By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 2nd August 2023. Welcome to our Darlington personal injury solicitors guide. You likely found this guide whilst searching for Darlington personal injury solicitors to help you claim the compensation you are owed after an accident that was not your fault. We’ll show you why you do not need to use a solicitor in this area through this guide. We also hope to equip you with all of the information you need to make a personal injury claim.
We’ll start by taking you through an overview of the process of how you make a personal injury claim. We set out the criteria you need to fulfill to be eligible to claim, then take you through some of the most common types of claims we often help people make. If, after reading this guide, you find that you still have questions about how personal injury claims work, you can find further information at the bottom of the guide and how to get in touch with both our team and useful contacts in this area.
Darlington Solicitors – How To Reach Us
Darlington personal injury solicitors
As mentioned above, you do not need to hire solicitors in Darlington even if you were injured there. You may enlist the services of any personal injury solicitors in the country.
Our No Win No Fee solicitors for Darlington are not physically based in the area. However, they have assisted with claims there in the past. Due to modern technology, doing so on a remote basis has never been easier. However, we can still arrange for a face-to-face meeting with your solicitor if this is what you prefer.
There are a few different ways you can contact us. Our advisors are available on a 24/7 basis to assist with your claim.
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us about your claim online
- Use the pop-up window in the corner to chat with us
There is no obligation to begin the process once we’ve given you free legal advice. Get in touch today to get started on your claim.
Select A Section
- Your Eligibility To Make A Claim
- Why You Need To Use The Right Solicitor Or Lawyer On Your Case
- Personal Injury Claims In Darlington – Do I Need To Use Local Solicitors?
- What Personal Injury Claims Do Our Team Handle Regularly?
- Top Tips On Claiming Compensation After An Accident In Darlington
- No Win No Fee Injury Claims
- Talk To Us Today About How To Claim
- Helpful Resources After An Accident Or Injury In Darlington
Your Eligibility To Make A Claim
As with many things, there are certain eligibility criteria that you need to meet to make a personal injury claim. These criteria apply to anyone seeking damages, not just those using our services. The first criteria you need to meet are that your accident occurred within the last three years, or that your condition was either diagnosed in that time or the connection between your injury and the accident made in that time.
To find out more about how long you have to make your claim, please see this guide to how long you have to make a personal injury claim.
The other criteria you need to meet to be eligible to make a claim are;
- We need to establish that legally you were owed a duty of care by the defendant highlighted in the claim. A simple example of this is a doctor or dentist who is treating you. Their duty is to provide care which does not worsen your condition.
- Next, you need to clearly show that the defendant was in breach of this duty of care.
- Finally, it needs to be clearly shown that the above failure to meet the duty of care led to your being harmed.
We may ask you questions about your eligibility during your initial consultation with our personal injury solicitors for Darlington.
Time Limits When Claiming For A Personal Injury In Darlington
The Limitation Act 1980 establishes that there is generally a three-year time limit for starting a personal injury claim. This time limit usually starts from the date of the accident that caused your injury.
This time limit can work differently in some circumstances. For instance, if a child has been injured, then the time limit for starting a claim will be suspended until their 18th birthday. A claim could be made on the child’s behalf by a court-appointed litigation friend before this date arrives. If this doesn’t happen, then the injured child will have three years to start their own claim once they turn 18.
If the injured party lacks the mental capacity to make a personal injury claim for themself, then the time limit will be suspended indefinitely. A claim could be made on behalf of the injured party by a litigation friend. If, however, the injured party later regains this mental capacity, and a claim hasn’t been made already, then the three-year time limit will begin from the date of recovery.
If you would like to ask any questions about any aspects of claiming, such as finding solicitors for a Darlington personal injury claim, you can contact our team of advisors online or on the phone today.
Why You Need To Use The Right Solicitor Or Lawyer On Your Case
You should know several things before you choose to go ahead with a claim using a personal injury lawyer from Legal Expert. When you make a claim or take any legal action, it can take time to do so. Without knowing your accident and injury circumstances, it is hard to say how long your claim will take. However, most claims will take between just a few short months and the full three years. You should also consider that whilst all solicitors in the country are regulated via the same body, the SRA, this only means that they meet the qualifying standards. The SRA does not cover how services are provided to you or the way that they are provided. You need to have trust in your solicitor’s legal advice and the role they play in helping you.
Solicitor reviews can be helpful
Before you choose a personal injury solicitor for your claim, we recommend that you look at reviews of Legal Expert as well as those of our competitors. We hope that you can get a better understanding of the level of service we provide by doing so. Previous clients will have written reviews of solicitors. While they are useful, you should remember that negative reviews could be due to people having unrealistic expectations of what they can claim before visiting their solicitor. As such, we recommend that you also contact either a solicitor or their representatives to discuss how they can help you.
Reviews of solicitors will help you to contrast the different fees which solicitors charge in the event of your claim being successful. These are called success fees. The difference in the fees charged may also reflect the level of service provided and the amount of compensation that can be secured for you.
Personal Injury Claims In Darlington – Do I Need To Use Local Solicitors?
You might be under the impression that you may only use solicitors in Darlington when making personal injury claims in Darlington. However, if you’ve been injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you can work with any solicitor in the country, not just Darlington solicitors.
You might find solicitors elsewhere that are more suited to your case. For example, our expert solicitors specialise in a number of topics, including road traffic accidents and criminal injury compensation.
Find out more about how our solicitors could help you by getting in touch with our advisors.
What Personal Injury Claims Do Our Team Handle Regularly?
Legal Expert operate across the country, and our team of accident claims solicitors can handle virtually any type of personal injury claim. Our team has a wide range of experience in every area of personal injury law. Whether your case is very complex or very simple, we will approach it with the same level of dedication and professionalism.
Below we look at the most common types of claims we see but do remember this is not an exhaustive list of the types of claims we can handle.
Claiming for an industrial diseases
Industrial diseases, often also known as work-related illnesses, are forms of illness (or, in some cases, injury) caused by your working environment or job role. They could be caused by circumstances such as breathing in fabric particles if you worked in the textile industry or exposure to chemical agents.
Highlighting the scale of the problem in the UK, there are estimated to be 1.2 million people suffering from some form of industrial disease or sickness caused by their work. Annually, a further 13,500 people are newly affected by industrial diseases.
Find out more about work-related illness personal injury cases in this guide.
Claiming for medical negligence
Clinical negligence refers to circumstances where you have been harmed in some way due to the negligent action or the malpractice of a medical professional. The harm could have been caused by (or the claim made against) anyone from a doctor or nurse to a dentist or surgeon. It may also be the case that a health authority, clinical commissioning group, or a private healthcare provider was responsible (and thus liable) for your injury.
Our personal injury solicitors covering Darlington can help you to claim clinical negligence. In this guide, you can find out more about claiming clinical negligence in Darlington on this local area page.
Claiming for cases of workplace accidents
Sadly, workplace accidents can happen no matter your occupation. We can help people make claims against their employer in occupations as diverse as office work or the armed forces. Our professional personal injury lawyers have the expertise that you need when making a claim. In the following section, we will look at how many people have been injured in the workplace in Darlington over a given period, as reported to the Health and Safety Authority. This table highlights some of the compensation payouts that you could receive for specific injuries. And this is worth keeping in mind as you consider how to claim.
| Injury | Compensation Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Very Severe Injury Resulting from Brain Damage | £282,010 to £403,990 | The impact of the injury on your life expectancy influences the award within this bracket. |
| Severe (i) Back Injuries | £91,090 to £160,980 | Damage may occur to spinal cord and nerve roots. |
| Severe (i) Neck Injuries | In the region of £148,330 | Little to no movement in the neck. |
| Total Deafness and Loss of Speech | £109,650 to £140,660 | Development of normal speech may be affected if injuries occur at any early age. |
| Severe (i) Leg Injuries | £96,250 to £135,920
| Injuries fall short of amputation. |
| Severe (i) Knee Injuries | £69,730 to £96,210 | The joint in your knee will have been disrupted. |
| Wrist Injuries (A) | £47,620 to £59,860
| Loss of function occurs in the wrist. |
| Severe Shoulder Injuries | £19,200 to £48,030 | Associated with brachial plexus injuries. |
| Moderate Ankle Injuries | £13,740 to £26,590 | There is a real risk of future osteoarthritis. |
| Serious Toe Injuries | £9,600 to £13,740 | Permanent disability is likely. |
Claiming for a trip or slip
One of the headline statistics we can see in the above table is that slips, trips, & falls are the most common way people are hurt in this area. Additionally, they are often the most common way people are hurt in other parts of their lives, such as walking down the street or whilst out shopping. This type of accident can also often contribute to other accidents, such as manual handling accidents. If you fell over in the street due to defective paving, you could be eligible to claim compensation from the council responsible for its maintenance.
Find out how to claim compensation from a council with a personal injury lawyer in this guide.
Claiming for a serious injury
If you have sustained a very serious form of injury, such as a serious spinal injury, or brain injury, the professional personal injury lawyers can provide you with a vital service in getting you compensation for the injury itself, as well as any prior and ongoing medical expenses. Our aim in doing so is to recover the maximum amount of compensation possible for you to alleviate any pressures you are facing due to medical costs.
This guide to serious injury claims explains how our personal injury solicitors in the Darlington area can help you.
Claiming for a car crash or road traffic accident in Darlington
No matter what form of a road traffic accident or car crash you have been involved in or where in the country it occurred, our team could help you make an accident claim for the injuries suffered. As long as another party was to blame, you could have a valid case. The section below looks at the frequency of serious or fatal injuries in road traffic accidents in the Darlington area.
Top Tips On Claiming Compensation After An Accident In Darlington
Personal injury claims in Darlington can be strengthened by gathering relevant evidence. This is how you can establish that your injuries were sustained in an accident that was caused by negligence. This means you need to prove that someone breached the duty of care they owed you, leading to you being harmed.
An injury claim in Darlington can occur in a variety of scenarios. For instance, you may have been involved in a workplace accident or a road traffic accident. Regardless, you will need to gather evidence to help support your claim, such as:
- Contact details of witnesses – Others may have seen how you sustained your injuries. If so, it can be helpful to make sure you have a way to contact them in the future. In doing so, a written statement can be gathered by a legal professional. Solicitors such as ours can assist with this process.
- Visual evidence – CCTV footage and photographs are both good examples of this.
- Medical records – You have the right to request access to these at any time. They’ll contain important information regarding your injuries and subsequent treatment.
Get in touch if you want to know more about what evidence you can gather for a Darlington accident claim.
Statistics for road traffic accidents in Darlington
Certain statistics released by the Department for Transport (DfT) shows the number of serious or fatal casualties suffered in road traffic accidents in Darlington. The DfT’s 2019 annual report on reported road accidents and casualties reveals the following:
- There were 167 road traffic accidents reported within the Darlington Borough Council area.
- In the same area, there were 3 fatal road casualties in 2019. Between 2009 and 2019, a total of 25 fatalities in road traffic accidents were reported in Darlington.
- In 2019, there were 58 road casualties in Darlington marked as killed or seriously injured (KSI). This marked a small increase on 2018, when 52 KSI road casualties were recorded.
No Win No Fee Injury Claims
The first thing we need to state is that for the vast majority of claims we handle, we can do so through a No Win No Fee or ‘conditional fee agreement’. The simplest way of looking at this is that you will not have to pay anything until you win your claim.
Are we really a 100% No Win No Fee service?
We really do offer a No Win No Fee service to many of our claimants. The fee you will pay upon successful completion of your claim is often called a ‘success fee’. In the UK, these fees are set at a maximum of 25% of your total settlement. However, the percentage you will pay will be agreed upon by you and the solicitor. These fees do not mean that you will lose that much of the compensation you would have secured in the past.
The amount of compensation awarded for different injuries was given an uplift in 2013 by 10%. This helps to offset the effect of the fees. You should also remember that no matter how long the claim takes to conduct or how much work the solicitor has to undertake, the amount you pay does not change. If you are employing a solicitor at an hourly rate, you could find costs spiralling the longer a claim takes.
How to start your personal injury claim
Whether you are ready to begin your claim or need a little more information, we are here to help. We hope that we have shown that you do not need to use Darlington personal injury solicitors to make your claim and can do so with our expert team. If you do need more information to make a more informed choice about our services, you can read our FAQ’s or browse the other guides available on our site.
Talk To Us Today About How To Claim
If you are ready to start your claim, you can speak to our specialist team. There are several ways in which you can get in touch with us. You can use the phone number provided at the top of this page, the helpful ‘support’ feature on the right, or by sending an email to us at info@legalexpert.co.uk. If you send us an email or use the support feature, we will organise a phone call from an advisor at a time convenient to you.
Helpful Resources After An Accident Or Injury In Darlington
In this section of our guide on personal injury claims in Darlington, we’ve included some other relevant guides from our site and other resources which may prove useful to you:
Road Accidents And Safety Statistics
You can access this resource to view the latest road accident and safety stats released by the Department for Transport (DfT).
This section of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website includes all the latest work safety and accident stats published by the organisation.
You can access this section of the Government website if you need assistance with making a formal complaint against your local council.
Personal Injury Claims Process
This guide takes you through the process of making a personal injury claim.
Claiming Against A Council Or Local Authority
This guide offers detailed insight into claims made against a council or local authority.
Darlington Medical Negligence Solicitors
Read this guide to learn more about hiring solicitors for medical negligence which occurred in Darlington.
Darlington Personal Injury Solicitors FAQs
How long does the claims process take?
It usually takes between 12 and 18 months for a claim to reach its conclusion.
What is the likelihood of my case going to a trial in court?
The odds are low because only around 5% of cases actually go before a judge.
What is a Letter Of Claim?
This is where your personal injury solicitor puts your desire to claim compensation in writing.
Who is the defendant?
This is the organisation or person that you’re filing your claim against.
What evidence do I need for my case?
This allows any CCTV footage and photographs of the scene, witness statements, and any medical reports.
What is the importance of a medical assessment?
This allows all involved to see how your health has been impacted as a result of the accident.
What if I’ve already previously had a medical evaluation?
You still need an up-to-date medical examination of your condition, especially if there are changes.
And how long does it take to arrange a medical consultation?
Your personal injury solicitor can arrange this for you relatively quickly.
Thank you for reading our Darlington personal injury solicitors guide.
