Accident at work! Advice please

preciousb

Hi there,

just wanted to know if anyone can shed some light on the situation. My mother had an accident at work over 3 years ago and it has caused an injury. Only recently we have found ut that the injury is due to her fall and not a medical condition.

Can she still claim with a company for loss of earnings etc? Or do companies only do it for up to 3 years?

Any advice will be helpful.

Thank You

papasmurf1cx

Normally a Personal Injury action must be done within 3 years of the originating incident. However in some cases the Limitation Act 1980 can vary this from the time the person becomes aware of the cause. What kind of injury is it and how have you become aware that the accident was the cause? You may need qualified legal advice. Are you insured for Legal Protection?

preciousb

It is a knee injury (tissue damage).

We have come to know this because she had tissue damage and when they operated it was from a fall of some sort and she has not fallen at all apart from at work.

As far as im aware we are not insured for legal protections.

papasmurf1cx

I think you need to see a solicitor as you may be out of time. Have a look in your Home Contents Insurance you may find cover there. Otherwise it could be a NWNF route. It must have been painful, what is the prognosis?

preciousb

Operation was succesful but after 5 months she is still struggling with balancing and pain with bending her knee. I will look into this information and thank you for your help.

papasmurf1cx

Also you coud go over to the Consumer Action Group forum where they have a legal issues forum. I am positive some lawyers will advise. I looked on MSE and can't see a forum that is similar to that one.

Crazy_Jamie

Ordinarily a personal injury claim must be brought within three years of the date of the accident. However, there are two potential avenues by which your mother could succeed in this case.

The first is that, contrary to popular belief, the limitation period doesn't begin to run until the Claimant has knowledge (or constructive knowledge) that they suffered an injury that was attributable to the negligence of another. Ordinarily this is at the date of the accident, so most people assume that time starts running then. However, if your mother only realised that her injury was attributable to the negligence of another recently, then she may still be within limitation. A word of caution though; the standard has an objective part to it, so it may be deemed that your mother should have realised that she suffered some injury at the time of the fall. This depends on the nature of the injury and whether your mother realising that at the time was realistic or not. It will require a more detailed analysis of the evidence than I can provide over a set of forums.

The second avenue is, if limitation has expired, the Courts have a discretion to disapply the limitation period under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980. This is purely discretionary, and will often be determined when looking at the prejudice that the delay has caused to the proposed Defendant. If evidence that could potentially be used to determine the issue has been destroyed, for example, then an application under this section would be less likely to succeed.

The advice here is to consult a solicitor. They will be able to look over the information in the case and give you an indication on whether or not the limitation point is going to be fatal to your claim, and at the same time can give you an indication as to wider prospects of success. A further word of advice though; from the sounds of things a solicitor should be taking this claim by way of CFA (Conditional Fee Agreement), or 'no win no fee'. There is nothing dodgy about that; it is standard practice in personal injury claims, and you should have the protection of that system here. Legal Cover with your insurance is not necessary. If no solicitor will take this on a CFA, it should be taken as an indication that your claim is weak and unlikely to succeed because, to be frank, if a solicitor is of the opinion that this claim as a higher than 50% chance of success, they will take it on a CFA.