Can A Sporting Injury Happen?
Sports accidents could happen in a myriad of different ways. They could affect those participating in sporting activities or spectators. You could have been injured participating in a mountain bike activity, in an activity centre or at a swimming pool.
Potential causes of a sports accident could include,
-
- Faulty equipment – those providing sporting equipment (such as a leisure centre, gym, or sports club) must take reasonable ensure that any equipment provided is safe to use. This may extend to equipment which has been hired. If it was poorly maintained or faulty and caused an accident, you could make a claim.
- Faulty facilities – this may include accidents caused by poor lighting, damaged stairways, defective and broken sporting surfaces which can cause slip, trip and fall. Again, reasonable steps must be taken to address such issues.
- Poor signage or a lack of warning signs – accidents and incidents may be caused by poor signage, such as warning people of slippery surfaces.
- Inadequate instruction – an instructor, organiser or other responsible party may fail to provide proper instruction on how to safely participate in an activity. Staff may not have been properly trained in how to do so. Instructors or organisers may also have proceeded with the activity in an unsafe location or unsafe conditions, such as poor or dangerous weather conditions during watersports.
- Lack of proper safety measures – spectators could be injured if the event is overcrowded, does not have adequate crowd control or is not properly lit.
If you have been injured either as a spectator or participant in a sporting activity, you could have grounds to claim compensation. Contact us for more information on sports injury claims.
How Much Compensation Could You Get For A Sports Injury?
We can not say how much compensation for a sports injury you may be awarded. This is because when you claim compensation your case will be assessed on its individual merits.
If you choose to claim through one of our solicitors, they will assess your case. They will note down what injuries you have suffered and how serious these are. They will also take account of any other ways in which you have been impacted by the incident.
Compensation awarded for your injury can be awarded in line with the Judicial College guidelines (JCG). The JCG contains guidelines on amounts which could be awarded for different forms of harm, such as sports injuries.
Below, we present examples from the JCG. Row one has not been taken from the JCG and includes damages for lost earnings and other costs. These types of losses will be explored below.
| Injury | Severity | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple types of injury and financial loss | Serious or severe | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Head/ brain injury | A - very severe | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| C - moderate (ii) | £110,720 to £183,190 | |
| Neck injury | A - severe (ii) | £80,240 to £159,770 |
| Knee injury | A - severe (i) | £85,100 to £117,410 |
| Back injury | A - severe (ii) | £90,510 to £107,910 |
| Ankle injury | B - Severe | £38,210 to £61,090 |
| Foot injury | F - moderate | £16,770 to £30,500 |
| Achilles tendon injury | C - moderate | £15,370 to £25,710 |
| Shoulder injury | B - serious | £15,580 to £23,430 |
Can A Sports Injury Compensation Claim Cover Lost Earnings?
You could be awarded compensation for special damages, such as for loss of earnings in addition to the compensation outlined above. Financial losses can include a wide range of different types of costs and losses which may have been caused by your sporting accident.
You could claim compensation for expenses such as:
- Lost earnings and other lost income.
- Medical costs and expenses such as physiotherapy costs, medication, medical treatment or other care required.
- The cost of travelling to attend medical appointments.
You will need to submit evidence of these losses and how they were caused by your sports accident in order to claim for them. For example, you could present wage slips showing how you lost income due to taking time off work to recover from your sporting injury.
Please contact one of our experts to learn more about how much compensation for a personal injury you could claim.
Make A Claim With No Win No Fee Sports Injury Solicitors
If you have suffered a sports injury in an accident which was not your fault, the last thing you should be worrying about is the cost of claiming compensation. At Legal Expert, our solicitors help people to claim compensation without having to pay upfront for any solicitor’s fees. Nor would you have to pay ongoing solicitor’s fees either.
Instead, if one of our solicitors thinks you have a valid claim they could take your case on, on a No Win No Fee basis. To do so, they will offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). By using a CFA, you will only need to pay for the solicitor’s services if your case is successful and at the end of the case. At this point, you would be charged a success fee. If the case is not successful, there is nothing to pay for the solicitor’s services.
The success fee is subject to a maximum size, set as a percentage of the compensation, meaning you will keep the majority of the damages.
Contact Us
If you have been injured in any of the circumstances described in this guide or otherwise harmed in a sports injury, contact our team.
- You can call one of our advisors today on 0800 073 8804 for more information on sports injury claims.
- Complete our contact form to start your claim online.
- Discuss your case with one of our team using our online chat.
Further Resources On Personal Injury Compensation
In this final part of our guide, you can find additional helpful resources and related information on personal injury compensation claims and dealing with sports injuries.
- If you were injured in a leisure centre accident, you can find out how to claim compensation here.
- If you were injured in a council or local authority maintained facility you can find out here how to make a claim against them.
- Find out how much you could claim for a head injury in this guide.
External resources
- If your child was injured in a sports accident and is eligible to claim compensation, you may act as a litigation friend in order to do so on their behalf.
- You can learn more about how to provide immediate first aid to an injured person in this NHS guide.
- You can find guidance on how to safely run an amateur sports club in this resource from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Thank you for reading our guide to sports injury claims. If you have been injured in any of the circumstances described in this guide please contact our team for more information.
