To make a personal injury claim in Ireland, you should contact a personal injury solicitor. If you suffer a personal injury, you may be able to make a compensation claim against the negligent party. 

If someone owes you a duty of care and they breach that duty of care, causing you an injury, you could have a personal injury compensation claim. The personal injury claim is for the effects of the accident on your life today and in the future. 

You could suffer a personal injury when in a road traffic accident, playing sport or in the workplace. 

The personal injury could be a broken leg in a slip on a wet floor, a head, neck and shoulder injury in a fall from a height at work or PTSD after a road traffic accident. 

You may have a compensation claim if you suffer a personal injury in Ireland. 

Hughes & Associates Solicitors have the experience and the expertise to make a personal injury claim for you, and we can be with you along every step of the way.

What is a personal injury claim?

A personal injury claim is when you seek financial compensation for the injuries and damages you suffered due to the negligence of a third party. If another party could be responsible for your accident, you may have a personal injury compensation claim. 

The personal injury claim can get you compensation for an accident that was not your fault, or that was not wholly your fault. 

Your employer, other road user or owner of the hotel you are staying in owe you a duty of care. A breach of that duty of care to you could result in an accident and you may have a personal injury compensation claim. 

There are over 18,000 personal injury applications in Ireland every year. Of the personal injury applications, 65% are for road traffic accidents, 20% are for Public Liability claims, and 15% are for workplace accidents.

Hughes & Associates can look at your personal injury claim details to see if you have a valid compensation claim.

Common personal injury claims

Common personal injury claims in Ireland range from the facial lacerations in a fall on broken glass in the supermarket to the broken wrist in a road traffic accident to the back injury in a workplace accident. 

A personal injury can have a significant effect on your life. You may be able to claim compensation for those effects on your life today and in the future. 

Some of the common personal injury claims in Ireland:

Workplace personal injury claims are for those accidents that happen daily in the Irish workplace. 

The employer owes you a duty of care when in the workplace. You may have a workplace personal injury claim if they breach that duty of care. 

Types of workplace personal injury claims in Ireland: 

  •          Manual handling injuries in the warehouse
  •          Repetitive strain injury while working the office
  •          A slip, trip and fall injury when working in a restaurant 

The Health and Safety Authority, HSA, issues guidelines to employers, and they must follow them to avoid workplace injuries happening to employees.  

If you have suffered a workplace injury, you may be able to make a personal injury claim against your employer.  

Road traffic accidents in Ireland could cause you a severe personal injury, and you may be unable to work or exercise due to the effects of the injury in an RTA.

Every road user owes other road users a duty of care. If they breach that duty of care by driving too fast or not obeying the Rules of the Road, they could injure you in a road traffic accident. 

Types of personal injury claims after a road traffic accident: 

  •          Head injury in a motorcycle accident when hit by a car door
  •          Broken leg when your car is in collision with another vehicle on the road
  •          Shoulder injury when knocked off your bike by a bus pulling out at a stop 

Hughes & Associates can handle your personal injury claim for a road traffic accident against the negligent driver.

Public liability personal injury claims are for the accidents that happen on property that is open to the public. 

You may be at a concert or a sporting event, but if the property owners do not maintain it properly and you suffer an injury due to their breach of duty of care, you could have a public liability claim. 

Types of public liability personal injury claims can be: 

  •          The torn knee ligaments in a slip on a wet floor in the supermarket
  •          The neck injury after a trip over a broken floor tile in the shopping centre
  •          The broken hip after a fall on an uneven footpath on the street in town 

Any injury in a public place could be a public liability claim for compensation. 

You may be injured in the local bar, at the cinema, or when out for a walk and may have a personal injury claim.

Medical negligence claims in Ireland are for the breach of duty of care by a medical professional when they are treating you or a loved one. 

You rely on the medical professional to give you medical treatment of an acceptable standard. Medical treatment below the standard any other medical professional would provide could be medical negligence. 

Types of medical negligence claims in Ireland: 

  •          The GP makes a misdiagnosis of a cancer and fails to refer you for tests
  •          The A&E doctor fails to diagnose a broken wrist in the X-ray
  •          The surgeon fails to inform you of all the alternatives before an operation 

Medical negligence by a nurse, GP, hospital consultant or pharmacist can make you very ill and could result in death. 

You could have a medical negligence claim if it happens to you or a loved one.

At Hughes & Associates Solicitors, we have the team in place to handle your personal injury claim and seek the compensation you deserve for the effects of the injury.

Compensation for a personal injury claim

Compensation for a personal injury may be for when you suffer an injury while at the gym, when moving furniture at the office or if you are injured when hit by another car in a road traffic accident. 

The compensation is for the damages suffered today and in the future. You can make a personal injury claim for a workplace accident, a road traffic accident, or a public liability accident and for the effects of the injury on your life. 

There are two types of damages in a personal injury claim in Ireland:

General damages in a personal injury claim will see you compensated for the Loss of Amenity due to the accident while working in the warehouse, cycling home from the shops or when you slip at the café when out for a coffee. 

You may suffer a loss of amenity, such as difficulty walking, exercising or getting to work. 

You can also claim for the Pain and Suffering due to the injury you suffered in the accident.

Special damages in a personal injury claim are for the costs and expenses you will have due to the RSI from doing the same work on the construction site, the broken foot when you fall down a broken escalator in the shopping mall or the injury when knocked off the motorcycle. 

Special damages in a personal injury could be:  

  •          Medical costs
  •          Loss of earnings
  •          Physical therapy costs
  •          Travel costs 
  •          Cost of care
  •          Cost of aids and equipment  

A compensation claim combines the two damages due to you when you have one of the many types of personal injury in Ireland.

A successful claim could see you receive compensation. The compensation you receive will be a combination of the two types of damages.  

Types of Personal Injury in Ireland

Types of personal injury in Ireland range from the broken limbs to the cuts and bruises to the PTSD and other injuries. 

You could have a personal injury claim if your employer breaches their duty of care to you or if another road user or a public property owner causes you to suffer injury in an accident that was not your fault. 

Common types of personal injury in Ireland:

  • Broken fingers
  • Broken hands
  • RSI in the hands, arms, and shoulders
  • RSI in the knees and ankles
  • Torn shoulder ligaments
  • Missed cancer diagnosis
  • Snapped tendons in the ankle
  • PTSD
  • Facial lacerations
  • Sprained wrist
  • Head, neck and shoulder injuries
  • Cracked skull
  • Spinal nerve damage
  • Broken hip
  • Broken arm
  • Crush finger injuries
  • Assault injury
  • Paraplegia
  • Sexual assault injury

You could have a compensation claim if you suffer any type of personal injury in Ireland. 

Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors can examine your case and help you take the steps to making a personal injury claim.

The steps to making a personal injury claim

At Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors, we want to make a personal injury claim as easy as possible. 

You have had the accident, made the trips to the hospital and to the doctors, and we can help you now to take the steps to making a successful personal injury compensation claim. 

The steps are designed to provide an efficient and effective way to make a claim for a personal injury compensation claim.

The first step to make a claim is to contact a personal injury solicitor. You can contact Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors today and outline the issues you have experienced.  

It may be difficult for you to take a personal injury compensation case against an employer or someone you have known for many years. 

We will take the time to understand your situation and build a professional relationship with you.

You and your solicitor work together to create your compensation case. 

One of the main aspects of this step is to gather evidence. We will want to look at your medical records, security footage of the accident, and any eyewitness accounts related to your case. 

If you have reported an accident to the Gardai, we can look at the Garda report as part of creating a personal injury case. 

The solicitor helping you with the case will know what areas of evidence to cover and what will help your case.  

When the claim is complete, we can make your personal injury claim by sending a letter of claim to the Personal Injury Assessment Board, PIAB. 

The PIAB will assess your case and recommend a compensation payment, or they may reject your case. 

The solicitor or insurance company for the guilty party has several weeks to reply to the PIAB compensation claim recommendation. 

When a PIAB is accepted at this stage, the process of providing your compensation will begin. 

When a personal injury claim is rejected, or if you are not happy with the amount of compensation offered, we can begin court proceedings on your behalf.

Submission of the letter of claim to the negligent party is the next step in the medical negligence claims process. 

In the letter of claim, your solicitor will outline the details of your case and how you suffered medical negligence by a medical professional. 

The negligent party could be the HSE, hospital authority, local GP practice or medical care clinic. 

In most cases of medical negligence, the letter of claim will be handled by the insurers of the negligent party.

Court proceedings can be the next step if the defendant rejects the claim or you feel you should receive more in compensation. 

Court proceedings are rare, although your Hughes & Associates solicitor will be prepared. We may look to gather further evidence to support your claim when it comes to a court hearing.  

Often, a personal injury claim is settled on the morning of the court case when the guilty party realises you are not backing down and they look at your evidence.

When the court case is successful, the process of paying compensation for a personal injury claim will follow.  

How long do you have to make a claim for personal injury in Ireland?

You have two years to make any claim for personal injury in Ireland—the two years to make a claim begin from the date of the personal injury. 

You could also have a case of ‘date of knowledge’, which is the date you became aware of the injuries you experienced in the workplace, in a public place, due to medical negligence or in a road traffic accident. 

In such cases, it could be more than two years later that a doctor traces the pain you are suffering back to the injury you sustained in the accident at work or on the road when knocked off your bike.

In all cases of personal injury, it is recommended that you begin your claim process as soon as possible after an accident. Making a claim as quickly as possible makes it easier to obtain evidence while your memory is fresh and the injury is more obvious. 

Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors can help with all aspects of your personal injury claim.

Make a personal injury claim today

Make a personal injury claim today by contacting Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors in Dublin.

You could have a compensation claim if you were injured in a workplace accident, by a medical professional, in a road traffic accident or in a public liability accident due to a breach of duty of care by the negligent party.  

The spinal nerve damage, the cracked skull, the PTSD, the head, neck and shoulder injury, along with the medical bills and the loss of income, could be a direct result of the personal injury. 

Contact Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors today for a confidential and professional service with your personal injury claim.

Contact the Hughes & Associates Team