If you’re looking for information on multiple injury claims for compensation, this guide can help. A single injury can be distressing enough, but if you suffered more than one because of a liable party’s actions or inactions, you could be owed compensation from those at fault.
Key Takeaways
- Compensation can be awarded for each type of injury, as well as the financial impacts.
- You’re owed a duty of care in certain areas of life, which, if breached, can mean the responsible party is liable to compensate you.
- Evidence that is often quite straightforward to pull together can strengthen a compensation claim’s chance of success.
- There is a standard personal injury claim time limit of three years in which to start your case, although exceptions can apply.
- Our solicitors offer eligible claimants a way to fund their claim through a No Win No Fee agreement.
You’ll find lots of useful information in this guide about making personal injury claims, so please continue reading. Or, our dedicated advisory team can offer a free case assessment now if you get in touch:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Fill in our claim online form to chat about multiple injury compensation.
- Use our live discussion window below to start the conversation.
Jump To A Section
- What Is A Multiple Injury Claim?
- Can I Be Compensated For Multiple Injuries?
- Most Common Causes Of Multiple Injuries
- Are Multiple Injury Claims More Complex?
- How Much Compensation Could You Get For Multiple Injury Claims?
- Evidence That Can Support Claims for Multiple Injuries
- Time Limits For Multiple Injury Claims
- How To Start A Multiple Injury Claim
- Why Make A Claim With Us?
- Learn More
What Is A Multiple Injury Claim?
The term, ‘multiple injury’ refers to more than one type of physical or emotional harm. A multiple injury claim is a legal action made for all varieties of harm caused by the same accident.
As you read the guide, you’ll get a clearer idea of how multiple injuries are assessed and valued. This gives an overall idea of what potential compensation might apply in multiple injury claims.
Can I Be Compensated For Multiple Injuries?
Three criteria need to be demonstrated in order to have a valid personal injury claim for multiple injuries:
- You were protected by a duty of care (a legal obligation for a liable party to maintain certain standards or avoid actions/inactions that can cause foreseeable injuries).
- Those responsible breached this duty.
- As a result, you suffered multiple injuries in the same accident.
These three points can be used to define negligence. If all three are in place, you could have a valid argument to seek compensation for your injuries. If you’d like to discuss your eligibility in detail, you can call our team. We also explain the duty of care in place in certain real-life situations in the next section.
Most Common Causes Of Multiple Injuries
We explore three main areas where a duty of care applies and give examples of how a breach could give rise to a multiple injury claim:
Multiple Injuries Caused By Road Traffic Accidents
In Great Britain, all road users need to practice care and diligence to avoid harming themselves and others. To comply fully with this duty of care to each other, they must adhere to the Road Traffic Act 1988 and further obligations detailed in the Highway Code. Some breach of duty examples:
- A drunk driver causes a multi-car collision and several other road users suffer multiple cuts, fractures and soft tissue injuries.
- A speeding motorist rear-ends another driver, causing them multiple neck and spine injuries.
Accidents At Work That Cause Multiple Injuries
The duty of care in the workplace is set out by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). This law outlines how employers need to take practicable and reasonable steps to reduce or remove the risk of harm to employees as they work. In this scenario, multiple injury claims could arise when:
- An employer fails to ensure that ladders or scaffolding equipment is safe to use, and it collapses, causing an employee to suffer multiple damage to their back, head and pelvis.
- Essential personal protective equipment (PPE) is the wrong size for an employee and they suffer burns, cuts and scarring to their hands and arms trying to perform a work task.
Public Place Accidents That Led To Multiple Injuries
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 requires those in control of spaces open to the general public to implement whatever steps are practicable to prevent visitors from being harmed. Failure to take these steps could result in multiple injury claims arising in the following ways:
- A missing tile in a cinema lobby is not repaired or replaced, despite the management being aware of the problem. A customer trips on this and falls down a flight of stairs, suffering neck, wrist and shoulder damage.
- An unattended spillage in a supermarket is left without warning signs. A shopper slips in the wet area and sustains multiple injuries to their hand, ankle and back in the fall.
Your accident may differ but the basic principle remains the same. If you feel that you only suffered multiple injuries because of the actions or inactions of a liable party, talk to our team about launching a compensation claim for personal injury today.
Are Multiple Injury Claims More Complex?
Multiple injury claims can be more complex because each individual injury needs to be considered. Because there are injuries in various parts of the body, it may be necessary to consult more than one expert for a medical opinion.
Furthermore, each injury might require different treatment and involve differing recovery plans, all of which can impact the way multiple injury claims are calculated. In addition to this, other factors can affect the claim, such as whether the other side disputes their fault and whether the case actually needs to go all the way to court.
If they can accept the claim, our solicitors will coordinate with medical experts on your behalf to ensure that your claim is organised, thorough and handled promptly. If you’re interested in seeing how our solicitors could take care of everything for you, call our advisory team.
How Much Compensation Could You Get For Multiple Injury Claims?
As every successful personal injury claim will be settled based on its own merits, we can’t tell you exactly how much compensation you could be awarded within this guide. However, we can take a look at how those involved in calculating your compensation could apply a value to it. Alternatively, if you would like a more individualised claim valuation, speak to a member of our advisory team.
Multiple injury claim award amounts can reflect two types of loss called general and special damages. General damages apply a value to the following:
- The physical pain.
- Any psychological suffering.
- Long-term or permanent disability.
- The overall impact on the person’s life (loss of amenity).
The second head of claim, called special damages, reimburses you for out-of-pocket expenses related to suffering multiple injuries (more on this shortly).
To apply a value to your injuries, those involved in calculating general damages are guided by the medical reports put forward. In addition, they often consult publications like the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
This document has award bracket guidelines for a wide cross-section of injuries in order of severity. Every personal injury claim has factors that make it unique, so these sums are intended to be purely guidelines. We’ve put together a table below to illustrate, however, the first entry is not taken from the JCG:
| AREA OF INJURY | SEVERITY | AWARD GUIDELINES |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple types of serious injury and special damages for impact on employment, care costs and medical fees. | Serious | Up to £1 million plus |
| Head | (a) Very Severe | £344,150 up to £493,000 |
| Neck | (a) Severe (i) | In region of £181,020 |
| Chest | (b) Traumatic Injury | £80,240 up to £122,850 |
| Knee | (a) Severe (ii) | £63,610 up to £85,100 |
| Back | (a) Severe (iii) | £47,320 up to £85,100 |
| Hand | (e) Serious | £35,390 up to £75,550 |
| Pelvis | (b) Moderate (i) | £32,450 up to £47,810 |
| Arm | (c) Less Severe | £23,430 up to £47,810 |
| Psychological Harm | (b) Moderately Severe | £23,270 up to £66,920 |
Can I Claim For Financial Losses As Part Of A Multiple Injury Claim?
Yes. Under special damages, a claim for the financial repercussions of suffering multiple injuries may apply. To have this head of loss included as part of your claim, you will need documented evidence of the financial harm, such as:
- Proof of additional private medical costs.
- Wage slips showing a loss of earnings caused by the injuries.
- Receipts for amounts paid to anyone who needed to help you domestically.
- Tickets and receipts for travel costs.
- The invoices, statements or receipts for work carried out at home to deal with a permanent disability.
Documented proof can strengthen a claim and potentially boost the amount of compensation you might receive. If you’d like professional advice on general and special damages, call our advisors to see if our solicitors can help.
Evidence That Can Support Claims for Multiple Injuries
Evidence is a vital part of the personal injury claims process. Therefore, you need to gather proof that those responsible breached their duty of care and that this was the root cause of your multiple injuries. The following is often useful:
- CCTV camera evidence.
- Dashcam or helmet cam footage that caught the incident.
- The points of contact for eyewitnesses who are prepared to give supporting statements to a solicitor at a later date (if you appoint one).
- Duplicates of medical records, A&E admission details or specialists’ reports.
- Photos of the injuries and whatever hazard caused them.
Our solicitors could help compile evidence for your multiple injury claim. Their expert analysis might mean you are awarded more in a successful injury claim. Call, email or use the live chat window below to learn more about evidence for multiple injury claims.
Time Limits For Multiple Injury Claims
The Limitation Act 1980 states that a personal injury claim must start within three years of the accident. This may differ for certain injured parties:
- Minors are unable to launch a claim themselves until they become 18 years of age. They then have three years from this date to launch an action.
- Claimants lacking sufficient mental capacity are not bound by a time limit unless their mental capacity returns. They are then allocated three years from this date of recovery to start their claim.
- Alternatively, a claim can be initiated at any point for these two groups by a litigation friend. This is usually a family member or other concerned adult who is designated by the courts to start a claim on the person’s behalf.
Our advisors are happy to explain time limits and the role of a litigation friend in more detail if you get in touch.
How To Start A Multiple Injury Claim
Once you feel satisfied that your multiple injury claim meets the eligibility criteria and time limit requirements, you might want to use the services of a solicitor. You are not legally obliged to start your claim with a lawyer, but it could give it a much stronger chance of success to consult a professional.
Having the support of an experienced solicitor could help the claim run smoothly and ensure that you achieve a more accurate settlement that reflects all of your damages than if you had managed the claims process on your own.
You can get in touch with a member of our advisory team for your free consultation. They’ll discuss the accident that caused you to sustain multiple injuries. From here, they’ll assess whether you have good grounds to launch a claim. If you do and you would like to move ahead with our services, they can connect you to one of our expert solicitors with experience handling multiple injury claims. Our solicitors provide their services on a No Win No Fee basis.
Please get in touch today to find out if one of our solicitors could help guide you through the personal injury claims process.
Why Make A Claim With Us?
At Legal Expert, our solicitors have decades of expertise helping people just like you get the compensation they’re owed after injury. They offer an array of excellent legal support services.
- They can help to gather essential evidence like witness statements and medical reports.
- They’ll take care of all communication with the other party.
- Meet court deadlines for paperwork or evidence.
- Explain any complex legal terminology in easy to understand ways.
- Our personal injury solicitors will calculate compensation that takes into account all your pain and suffering, as well as current or future medical expenses.
What Is A Conditional Fee Agreement?
In addition to this, our solicitors are able to offer these outstanding services in a way that doesn’t add to your financial burden right now. By using a type of No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) you could benefit from the following:
- Upfront solicitors’ fees don’t apply to get started.
- No solicitors’ fees apply as the claim develops.
- You owe nothing for completed work if the multiple injury claim fails.
- A nominal percentage is deducted from the compensation if the claim is a success.
- This success fee is paid to the solicitors, but you can agree on the amount before working together.
- As extra protection, a legal limit restricts the success fee percentage and ensures you receive almost all of the compensation awarded to you.
Not all law firms provide CFA’s as an option for people to fund their personal injury claim. So if you’d like to find out whether your claim qualifies, start by speaking with our advisory team:
- Fill in our claim online form to chat about multiple injury compensation.
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Use our live discussion window below to see if you can claim compensation for more than one injury.
Learn More
In addition to multiple injury claims, these articles provide further reading:
- Information on a serious injury at work claim.
- A serious road accident case study and how to claim is discussed here.
- Claims for personal injury on private property are explained here.
Also, external help:
- This resource looks at major trauma after multiple serious injuries.
- Advice on when to call 999 here.
- Lastly, check your symptoms here.
We value your interest in our guide about multiple injury claims. Please get in touch for any further assistance.
