Damages for personal injury meaning

Checklist This checklist sets out the matters a practitioner ought to weigh when assessing general damages. It reviews various heads of damage, such as pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA), Smith v Manchester awards, loss of congenial employment, loss of use, holiday disruption, harm to relationships, reduced marriage prospects, aggravated damages, unnecessary treatment, fatal accidents, and interest. PSLA Pain and suffering reflect the claimant’s personal, subjective experience. Loss of amenity denotes a diminished capacity to carry out ordinary activities. Damages can be granted for physical and/or psychiatric injury and cover distress in the past, present, and future. There is no precise formula for valuation in these assessments of such claims...

The Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims Below the Small Claims Limit in Road Traffic Accidents (RTA Small Claims Protocol) is engaged for collisions taking place on or after 31 May 2021. For RTA personal injury matters, the small claims track cap for general damages—covering pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA)—now stands at £5,000, save for exceptions in CPR 26.10 and CPR 26.11. The protocol is intended for situations where a person has sustained injuries in a road traffic accident (including, though not confined to, whiplash) and wishes to pursue compensation, provided the sum claimed for the injury does not exceed £5,000 and the value of the case does not exceed £10,000. It operates for claimants pursuing personal injury compensation from RTAs within these injury and overall value limits. For additional guidance on using the RTA Small Claims Protocol, consult Practice Note: The road traffic accident small claims protocol...

Checklist This Checklist summarises the potential claims against a defendant where the claimant in a personal injury case has died before trial. It reviews the principal statutory regimes—the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 (LR(MP)A 1934) and the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (FAA 1976)—and indicates who may bring the claim and the recoverable heads of loss. For further guidance, see Practice Notes: Law Reform Act or Fatal Accidents Act? and Claims involving a fatality—heads of damage... Cause of action Claim on behalf of the deceased’s estate (under LR(MP)A 1934) Who can bring the claim? By the administrator or executor of the estate. A valid will or Grant of Letters of Administration will be required... Heads of loss Guidance on the recoverable heads of loss is provided by LR(MP)A 1934 and FAA 1976 and in the referenced Practice Notes...

Contributory negligence When the defendant holds primary responsibility for the incident, they may assert that the other party contributed to it. The matters to assess are: which parties were to blame for the incident, and to what extent? in what proportion should damages be allocated, having regard to the comparative responsibilities of those at fault?...

Practice Note: Protective costs orders (PCOs) in environmental matters This flowchart sets out the situations relevant to protective costs orders (PCOs) in environmental law cases. For information, refer to Practice Note: Protective costs orders (PCOs) in environmental matters...

PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights—7 March 2024 In this issue: Clinical negligence Fraud and fundamental dishonesty Damages Case management Costs Key PI & Clinical Negligence developments LexTalk®PI & Clinical Negligence: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Clinical negligence Administrative Court dismisses appeal in clinical negligence claim The King’s Bench Division Administrative Court (Birmingham), in Chilton v Payne [2024] EWHC 451 (Admin), rejected the appellant’s appeal against an order dismissing her claim for damages against the respondent surgeon for negligence. The case concerned an alleged omission by the respondent to provide, or ensure, sufficient abdominoplasty follow-up and/or aftercare. She maintained, among other grounds, that the judge had erred in fact and in law: (i) in concluding there was no breach of the post-operative duty of care; and (ii) in his treatment of factual causation. On appeal, the court affirmed that the judge was right to find no duty on the respondent to...

PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights—23 January 2025 In this issue: Public authorities and the state Costs and funding LexTalk®PI & Clinical Negligence: a Lexis®Nexis community LexisNexis® Webinars Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information Public authorities and the state The police owe no general duty to shield individuals from criminal harm, and foreseeability on its own does not create such a duty. Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police v Woodcock; HD (by their respective litigation friends) v Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police [2025] EWCA Civ 13 comprised two appeals in the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). Each claim examined whether the police could be liable in damages for not preventing injury inflicted by a third party offender. The appeals were heard together. The Court of Appeal rejected the claims of CJ and others alleging a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and negligence. The police appeal in Ms Woodcock’s case succeeded. There...

PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights—15 February 2024 In this issue: Road traffic accidents Clinical negligence Costs Court and the legal profession Other PI and clinical negligence news Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information New Q&As Road traffic accidents Pure economic loss and remoteness In Armstead v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company Ltd [2024] UKSC 6, the Supreme Court held that a bailee’s possessory interest in goods is sufficient to found a claim against a third party whose negligence damages those goods. The appeal succeeded: a car-hirer was entitled to sue the negligent third party in tort to recover the contractual daily loss-of-use sum owed to the vehicle owner (the bailor, hire company) arising from the damage. The court also issued succinct guidance on core principles governing negligence claims for harm to tangible property, and on the limits of remoteness. Further, the Supreme Court confirmed that once a claimant has shown that...

This Practice Note provides links to the national life tables and to the projected life expectation tables. National life tables Produced annually for the UK and its constituent countries, national life tables present period expectation of life statistics...

This Practice Note This Practice Note examines the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980) and sets out the periods within which claimants are permitted to start different kinds of claims. As a rule, any proceedings begun after the relevant limitation window has ended will be statute-barred, affording the defendant a complete defence. It further describes, for personal injury matters, the general principles on when time begins to run, the notion of date of knowledge, and when a court may lift the limitation bar. It also contains a practical checklist of personal injury actions that sit outside the standard three-year time limit. LA 1980 prescribes the statutory deadlines within which claimants may pursue various categories of claims. Those limits define the period within which such claims must properly be started. Broadly, a defendant will enjoy a full defence to any proceedings issued (see further below: ‘When is a claim brought?’) after the expiry of the applicable period. Once the pertinent time limit has elapsed, the claim is treated as statute-barred. The...

PI & Clinical negligence horizon scanner—July 2025 [Archived] ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It summarises the principal legal developments relevant to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as at July 2025. For developments predating this horizon scanner, see PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning and key cases—overview. Key PI and clinical negligence developments The personal injury discount rate—a review In late 2024, the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, revealed the outcome of her five‑month review of the discount rate, initiated in July 2024. One month after the new +0.5% discount rate took effect, Thea Wilson (barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk) assesses its impact on cases, the responses from claimant and defendant representatives, and the consequences of the change for legal practitioners. See News Analysis: The personal injury discount rate—a review. MoJ announces reduction in CFO’s interest rates The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced lower interest rates for the Courts Funds Office’s (CFO) special and basic accounts...

[ IN THE COUNTY COURT AT [ INSERT ] OR IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE ] [ [ SPECIFY DIVISION ] ] [ [ SPECIFY SPECIALIST COURT ] ] [ [ INSERT LOCATION ] DISTRICT REGISTRY ] Claim No: Between [ A B ] Claimant and [ X Y ] Defendant ______________________________________________ COUNTER SCHEDULE OF LOSS ______________________________________________ The Defendant retains the right to vary, revise or supplement this Counter Schedule of Loss at any time up to and including the trial. PAST LOSSES 1 Previous loss of earnings (i) Loss of earnings to [ insert date eg 26 February 2019 ] are accepted in the pleaded claim at £[ insert amount ]. (ii)–(iii) Loss for the period [ insert date eg 26 February 2019 ] to [ insert date eg 25 August 2019 ] is not admitted. As a matter of principle, the Defendant accepts that it may take time to secure work of equivalent remuneration. However, the Claimant’s evidence does...

Except for liability for death or personal injury, each party shall indemnify, and keep indemnified, the other against all costs and losses (including legal fees) from any future claims, actions or proceedings about the Dispute, in whole or in part, that it or its associated companies, officers, directors, agents or affiliates may bring against the other party or its associated companies, officers, directors, agents or affiliates. The parties shall not take, authorise, procure or permit any act intended to frustrate this Settlement Agreement. Each party shall indemnify, and keep indemnified, the other for all costs and damages (including legal expenses) incurred in any future actions, claims or proceedings by [ insert specific third parties ] concerning the [ Dispute, or any part of it, OR Contract ], where liability mirrors the losses covered by this Settlement Agreement. Such sums are payable only insofar as they relate to claims arising from the [ matters which have been settled in this Settlement Agreement ], and not to unrelated...

Dear [ insert organisation name ] URGENT—LIVING MESOTHELIOMA CLAIMANT YOU MUST DEAL WITH THIS LETTER IMMEDIATELY Re: Our Client: Address: Date of Birth: National Insurance Number: Your Previous Employee: Date of Birth: Date of Death: National Insurance Number: Place of Work: We act for the above-named client in a claim for damages for personal injury arising from exposure to asbestos, resulting from asbestos dust brought into the home on the work clothing of a family member, [ insert relation eg spouse or parent and insert their name ], during their employment with [ insert employer’s name ] between [ insert dates ]. Accordingly, the claim is addressed to you. This correspondence is sent in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Disease and Illness Claims. Please confirm the identity of your insurers. Please note that your insurers must be notified without delay and failure to do so may affect your insurance cover. We enclose...

HSC(CHS)A 2003, Part 3 For personal injury compensation claims where the incident occurred on or after 29 January 2007, Part 3 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 (HSC(CHS)A 2003) applies. The HSC(CHS)A 2003 extends to any matter involving foreign nationals and foreign compensators, in circumstances where NHS treatment and/or ambulance services were delivered to the injured person following their return to England, Scotland or Wales. Part 3 of the HSC(CHS)A 2003 permits recovery of the costs of treating an injured person in all situations where that individual has successfully pursued a personal injury claim against a third party. Under HSC(CHS)A 2003, s 150(3), a ‘compensation payment’ is a payment, including one in money’s worth, made on behalf of a person who is, or is alleged to be, liable in respect of the injury. HSC(CHS)A 2003, s 150(3) further provides that relevant NHS charges are not included...

The issue here is between ‘a claim for personal injuries’, and ‘a claim in negligence or in battery’ This distinction confuses the category of harm (and the relief for it) with the juridical basis of liability. ‘Personal injury’ is not a tort at all—it is a type of harm flowing from a tort, which in turn generates a legal entitlement to redress. It must be differentiated from other forms of physical harm—for example, loss to property—and from other tortious invasions of personal rights (for instance, the reputational harm occasioned by the tort of defamation). The former labels damage; the latter names the actionable wrong...

Where the claimant trades as a sole proprietor, the assessment of losses is essentially a calculation of net earnings from self-employment, after deducting all overheads, tax, and similar items from their total gross takings for the year...