Personal injury meaning

The employer and its advisers ought to reflect on the following matters: Preparatory steps From the employer, gather: a copy of the departing employee’s latest employment contract and any other documents setting out contractual terms (note: these might sit within a staff handbook) particulars of the employee’s contractual benefits pertinent details about the employee’s pension entitlements information on any shares/share options held by the employee; review the Articles of Association, any relevant shareholder agreement, and share scheme documentation. See also Shares and share options below Status of negotiations Will discussions occur directly between the parties, or via their respective legal advisers? How robust is the employer’s bargaining position? How credible are the employee’s existing or potential claims? For any dismissal, is there a fair reason and has a fair procedure been followed? Is the employer in repudiatory breach? What is the employer initially...

A: General requirements Fill in section A for every conditional fee agreement (CFA), other than those for personal injury or clinical negligence, as these fall under a different checklist. If any question is answered ‘no’, the proposed CFA might not be enforceable and/or you could contravene the SRA’s regulatory framework...

This checklist sets out the general limitation periods for personal injury and clinical negligence claims, and notes the categories of claims that depart from the standard time limits. Practitioners should remain alert to personal injury matters to which the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980) does not apply. For those claims, refer to: Exceptions to the general rule mentioned below... The general rule Under the LA 1980, the default limitation periods in the great majority of personal injury and clinical negligence claims are as follows: Type of claim Time limit When does limitation begin to run? Is there discretion to extend time?

FORTHCOMING CHANGE : The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 obtained Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For guidance on the Act’s effect on residential tenancies in England, see Practice Note: Renters’ Rights Act 2025—key provisions. This Flowchart outlines how to end an assured (AT) or assured shorthold tenancy (AST) via section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988), including: service of a section 8 notice issuing proceedings the steps in the case leading to an order for possession Where HA 1988 applies, unless the tenant agrees to leave voluntarily, a landlord may recover possession only by using the procedures in HA 1988, sections 8 or 21, obtaining an order for possession and enforcing it. See Practice Note: Assured and assured shorthold tenancies—terminating. The section 8 process is available where the tenant has defaulted on tenancy obligations (for example, failing to pay rent) or the landlord qualifies for possession on another HA 1988, Sch 2 ground, whether during a fixed...

What are the restrictions on alterations and when is landlord's consent required? During any due diligence on acquiring a head lease, it is vital to assess the tenant’s scope to carry out alterations. Clauses that are overly restrictive can materially reduce value, obstruct a purchaser’s ability to raise finance, to let, to dispose of its interest in future, or otherwise deal with it, and can also present a continuing property management burden...

This Practice Note distils the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s guidance and examples on what might constitute acceptable or prohibited referral arrangements in personal injury matters. Although published under the 2011 SRA regime, that guidance appears to apply equally under the SRA 2019 regime. What is prohibited? To breach the personal injury (PI) referral fee ban, the following elements must all arise: you receive a referral it concerns a PI or ancillary claim you pay a banned referral fee, meaning payment for the referral itself, not as remuneration for supplying services or for some other purpose For further guidance, see Practice Notes: Personal injury referral fee—the statutory regime; and Personal injury referral arrangements—SRA requirements—What does the SRA prohibit?...

Motor Insurers Bureau v Houston [2025] EWHC 3178 (KB) What are the practical implications of this case? Although the outcome may catch seasoned credit hire practitioners off guard, it was driven in large part by the precise language of the debarring order in this case. The order confined any future debarring strictly to the question of rate and made no reference to reliance on impecuniosity for the hire period or for any wider purposes; appellant counsel on appeal suggested this flowed from a legacy version of a standard form. Practitioners familiar with credit hire litigation will know that, more often than not, directions orders bar a claimant from reliance on impecuniosity for all purposes following a failure to provide financial disclosure. Even so, the judgment is a clear reminder that the courts will apply the ordinary and natural meaning to the words of any order, and practitioners should take care to verify the exact wording of a debarring order in every case. That is not, however, to suggest the...

Johnstone v Fawcett’s Garage (Newbury) Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 467 What are the practical implications of this case? The key consequence of the ruling is the Court of Appeal’s categorical and wholesale dismissal of the ‘absolute risk approach’, put forward by the defendant in this case on the strength of obiter support from the High Court in Bannister v Freemans Public Ltd Company [2020] EWHC 1256 (QB). As a consequence of the Court of Appeal’s decision in this case, those obiter remarks in Bannister should no longer be regarded as representing good law, or treated as authoritative. The judgment further confirms that it was open to the trial judge in this case to employ a ‘direct risk assessment’ to calculate the increase in the risk of a person developing mesothelioma, and that doing so was permissible on the facts. It does not, however, set a general principle that this technique is valid or appropriate in all comparable matters involving low doses of exposure, although the court’s acceptance of...

Advantage Insurance Co Ltd v Stoodley and another [2018] EWHC 2135 (QB), [2018] All ER (D) 79 (Aug) What are the practical implications of the judgment? Two key, practical takeaways arise from this decision. Substantive point: a motor insurer granting cover under a DOC extension is insuring a liability that must be provided for under section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA 1988). Consequently, a DOC insurer may function not only as a contractual insurer but also as a hybrid insurer (a contractual insurer whose liability is adjusted by RTA 1988, s 148) or as a statutory insurer under RTA 1988, s 151. This will matter in situations where multiple insurers are involved. Procedural point: claimants who anticipate an adverse ruling cannot sidestep it by discontinuing before judgment and then attempting to re‑litigate the same issue. Where a claimant discontinues in those circumstances, a defendant would be well advised to seek an order setting aside the notice of discontinuance. Whilst the law...

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...

Pre-existing legal relationships Psychiatric harm may arise where a claimant and defendant are already linked by a legal relationship. In some settings, the character of that connection places a duty on the defendant to act with reasonable care so as not to cause psychiatric injury. Illustrations include: Occupational stress claims: perhaps the clearest instances of a pre-existing obligation not to inflict ‘pure’ psychiatric damage. See Practice Notes: Occupational stress—introduction and Occupational stress—establishing liability. Health authority cases involving the communication of upsetting information: here, the parties’ established relationship may mean it is foreseeable that negligent misstatements, or even an unduly insensitive delivery of accurate facts, could result in psychiatric injury. Examples include: a claimant developing post-traumatic stress disorder after being wrongly informed that his baby had died (noting that the judge’s analysis in that matter was that recovery was available as a primary victim) a health authority notifying patients that they had been treated by healthcare workers who...

A tattoo is a permanent body mark made by piercing the skin and placing coloured ink beneath the surface. Slim, ink-charged needles pass through the outer epidermis into the deeper dermis, which contains blood vessels, hair follicles, glands, nerves and lymph vessels. This injury sparks inflammation, and the immune system swiftly sends macrophages, a form of white blood cell, to support healing. Tattoos are therefore long-lasting, though, like a scar, they may fade with time. Macrophages engulf dye particles to aid the repair process; some travel to the lymph nodes, while others remain within the dermis. The remaining colour is taken up by fibroblast skin cells and, together with the macrophages, this keeps the tattoo in place. Tattoo machine Modern hand-held tattoo machines, sometimes called ‘tattoo guns’, use electromagnetic coils to drive an armature bar up and down. Attached to this bar is a grouped set of needles that delivers the ink into the skin...

Dear [ insert expert’s name ] Claimant’s name: [ insert Claimant’s full name including title ] Claimant’s address: [ insert address ] Claimant’s date of birth: [ insert date of birth ] Date of alleged negligent treatment: [ insert date ] I represent the above-named in relation to injuries said to result from alleged clinical negligence occurring on the date noted. Thank you for agreeing to prepare a report addressing breach of duty/causation/condition and prognosis [ delete as appropriate ] in this matter. Please ensure you fully comprehend any clinical guidance relevant to the issues and that you hold the necessary facts to apply such guidance correctly. You should also be familiar with Part 35 of the CPR, the Practice Direction to Part 35, and the duties and requirements for experts giving expert evidence. In that regard, please see the appendix to this letter of instruction. Your task is to assist the court by providing impartial, independent opinions confined to your...

Notification under the Serious Injury Guide Sent by email to [ insert the early notification contact name and email address as listed for each insurer at http://www.seriousinjuryguide.co.uk/ ] Dear [ insert name ] Ref: Accident Client name: Date of birth: [ to be provided in a separate email ] National Insurance number: [ to be provided in a separate email ] We represent [ insert claimant’s name ] who sustained injuries in an incident on [ insert date ] at around [ insert time ], occurring in the course of their employment as [ insert details OR other circumstances ]...

This TRUST is dated [ date ] Parties [ name ] of [ address ], represented by [ name ] of [ address ] (the Litigation Friend) [ name ] of [ address ] and [ name ] of [ address ] (the Original Trustees) Background The Trust is named [ insert name ] (the Trust). The Trust is created to accept the compensation payable for a personal injury to [ insert name ] (the Beneficiary), who lacks capacity to manage their property and financial affairs under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Following the personal injury, legal proceedings [ under Claim Number [ insert number ] ] were commenced and an order for payment of compensation was made on [ date to be completed once order is made ]...

At the heart of the query lies the status of a party who does not adhere to a court direction, yet has lodged an application to extend the time for compliance before the expiry of the deadline attached to that direction. On the scenario set out, the claimant will be in breach of the court order concerning the exchange of witness statements in two weeks’ time, because that order will not have been varied before the deadline for compliance under that order...

If the claimant qualifies as a protected party within the Court of Protection’s remit, fees imposed by that Court, both historic and prospective, may properly form part of the claim made. Further charges will also be incurred where a deputy is appointed to manage the claimant’s property and financial affairs. These charges and expenses can be set out within the schedule of past and future loss and damage as distinct heads of damage...

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...