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Perhaps surprisingly, in the UK, if you have sustained personal injuries as the result of a criminal assault it is not advisable to make a claim for personal injury compensation in the same no win, no fee way in which you would make a compensation claim for an accident at work, a whiplash injury, or a spinal injury sustained in a car accident.
Yet for anyone who has experienced the pain and trauma of a criminal assault, personal injury compensation is still a right. It would be unfair and represent a flaw in society if someone who has suffered pain, personal injury, days off work, psychological hurt and resultant loss of earnings was unable to make a compensation claim.
For such a person it is worth examining some of the personal injury compensation claim options available.
Problems with standard personal injury compensation claims in assault cases
The major difficulty with making a personal injury compensation claim for criminal assault through the standard no win, no fee claims process is that it is very difficult to enforce any compensation claim ruling. This is not least because the assailant is unlikely to have the means to pay the awarded amount of personal injury compensation.
Personal injury compensation for an assault in the workplace
If the criminal assault has occurred in the workplace it may be possible to obtain personal injury compensation by employing a no win, no fee personal injury solicitor.
There are still plenty of difficulties inherent in this kind of personal injury compensation claim which will reduce your chances of success and make any no win, no fee solicitor reluctant to take your case on. However, if you can show that your employer knowingly exposed you to a risk of assault and personal injury you may have a case for personal injury compensation through the legal principle of vicarious liability.
This kind of scenario can be usefully illuminated by an example:
Last year, a UK man living in the Midlands was assaulted by a colleague in the workplace. His colleague had been persistently threatening and bullying the 22-year-old man over a period of six months. His boss was well aware of the tension that existed between the two men and that one was passive and the other aggressive. The boss also knew that the 27-year-old aggressor had a previous conviction for assault. The boss had also been present when the aggressor had told the younger man that unless he changed his attitude he would get a lesson in tribal justice'. So when the 22-year-old brought his personal injury compensation claim to the courts with the aid of a no win, no fee solicitor, his employer was found liable for the compensation claim under the principle of vicarious liability.
In short, the scenario above was effectively viewed as a work accident compensation claim because there was an element of foreseeable risk which the employer could have prevented. That is why the 22-year-old and his no win, no fee solicitor won the case and why the employer was found liable for the personal injury compensation claim.
The most common method for achieving personal injury compensation following an assault
The most reliable route for achieving personal injury compensation following a criminal assault is to go through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
As a general rule, there is a two year deadline for making personal injury compensation claims through the CICA. This is because any personal injury compensation claim grievance that is older than two years is likely to be made problematic by fading memories and difficulties in obtaining documents. There are some exceptions but this is best worth investigating with the CICA.
The CICA run a tariff system for personal injury compensation claims so if a claim is deemed to be worth less than £1,000 it will not be awarded at all. The maximum amount that can be awarded under the tariff scheme for personal injury compensation is £250,000.
The CICA do award compensation for loss of earnings as a result of personal injury, but the scheme is capped so that if you are a very high earner this will not be reflected in the compensation claim award. They also do not award any compensation for the first 28 weeks of lost earnings.
When dealing with the CICA it is possible to appoint just about any kind of legal representation, whether it be a no win, no fee solicitor, personal injury solicitor or international legal bigwig. However, you must of course pay any legal advisor a fee, whereas if you make your personal injury compensation claim directly through the CICA without any intermediary help you will keep 100% of your personal injury compensation award.
If you've been the victim of criminal assault and you wish to claim personal injury compensation you can visit the CICA website at www.cica.gov.uk.
Making a no win, no fee claim for personal injury compensation
If you've sustained personal injuries in a work accident, car accident or holiday accident we may be able to help you.
Over the years we have helped thousands of people make successful personal injury compensation claims.
With our panel of expert and respected solicitors we are proud to have forged an impressive success rate in dealing with personal injury cases.
We do this at no risk to you. If you win, you will keep 100% of your compensation award. On the other hand, in the event of your claim being unsuccessful you will not have to pay a penny either, as we take out an insurance policy on your behalf which safeguards you from all possible outcomes.
There is a three year time-limit on personal injury claims, but even within that period, the sooner you make your claim the greater its chance of success.
So why not get in touch with one of skilled legal advisors today. We are available 24 hours a day and can be contacted by you filling out on an online claims form, requesting a call back or phoning us now on 0800 10 757 95.
