| QUESTIONS IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES MIGHT I HAVE A CLAIM?
If you have suffered injury or been rendered ill and you believe someone else is responsible either by their actions or their failure to take appropriate action, you may be able to claim compensation. However, you must be able to establish a certain level of failure on the part of the other person sufficient to amount to legal negligence.
Such injuries can be generated by a road accident, an accident at work or indeed accident in the course of medical care.
Furthermore, if you have suffered a tragedy of involving the death of a family member due to the action or inaction of others, you may also have a claim under the Civil Liability Act. WHO DO I SUE?
If you are injured in a road traffic accident, you may have a possible action against your own driver (if you were a passenger) and or the driver of any other vehicle involved. If the accident occurred as a result of a defect in the car itself, an action may lie against the manufacturer of the car. In addition, injuries received in a road traffic accident are further protected in that if the involved in an un-insured driver, you may still have a right to recover compensation from an fund set up by the Insurance Companies under the direction of the Government and administered by the Motor Insurer's Bureau of Ireland.If you are injured at work, the claim may lie against your employer who has a duty to ensure the premises and work processes in which you are involved are safe. If the accident occurred when you were on a particular property, you may have an action against the property owner. If it occurred in a public place, such as a public car park or street, you may have an action against the Local Authority. This action is more limited in that you must be able to show that the Local Authority failed to carry out work to a proper standard as oppose to being responsible simply for a pot hole that developed under normal ware and tear. As you can see from the above each case and set of circumstances must be examined on its own. At Neil J. Butler & Co., we have been handling litigation claims for clients for a long number of years and in addition have access to specialist personal injury consultant barristers, leaders in their field, from whom we can seek more specific advice on more difficult claims. HOW CAN I HELP THE ASSESSMENT OF MY CLAIM?
Keep a full record of what happens to you, firstly by writing down your recollection of the incident as soon as possible after it occurs. Keep a diary note of visits to doctors with notes of expenses incurred, distances travelled and wages lost. Gather together all receipts for payments made. If involved in a traffic accident get details of the name and station of the Guard who investigated at the scene, name and address of the other party and his insurance company. In particular, try to get names and addresses of any other drivers who might have seen something as they were driving behind you or behind the other driver. If you can, take photographs of the scene. Gather together wage slips, birth certs and a brief note of your medical history. Provide details of your G.P. and any consultants to whom you were referred in hospital. WHAT CAN I CLAIM FOR?
You can claim in respect of your personal injury (the pain and suffering you incur as a result of the injury). In addition you can claim the material cost of damage to your car, perhaps an element of depreciation on that, some car hire, out of pocket expenses such as loss of wages, doctor's costs, physiotherapy expenses, damage to clothing, travel expenses or special equipment that you might need to purchase a result of your injury. In certain cases you can claim for expenses that other people have suffered as a result of needing to look after you. TIME LIMITS
There are strict time limits for the taking of actions in respect of injury. These were originally covered by the Statute of Limitations Act l957 but have since become more complex due to the effect of civil liability in Courts Act 2004. These can be discussed in full with you by the Solicitors at Neil J. Butler & Co., Broadly stated, I have only two years from the date of the incident but this may not apply in every case. There are exceptions depending on your age and state of knowledge and in each case a full consultation with your Solicitor would be needed |
