I claimed compensation for bruising injuries after a workplace accident but the Injuries Board assessment seems very low. Would it be worth my while accepting it?
It is impossible to establish whether or not you should accept the Injuries Board assessment without evaluating your compensation for bruising injuries claim. The injuries Board calculate how much compensation a plaintiff is entitled to based on the information given to them when the plaintiff submits their application for assessment and the independent medical examination the plaintiff underwent.
The Injuries Board would have looked at the specifics of your compensation for bruising injuries claim and calculated its worth accounting only for the medical facts in relation to your sex, age and general state of health prior to the accident against a value assigned to bruise injuries in the Book of Quantum. Because there is no dedicated area on either the online application or the paper version of Application Form A for you to expand on the affect your injury has had on your day to day life, the Injuries Board will have based their assessment only on what you presented.
However, your “loss of amenity” is an important element in a compensation for bruising injuries claim, if you are unable to partake in leisure and social activities you once enjoyed or cannot perform everyday tasks because the pain or visibility of the bruises.
You may also include the element of emotional trauma in your compensation for bruising injuries claim if you have experienced any form of negative effect on your emotional wellbeing because of the circumstances of your injury. It is even possible that your emotional difficulties manifested after the medical examination of your bruise injury took place and therefore would have been excluded from the information presented to the Injuries Board and omitted from the Injuries Board’s assessment.
As no two cases are ever exactly the same, due to so many variables, it is impossible to determine how much compensation you should be entitled to without an evaluation of your case which includes all possible elements, and therefore it would be extremely difficult to say if the Injuries Board assessment is worth accepting.
You would be well advised to consult with a solicitor at the first moment possible to discuss the exact circumstances of your compensation for bruising injuries claim. Your solicitor would be able to advice on whether the Injuries Board assessment is accurate and worth accepting or if you should pursue your eligibility to compensation for a bruise injury by other methods.