Sustaining an injury at your workplace or on the road, due to someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, may entitle you to seek compensation in certain situations. These are called personal injury claims.
In this unfortunate event, an experienced personal injury lawyer from Gouldson Legal can guide you through the process of making a claim for compensation.
Making a compensation claim is not always straightforward, which is why enlisting the services of an expert personal injuries lawyer is worth considering.
What is a personal injury claim?
A personal injury claim is a claim you lodge if you wish to seek financial compensation for any injuries you sustained because of someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions, where those injuries and circumstances have led you to sustain a financial loss.
While each personal injury claim is unique, they generally fall into one of three categories: work-related injuries, motor vehicle accidents and negligence.
Work-related injuries
Workers’ compensation lawyers can help you lodge claims for a range of injuries sustained at work due to the negligence of your employer or a co-worker.
This could include:
- On-site workplace injury
- Office workplace injury
- Fall or machinery-related injury
- Electrocutions and burns
- Psychological workplace injury
- Wrongful death.
The important thing to remember about workplace injury claims in Queensland is that there are two stages to go through:
- Statutory Compensation Benefits
- Common Law Damages.
The initial Statutory stage will see you claiming compensation from WorkCover Queensland or your employer’s self-insurer. You are not required to prove fault for this claim. This claim ends once you return to work or no longer require medical treatment.
If you can’t return to work, you may be offered a lump sum payment of compensation. We recommend not accepting this sum until you have talked to a workers’ compensation lawyer, and sought advice as to your potential rights in a damages claim.
In the second stage, you are required to prove fault (negligence). In other words, you must prove that the injuries you sustained were the direct result of your employer or co-worker’s negligence.
This is where a lawyer — like Gouldson’s workers’ compensation lawyers — may be able to help, as proving fault is not always straightforward, especially if you do not understand personal injury law in Queensland.
Motor Vehicle Accident
A motor vehicle accident lawyer can help you claim for compensation if you have been injured on the road, whether it be in a car, bus, on a motorbike, bicycle or even as a pedestrian.
After a motor vehicle accident, you will understandably be trying to come to terms with the accident and focussing on getting back to health. Therefore, lodging a compensation claim may be an added stress that you do not need, especially considering the convoluted nature of Queensland personal injury law.
A personal injury legal professional will be able to help you lodge a compensation claim for:
- Car accidents
- Motorbike accidents
- Whiplash
- Pedestrian injured in an accident
- Cycling accidents
- Hit and run accidents
- Bus-related accidents
- Truck-related motor vehicle accident
- Passenger injuries
- CTP claims.
How to make a personal injury claim in 5 steps
There are certain procedural requirements you will generally need to follow when lodging a personal injury claim.
Step 1: Report the accident or injury
In all claims processes, the initial and often most essential step is you report your injury or accident to the relevant people or authorities.
If you have been injured in the workplace, you will need to report your injury to your employer and WorkCover Queensland.
On the other hand, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, you will need to report it to the police. It is also important you obtain a traffic incident report from the Queensland Police.
Step 2: Seek professional medical advice
The next step is to seek professional medical advice from a doctor. Not only it is essential for your own health, but you may need to provide medical certificates as evidence when making a claim.
Even if you were involved in a minor car accident, it is worth seeing a medical professional, as there may be hidden injuries that are not immediately apparent. Whiplash, for example, may not be noticeable for up to 12 hours after the accident, if it all.
Step 3: Seek legal advice
We highly recommend seeking advice from a professional legal professional. A qualified legal professional will help you understand:
- Your rights
- What to do next
- Whether you have a case for a claim
- The likelihood of your claim being successful
- An estimate of the compensation you may be entitled to.
Step 4: Lodge your claim
With the assistance of your lawyer, you should lodge your claim against to the relevant authority or against the relevant party.
In Queensland, there are strict time limits in place governing when you are able to lodge a personal injury claim.
No matter the circumstances of your injury, injury claim lawyers will advise that you commence pre-court proceedings within 9 months of the injury. Court proceedings must commence within 3 years from the date of the injury, otherwise your right to file a claim may be revoked.
Finally, keep in mind that the limitation is different for children under the age of 18. We therefore recommend getting in contact with a legal professional who will provide more specific advice relating to your situation.
Step 5: Settlement
The settlement is the final step in the personal injury claims process. Damages is the term used for the financial compensation awarded to you for things like:
- Medical treatment and expenses
- Domestic care and assistance
- Loss of income
- Pain and suffering
- Any income or superannuation lost
- Reduction in quality of life
- Any other potential losses which may arise.
Receiving treatment throughout the claims process
While financial compensation is obviously important for you to maintain a good quality of life, it is also essential you look after your health throughout the claims process.
You should follow the advice of medical professionals and seek all the treatment that is recommended to you.
At the end of the day, your health always comes first.
How much compensation will I receive?
If you reach a successful settlement, the compensation you receive will depend on several variables, including:
- Your personal circumstances like your age, injuries and employment status.
- The specific circumstances of how your injuries impact your life and function at work.
- Your lawyer’s experience and skill in building the relevant evidence to support your claim.
Get in contact with a legal professional to get a better idea of how much compensation you may be able to receive.
How does lodging a personal injury claim with Gouldson work?
If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident or at work, Gouldson can help you lodge a personal injury claim.
We’ll walk you through every step of the process to ensure you feel confident and understand your rights.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, the first step is to complete a FREE case review.
By scrolling to the form at the bottom of this page, you can provide the details of your injury and have your case examined by one of our qualified lawyers — free of charge! If we think you have grounds for a claim, we’ll move forward with the claims process.
Finally, you pay our lawyers’ fees out of the settlement you win. If we don’t win, you don’t pay a cent — it’s that simple.