Compensation Claim Stage 1: Getting to Know You
This is the stage where we meet you and your family for the first time. We try and get to know you, build up a picture, and piece together some of the key facts that led to your injury. We will explain to you the available funding options and will be open and honest about whether we think you have a good case for compensation.
Compensation Claim Stage 2: Independent Assessment
This is when we call upon the services of some of the key professionals that we frequently work with. In most cases, we ask an independent rehabilitation expert to meet with you, often when you have returned home. They will conduct a full assessment in conjunction with you and your family to build an accurate picture of your immediate and long term care, support and rehabilitation needs. This information often helps us to make a claim for quick interim payments from the liability insurer which can help pay for important care and rehabilitation equipment whilst your case is ongoing.
Compensation Claim Stage 3: Medical Assessment
It is really important that we understand the exact nature of your current injury and how this affects your everyday living, as well as getting a longer-term recovery and rehabilitation prognosis. We use senior medical experts for this, normally spinal cord injury consultants. The quality of their evidence will be crucial in building your claim for compensation, which is why we use the best.
Compensation Claim Stage 4: Establishing Liability
The success of your case depends on our ability to prove that the accident that caused your spinal cord injury was not your fault — whether at all or for the most part. This part of the process can take a long time to establish, especially if some of the facts are unclear. We deploy as many resources as we need at this stage; we interview all the witnesses, we obtain CCTV footage, we look through police records and in some cases we employ specialist accident reconstruction experts.
We review police records and often interview attending police officers if the claim relates to a road traffic accident. In accidents pertaining to the workplace, we will often attend criminal courts if HSE (Health and Safety Executive) prosecutions are pursued. We frequently have to instruct specialist experts such as civil engineers, accident reconstruction experts and health and safety professionals to obtain vital evidence to ensure we win your claim.
Compensation Claim Stage 5: Calculating Your Damages
This is a complicated piece of work, but it is obviously important in building a claim for compensation. Completing this stage of the process relies on us getting to know you and your family well, because your claim is also based on your lifestyle requirements and the dependents that you support.
Broadly speaking, the aim of your award is to:
- Compensate you for pain and suffering.
- Compensate you for loss of earnings and pension (including loss of future career progression).
- Pay for care and rehabilitation now and in the future.
- Pay for alterations or alternative accommodation.
- Pay for the best wheelchairs and other aids and appliances and provide you with a standard of living that you would have enjoyed had you not sustained an injury.
If you need more information on how compensation and damages are awarded, please contact a member of our team on 0800 030 20 40 or email us
Compensation Claim Stage 6: Meeting with a Barrister
In the majority of cases, as soon as we have supportive expert and medical evidence regarding your claim and your resulting injuries, we will test the strength of that evidence by recommending a meeting with a barrister. We regularly work with a number of barristers who specialise in spinal cord injury claims. The meeting with the barrister will be attended by you, your Aspire Law legal team and the medical experts that we have engaged on your behalf.
Compensation Claim Stage 7: Making a Spinal Cord Injury Claim
We will have been in touch with the individual or organisation which caused your injury from very early on in the case. Normally the matter is quickly referred to their insurer. From the start, we will attempt to obtain the best medical treatment, rehabilitation, and early interim payments funded by the insurer.
When we issue court proceedings, the matter is passed onto solicitors instructed by the defendant’s insurance company. We are very experienced at dealing with the firms regularly instructed by insurers and will be well aware of how they will defend the claim and attempt to minimise the amount of compensation you will receive. Our job in representing you is to maximise the level of compensation you recover through our legal expertise, experience and the use of the best experts.
We have done this many times before and would be delighted to do it for you too.
Ultimately, any claim can end up with a trial at court. That said, the vast majority do not and they settle. As a result, you are well compensated without the need for a trial. However, if it does go that far, rest assured you will be in safe hands with the best possible team representing you at trial to ensure you have the best possible chance of winning your claim and recovering the maximum level of damages to which you are entitled.
For a free and no obligation discussion, please contact a member of our team at 0800 030 20 40 or email us