Head Injury Solicitors in Manchester

Head injuries can happen in various different forms, ranging from minor cuts or bruises through to severe types of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Somewhere in the vicinity of 150,000 people are admitted to hospitals in the UK each year with head injuries. While current NHS guidelines advise that it is difficult to specifically avoid head injuries, there are several key steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk of injury.

In the event that any of these risks are not properly protected against, resulting in a head injury due to the negligence of another party, then the victim of the head injury may have cause to explore a claim for compensation. Once you have enlisted an expert head injury solicitor in Manchester, you can then begin a compensation claim related to your accident, whether at home, work, on the sports field or a road incident.

An individual could have reason to claim compensation for a head injury should the incident have:

• occurred within the last three years
• been caused by another party

Successful head injury compensation claims have been won against a range of different parties, including:

• employers
• drivers
• local authorities
• reckless sports opponents

Here at Hampson Hughes, if our team of serious injury solicitors in Manchester represent your claim, we will make it our aim to demonstrate that in addition to any head injury you received being down to the incident in question, it is also a case where the defendant should be held accountable legally. This would lead to a successful claim.

We are also able to help ensure that our client receives a detailed assessment on the severity of any head injury suffered. The medical support received during a head injury compensation claim is not only a key health provision, it can also help to support any compensation assessment, ensuring the injured party receives a fair compensation amount to cover any support and/or care they may need going forward.

In addition to serious injury claims, there may also be cases where an individual is the victim of a brain injury that caused by a negligent medical professional, through an issue such as a misdiagnosis or a surgical error. This would be an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), and this type of claim – usually made against a medical facility or professional – will be represented by our experienced Clinical Negligence team.

It is often assumed that if the head injury victim did something that contributed to any head injury, that would cancel their right to make a compensation claim. This is not always true, because even if a claimant is found to share a measure of responsibility with the other party, compensation could still be awarded. This compensation would be decided in direct proportion to the measure in which specific blame has been apportioned, with this scenario leading to what is known as a ‘split-liability’ agreement.

Examples of such a head injury claim would be where an employee was offered protective headgear, but was not making use of it at the time of the incident. In this type of split-liability agreement, it is ruled that while an injured claimant is not liable for the specific incident where a head injury was suffered, they could have taken one or several specific steps that would have reduced injury risk and/or mitigated the level of harm.

The compensation awarded for different head injuries can vary a great deal, with the value depending on impact, whether short-term or life-changing. For example, a facial injury such as breaking a nose brings one level of compensation, while a serious brain injury, often bringing long-term harm, brings higher compensation amounts.

The table below features the typical compensation amounts for a few of the most common head injury claims: (total settlements factoring in treatment costs and other associated losses are often considerably more):

(Parameters in line with the latest edition of the Judicial College Guidelines – 14^th Edition, Sep 2017)

In the event that you or a loved one has suffered a head injury and are looking into beginning a legal claim, you can get in touch with our Serious Injury or Clinical Negligence legal teams today. They are available by email, web enquiry form, or telephone on 0151 236 1222. Hampson Hughes Solicitors offers the expertise of our head injury solicitors to clients around Manchester and our team can chat over our legal services with you in more depth.