By Jo Jeffries. Last Updated 16th June 2022. All personal injury claims have a time limit in which they need to be started. Hearing loss claim time limits can vary depending on the circumstances involved and also the age of the victim. Hearing loss claim time limits can sometimes be extended but this would depend on a number of factors, but in the majority of cases, time limits to make a claim are strict and if it has passed, little or nothing will be able to be done, therefore if you have suffered hearing loss due to negligence caused by someone else, it’s imperative that you start your hearing loss claim as soon as you can.
Hearing loss claim time limit
Hearing loss may occur due to a number of reasons, some from an accident such as a road traffic accident. If you are unsure after reading through this guide what your hearing loss claim time limit is, you can call us at Accident Claims UK on 0800 073 8801 for further help and advice.
Select A Section
- What Is Hearing Loss And When Could I Claim?
- What Are Time Limits To Make A Personal Injury Claim?
- Could I Claim If I Am Close To The Three Year Limit?
- When You Could Claim Beyond The Usual Three Year Limit
- Calculating Compensation Claims For Industrial Hearing Loss
- What Could A Hearing Claim Compensate You For?
- Hearing Loss Claims With No Win No Fee Solicitors
- Additional References Relating To The Hearing Loss Claim Time Limit
What Is Hearing Loss And When Could I Claim?
Hearing loss occurs when some of the ear structure becomes damaged due to trauma, injury, or exposure to loud noises.
If you have suffered hearing loss because of someone else’s negligence or mistake, at work or otherwise, you may be able to make a claim so long as you start it within the hearing loss claim time limits. Contact our advisors for more information on hearing loss claims.
What Are Time Limits To Make A Personal Injury Claim?
Personal injury claim time limits will vary depending on the circumstances. Personal injury time limits act as a deadline from the date of injury in which to start a compensation claim. Generally, you have three years to start your claim. This is set out in the Limitation Act 1980. However, there are some exceptions. We’ll explain these later on in this article.
The time limits will vary depending on the circumstances involved when the injury was sustained and occasionally there may be exceptions to the general time limit given of three years.
Could I Claim If I Am Close To The Three Year Claims Time Limit?
Before legal action can begin, there are a number of questions that need to be answered first. These questions, or tasks, may take up to several weeks each to complete and so there needs to be enough time to do this before the hearing loss claim time limit ends. Some of the tasks include:
- Once organised, undergoing a thorough medical examination of your injury and obtaining the medical report.
- Contacting witnesses and gathering their witness statements as evidence.
- Making sure to gather any other evidence that will help to prove liability.
If you only have a few weeks before your claim time limit runs out, it may not be possible to successfully make your claim and therefore it is crucial to speak to a personal injury solicitor as soon as you can.
When You Could Claim Beyond The Usual Three Year Limit
Although in most cases the hearing loss claim time limit is three years, sometimes there are exceptions to the rule with some circumstances where the time limit may be extended, the courts may allow an extension in special circumstances.
Some examples of when the three-year limit could vary include:
- When injuries occur outside of the UK as that case may be pursued under the time limits of the country where the injury took place.
- As already mentioned, if the victim of injury is a child, the three-year limit will not commence until the child reaches their 18th birthday if a claim hasn’t already been made on their behalf.
- If the claimant has been having medical treatment whilst under the Mental Health Act 1983 the limitation period of three years will not begin until the claimant has been discharged, or until the date that their disability ends, whichever date is the earliest.
There may also be times when the time limit could be reduced i.e.
- When injuries occur whilst onboard a flight. If the flight is a UK flight or part of a package holiday booked with a UK travel company, the usual three-year rule will apply, however, with international flights, the Montreal Convention applies where the time limit is reduced to two years.
If you are unsure when your claims time limit ends, just call us at Accident Claims UK and we will be able to help you determine your date of knowledge and therefore determine when your time limit ends.
Calculating Compensation Claims For Hearing Loss
Probably one of the things you’d like to know when making a compensation claim is how much compensation you may receive for your injury if your case is successful. Unfortunately though because there are so many variables to each unique case that has an effect on the final settlement amount, we cannot give an exact answer to this question at this stage. However, what we can do is show payout amounts for various hearing loss injuries in their varying degrees of severity in accordance with the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines, published in 2022:
| Injury Type | Compensation Bracket | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total Deafness And Loss Of Speech (a) | £109,650 to £140,660 | Cases in which deafness arose at an early age, disrupting the development of speech. |
| Total Deafness (b) | £90,750 to £109,650 | Total deafness in both ears, with consideration given to speech deficit and tinnitus. |
| Total Loss Of Hearing In One Ear (c) | £31,310 to £45,540 | Total deafness in one ear with consideration given to symptoms such as dizziness and tinnitus. |
| Partial Hearing Loss And Tinnitus (d) (i) | £29,710 to £45,540 | The most severe will be awarded the higher compensation amounts. The lower end will be for those with either no, or mild tinnitus alongside partial deafness. |
| Partial Hearing Loss And Tinnitus (d) (ii) | £14,900 to £29,710 | Moderate cases of tinnitus and NIHL. |
| Partial Hearing Loss And Tinnitus (d) (iii) | £12,590 to £14,900 | Mild tinnitus with some NIHL. |
| Partial Hearing Loss And Tinnitus (d) (iv) | Around £11,720 | Mild tinnitus or mild NIHL alone. |
| Partial Hearing Loss And Tinnitus (d) (iii) | £7,360 to £12,590 | Slight or occasional tinnitus with slight NIHL. |
| Psychological injruy | £3,950 to £8,180 | Less Severe |
Don’t worry if your particular problem is not listed, just call us at Accident Claims UK and we will be able to tell you if you can claim for hearing loss.
What Could A Hearing Claim Compensate You For?
All compensation claim amounts are made up of a number of components to give the final settlement amount. These different components include:
- General Damages – These represent the physical aspects of the injury you have sustained and any psychological effects that may have resulted from the injury. The type and severity of the injury is the main influencer in the amount of compensation for general damages with the more severe injuries getting the higher amounts of compensation, this is why it is so important to have a full medical examination and report.
- Medical Expenses – Any medical costs that you have incurred can be reclaimed in the overall compensation amount. Medical costs may include treatment costs, prescriptions fees, counselling costs and so on.
- Travel Expenses – Any travel expenses incurred in direct relation to your injury such as travelling to and from doctor’s appointments for example, can be claimed for.
- Care Claim – If you have needed home help, a care claim can be made.
- Loss of earnings – Any income lost, or future income lost can be claimed for in accordance with your current paygrade.
It is important to keep any receipts for expenses that you have incurred as a direct result of your injury so that these can be used as proof of costings and therefore included in your claim. Without the receipts, you may not be able to include these in your claim.
Hearing Loss Claims With No Win No Fee Solicitors
Making a claim for compensation can often be a long, complex process and so hiring a personal injury lawyer to conduct the claim on your behalf, can be a huge relief for many people. However, often they are put off from hiring legal help as they are worried about the cost and so decide not to go ahead with the claim.
However, with a no win no fee solicitor, you do not need to worry about the costs as no fees are paid upfront or during the claiming process. You would need to sign an agreement to pay your lawyer a success fee from your payout in such claims. The fees in No Win No Fee claims are legally capped small percentages of compensation payouts, and are agreed before your claim begins.
If your solicitor was unable to get you a compensation payout, then you would not pay them this fee. If you’re worried that you might have to cover their costs regardless of whether or not they win you compensation, don’t be. This is not the case. To ask us more about making No Win No Fee claims, simply call our team today.
Additional References Relating To The Hearing Loss Claim Time Limit
Here you will find lots of information from the NHS regarding hearing loss.
Some information here that may be helpful regarding hearing loss from the Government.