By Jo Anderson. Last Updated 14th December 2023. Welcome to our guide on chest injury compensation, where we’ll be looking at the chest injury claims process in detail. This is an online guide for those who have experienced a chest injury due to the negligence of a third party and are seeking compensation.
The term chest injury is rather broad and could include a wide variety of injury types and illnesses. This online guide outlines the different types of injury and how a third party could be at fault, and how our solicitors could be of service.
Claiming for a chest injury
If a third party has inflicted a chest injury, you may be unsure of your legal position. Not only could a chest injury result in chest pain, but it could also affect your daily routine, psychological well-being, and potential earnings. If a third party has caused your chest injury and you wish to make a claim, many different factors need to be taken into consideration to help you get the maximum compensation possible. This online guide discusses chest injuries and outlines how a negligent third party could be liable for accidents leading to a chest injury. It also outlines how our personal injury solicitors could assist you when pursuing a compensation claim.
If at any point you become confused about the content of this chest injury compensation guide, or if you have questions about chest injury claims, then please call us today for assistance. We could provide you with solicitors, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to help you with your claim.
When Can You Claim For A Chest Injury?
If you have suffered a chest injury in an accident that was not your fault, you may be eligible to claim for your injuries. However, to be eligible to make a chest injury compensation claim, you would need to meet the following criteria:
- Someone owed you a duty of care.
- This duty was breached.
- You suffered an injury because of this breach.
There are various daily situations where you are owed a duty of care. These include:
- At work – Your employer owes you a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Per this act, they must take reasonably practicable steps to help ensure your safety and health while you are working.
- In public places – Those in control of a public space owe you a duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. They must take steps and measures to ensure your reasonable safety when you are visiting that space for its intended purpose.
- On the roads – Everyone who uses the roads, from drivers to pedestrians, owes each other a duty of care. Per their duty, road users must navigate the roads in a manner the prevents causing harm to others and themselves. Additionally, they must adhere to the Road Traffic Act 1998 and the relevant rules and regulations found within the Highway Code.
If a relevant third party breaches a duty of care towards you and you suffer chest injuries as a result, you could be eligible to claim chest injury compensation.
Please contact an advisor if you would like to discuss chest injury claims in further detail. They could check your eligibility for free.
How Long Do You Have To Make A Chest Injury Claim?
Typically, those with valid chest injury claims would have three years from the date of the accident to launch their claim. This personal injury claims time limit is set out under the Limitation Act 1980. However, whilst most claimants would only have three years from the date of the accident to file a claim, there are some exceptions to this.
For example, someone lacking the required mental capacity to make their own chest injury compensation claim will have the time limit frozen indefinitely. If the person regains this mental capacity, they will have three years from the date of their recovery to claim. However, it could be possible for an appropriate adult to apply to be a litigation friend to bring a claim forward on the injured party’s behalf while the limitation period is frozen.
Furthermore, a child would not be able to start a claim for chest injury compensation until they reach 18. Therefore, the limitation period would pause until this date. Once they turn 18, they would have three years from their 18th birthday to claim. However, during the pause, a litigation friend could claim on their behalf.
To learn more about how long you may have to make your claim, please contact an advisor.
Causes Of A Chest Injury
In most cases, there may be two potential causes of a chest injury. And these could result in you claiming chest injury compensation. So, these could include:
- Impact trauma to the chest- This is where an injury could be caused through a slip and trip accident, the impact of a car crash, or criminal assault.
- Exposure to toxic fumes could cause a chest injury. This is where a negligent party fails to identify and acknowledge toxic fumes, not providing special equipment where needed, resulting in a traumatic chest injury or illness (such as lung cancer).
Chest Injury Compensation Claims Calculator
Successful chest injury claims could result in compensation under two heads of claim known as general and special damages.
General damages is the head of claim that compensates you for the pain and suffering of your injuries.
Those calculating general damages for a chest injury compensation claim could look to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) for guidance. This is a publication that provides guideline payout brackets for a number of different injuries at varying severities. Below, you will see a table containing figures from the 2022 edition of the JCG.
This should only be used as guidance, and we should note that the first figure in the table is not from the JCG.
| Injury | Amount Awarded | Description of The Injury |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious injuries with associated financial expenses and losses. | Up to £1,000,000+ | Where someone has had multiple serious injuries and incurred significant costs and losses such as medical expenses, care costs and loss of income. |
| Chest Injuries | £100,670 to £150,110 | The worst cases which could involve the removal of a lung and heart damage. |
| Chest Injuries | £65,740 to £100,670 | An injury of this nature would result in a traumatic injury to the chest, lungs, or heart. In the higher end of the bracket, an injury of this calibre might cause physical disability or the reduction of life expectancy. |
| Chest Injuries | £31,310 to £54,830 | An injury of this severity might cause continuous disability to the chest and lungs. |
| Chest Injuries | £12,590 to £17,960 | A single penetrating injury to the chest but with no ongoing issues caused to lung function. |
| Chest Injuries | £5,320 to £12,590 | This is where a toxic fume has resulted in residual damage, but not enough to cause significant damage to the lung function. |
| Chest injuries | £2,190 to £5,320 | Injuries causing collapsed lungs but where recovery is complete and not complicated. |
| Chest Injuries | Up to £3,950 | Fractured ribs causing pain and disability for a few weeks. |
In addition to this, some successful chest injury compensation claims could result in special damages to compensate for the financial costs and losses your injury has caused you, such as:
- Care costs – If you have needed care at home and had to pay for this because of your injuries.
- Medical expenses – Such as the cost of mobility aids or prescription fees, for example,
- Loss of income – If you have been unable to work due to your injuries, you may have lost out on pay.
- Travel expenses – If you have had to pay for transport to visit your lawyer or to travel to medical appointments.
You would need to be able to prove that these expenses and losses were a direct result of your injuries. Examples of evidence for these losses could include payslips, invoices and receipts.
If you would like more insight into how much your compensation payout could be, please contact an advisor.
Evidence To Support Chest Injury Claims
If you’re claiming chest injury compensation, you will need to show evidence that demonstrates who was liable for your injuries, how they were negligent and the extent of your suffering. Whilst some long-term work-related chest conditions will require specialist medical assessment, there are some steps you can take if you’re injured in an accident. For example, to help prove how you sustained a chest injury, you could:
- Report the accident. If you are in a public place or at work, reporting an accident should be easy. All companies must maintain an accident report book to keep track of any incidents. Therefore, let somebody know as soon as possible. If you decide to seek chest injury compensation, the accident report could help prove the location, date and time the accident happened.
- Seek treatment. Visiting A&E or your GP could also help. As well as having your injuries treated, they will be recorded in your medical notes. These could be obtained later to help support your case.
- Take pictures. Capturing the cause of your accident in a picture can be useful evidence too. Try to take one as soon as possible and before anything is moved from the scene.
- Obtain details of any witnesses. Later on, if the defendant denies liability, your solicitor could ask them to provide a statement of what they saw.
- Check for CCTV. If the area was covered by cameras, you are entitled to ask for a copy of the relevant footage.
Chest injury claims can be difficult to win but with as much evidence as possible from the list above, you could improve your chances. For a free review of your options, please get in touch today.
No Win No Fee Chest Injury Compensation Claims
If you have suffered from a chest injury due to third-party negligence, you might be searching for a personal injury solicitor to conduct your claim. If a third party’s negligence has inflicted a chest injury upon you, you could be eligible to claim under a No Win No Fee agreement. No win no fee agreements may also be referred to as Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA). In simple terms, this acts as a contract between the claimant and the personal injury solicitor, stating that the claimant may be required to pay a success fee if the case has a successful outcome.
A solicitor might only offer a No Win No Fee agreement to those with a strong case. If a solicitor accepts a claim under a No Win No Fee agreement but fails to win a settlement, the agreement could reduce potential costs to the claimant. If you have any questions about the No Win No Fee claims process, please contact a member of our team.
To begin your chest injury claim with a personal injury solicitor, why not contact a member of our team? Here at Accident Claims UK, our friendly advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To speak with an advisor, please call us on 0800 073 8801. Our phone lines are free to call, and our advisors are more than happy to take your call and speak with you. In addition to a phone call, you could inquire about your potential claim online. We have an online enquiry form that you could fill out and submit. Once submitted, a member of our team may review your potential claim for chest injury compensation and contact you in due course.
Thank you for reading our guide on chest injury compensation, and we hope to have answered any questions you have about chest injury claims.