The first stage of a personal injury claim is to contact a personal injury solicitor . Most law firms that specialise in personal injury claims, including Switalskis, will discuss your circumstances and offer free legal advice over the phone before you formally start the process. This is an important part of the process because it lets us understand your situation and assess whether or not we believe you have a claim.

There are also key steps you can take before the process starts in order to give yourself the best chance of success. One is to review the requirements of a personal injury claim and the points that we must prove to secure your compensation, as this can help you to determine whether or not you’re entitled to compensation. We’ve outlined the requirements below to help you understand your eligibility, but you’ll need to speak to a solicitor to make sure.

Another is to start the process of creating and gathering evidence. When you instruct a solicitor from Switalskis to make a personal injury claim on your behalf, our team will start to gather all the key evidence we can to prove the necessary requirements, which are outlined below. Before this, there are several things you can do in the immediate aftermath of an accident to maximise the possibility of success. We’ve outlined all of the key actions below and explained how they can support a potential claim.

Do I have a claim?

To succeed in a personal injury claim, you must prove three key legal elements. The first is that another party owed you a duty of care, the second is to prove that they breached that duty by causing an accident, and the third is to show that you suffered harm as a result. In some cases, this is straightforward, and most personal injury claims settle outside of court as a result. However, it’s not always so simple and it’s important to work with an experienced solicitor for help in building the strongest possible case.

• Duty of care: we must prove that the defendant owed you a legal duty of care at the time of the incident. This is usually based on established legal relationships or statutory obligations - for example:
• Employers owe a duty of care to their employees under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
• Drivers owe a duty to other road users to drive safely.
• Occupiers (e.g. shop owners, landlords) owe a duty under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 to keep premises reasonably safe for visitors.
• Healthcare professionals owe a duty of care to their patients.

In most personal injury claims, the existence of a duty of care is not disputed. These are only limited examples - if you have been injured under different circumstances but believe you may be entitled to compensation, speak to our team.

• Breach of duty: we must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care by failing to act as a reasonable person (or professional) would in the same circumstances. There are several actions (or types of inaction) that could constitute a breach of duty:
• An employer failing to provide proper equipment, training or a safe working environment.
• A driver speeding, failing to keep a proper lookout or running a red light.
• The owner or occupier of public premises failing to repair a known hazard or conduct inspections.

We will generally use evidence like statements from eyewitnesses or experts who can analyse the circumstances and determine whether legal or professional obligations were met.

• The negligence caused your injury: we must show that the breach of duty caused the injury you suffered, or made it worse, and that it would not have happened except as a result of the breach. This includes demonstrating that the harm was a foreseeable consequence of the breach, which is a key part of proving another party’s liability.
• Medical evidence, including medical reports and statements from medical experts, is used to link the incident to the injuries you are claiming for
• Expert witnesses may address how the breach was the cause of the injury.

For conditions that were pre-existing but made worse by negligence on the part of someone else, you will not be able to claim compensation for the condition, but only the additional harm that resulted from the breach of duty.

If all of these apply to your circumstances, you may be entitled to claim compensation for any injuries that arose. There are also key steps you can take to improve the quality and amount of evidence we are able to gather which, in turn, can support your ability to recover the maximum amount of compensation following an injury that was not your fault.

Report the accident

Reporting the accident creates a record of the circumstances that will act as key evidence. If you were injured at work, inform your employer. If the accident happened in a public place, report the accident to your local council or the operator of the premises. For road traffic accidents, it may be necessary to inform the police. When you contact a solicitor, we will ask for copies of any such reports, which can not only help us to establish the timeline of the incident but may encourage the other party to accept its liability.

Seek medical attention

Seeking medical attention after an accident is important and serves multiple functions. Foremost is the need to protect your health and maximise your recovery. Some injuries may not be evident or present with symptoms straight away, but a doctor or other medical professional can identify them more easily and prevent them from getting worse, as they might if left undetected.

The other important result is estimating the level of harm caused by an accident. Some injuries may seem minor at first, but delayed symptoms or complications can arise later. It’s important that we understand the full extent of any injuries arising from your accident so that we can maximise your compensation. The damages awarded should cover the projected effects of any long-term or permanent injuries over your lifetime, and this can be easier to quantify based on early medical evaluations and how your injuries develop during treatment.

Attending a GP, hospital, or other medical appointment creates a contemporaneous medical record that documents the nature and severity of your injuries, when they first appeared, and your description of how the injury occurred. This medical record created at the time of treatment plays a key evidential role in any later compensation claims as it verifies your injuries and can be used by medical experts to demonstrate causation.

If ongoing treatment is recommended, this can provide a further treatment history that will support any claim for rehabilitation costs, future treatment, or care. It will also enable your solicitor to quantify the special damages you could be owed, and make sure that all medical expenses are covered in your compensation payment.

Choose a solicitor

Choosing the right solicitor is the final thing you need to do before you start the claims process. There are lots of solicitors available, and you should think about a few key questions when choosing the best person to represent your interests:

• Does the solicitor listen and respond to your needs?
• Do they respond quickly to emails or other messages?
• Do you feel comfortable asking them questions?
• Do you understand the answers and the other things the solicitor says, or do they use complicated legal jargon?
• Are they based locally so that you can visit their offices if you need to?
• Can they show you testimonials or reviews from past clients who were in a similar position to you?

Only you will know what your priorities are in terms of a solicitor, but if you are speaking to multiple personal injury experts about your circumstances, these questions can help to narrow down your options.

At Switalskis, we offer a free initial consultation where we can discuss your accident, the injuries you suffered, and the other relevant details, with no obligation for you to proceed any further. This is an opportunity for us to listen to your needs and understand how your injuries have affected your life. We approach these cases with compassion, and offer emotional support as well as legal advice.

After this conversation, we’ll be able to tell you whether or not you’re able to claim and, if you decide to go ahead, we can get the process started straight away on your behalf. We’ll remain accessible throughout this process to answer any questions and break down the legal language into straightforward terms. We’ll keep you informed at all stages of your claim, so you won’t have to worry about what’s going to happen next.

What happens next?

After you’ve instructed a solicitor to take on your claim, they’ll get to work quickly building evidence that will support your claim .