No matter under what situation you have sustained an injured knuckle, in order to make claims for knuckle injury compensation claims in Ireland, the accident in which you sustained the injury must be a consequence of the carelessness of somebody who had a responsibility of a duty of care towards you. The person did not have to be physically present when your knuckle injury occurred in order to claim compensation for injuring a knuckle – just that their negligence was the reason why your knuckle injury occurred.
Often, it may not even be one person against whom an injured knuckle claim for compensation is made. Compensation claims for knuckle injuries can be made against corporate bodies, local councils and State agencies who have failed in their duty of care to protect you from foreseeable risks and, once it is established that the incident in which your knuckle was injured could have been prevented had greater care been taken by one of these “third parties”, you will be eligible to make a claim for injuring a knuckle and recover compensation for your injury.
Establishing Negligence in a Claim for Injuring a Knuckle
In most scenarios, the procedure for making compensation claims for knuckle injuries in Ireland is to submit an application for assessment to the Injuries Board; who will then contact the person(s) named on your application and request their consent to proceed with an assessment of your injured knuckle claim for compensation. The analysis of knuckle injury compensation claims is only carried out when consent from the “respondent” has been obtained.
At this point, there is no need for you to submit evidence of negligence in support of a claim for injuring a knuckle; however, in the event that the respondent declines their consent, you may then have to pursue compensation for injuring a knuckle through the courts. Court action is not always necessary, as many claims for knuckle injury compensation claims in Ireland are resolved by negotiation; however, in order to get a satisfactory resolution of your claim for injuring a knuckle, it is in your best interests that negligence is established before an injury claim is started.
In order for a party or parties to be considered liable for your knuckle injury, it has to be determined that they owed you a “duty of care” and failed to perform that duty of care when your knuckle was injured. For example, a car driver has a duty of care to avoid causing an accident, an employer has a duty of care to maintain a safe environment in which to work and places of public access have a duty of care to stop hazards which may lead to an accident in which a knuckle injury is sustained.
However, a duty of care is not always “absolute”. This means, for example, that if you injure your knuckle after slipping and falling in a shop on liquid that had only been spilled by the shopper in front of you immediately before your accident, and the shop staff had not had a “reasonable” period of time in which to react to and remove the hazard, you would not be justified in seeking compensation for injuring a knuckle.
Making Compensation Claims for Knuckle Injuries
The process for making compensation claims for knuckle injuries in Ireland is to make an application for assessment to the Injuries Board. This can be done by submitting a hard copy of the Assessment Form A or by initiating your application for the assessment of compensation for injuring a knuckle injury online (except in the case of knuckle injury compensation claims for children). Your application for assessment should also feature your doctor´s medical assessment of your injured knuckle injury (Assessment Form B) and receipts for any financial costs you are claiming.
Once the Injuries Board Ireland obtains authorisation from the negligent party to proceed with an assessment, you may need to undergo a further medical examination to determine the extent of your knuckle injury – after which the Injuries Board will issue a “Notice of Assessment” informing you and the negligent party of how much they have assessed your claim for injuring a knuckle for. If both you and the negligent party confirm the Injuries Board´s assessment of your injured knuckle claim for compensation, an “Order to Pay” is made and your claim will be settled by the negligent party´s insurance company.
Third Party Capture and Compensation Claims for Knuckle Injuries
Insurance companies are often alerted to potential compensation claims for knuckle injuries long before their customer is contacted by the Injuries Board for consent to assess your claim. Reports made in Accident Report Books and direct contact from clients can provoke insurance companies to make an unsolicited approach to possible plaintiffs with an offer of knuckle injury compensation claims while they are still in recovery from their knuckle injury and at their most vulnerable.
Although offers of compensation for injuring a knuckle may be appreciated at a time when you may be worried about your short term finances, the offers seldom reflect your full entitlement of compensation for the knuckle injury you sustained and should be mentioned to a solicitor at once. If you accept an insurance company´s offer of knuckle injury compensation claims without first seeking professional advice, and it later proves to be inadequate to cover your medical costs or support your family, you cannot return to the insurance company and make another injured knuckle claim for compensation.
Litigating Knuckle Injury Compensation Claims in Ireland
The thought of court action may sometimes dissuade plaintiffs from pursuing compensation claims for knuckle injuries; however insurance companies are often even less willing to litigate an injured knuckle claim for compensation in court. The costs of litigation in Ireland are significant and, no matter how justified the insurance company feel they are in rejecting their policyholder´s responsibility for your knuckle injury, the financial risk they are pursuing (that a court will find in your favour) often results in an out of court settlement of compensation for injuring a knuckle without the admitting liability.
This is particularly true when litigation in court may be needed to resolve a dispute over how much your claim for injuring a knuckle is worth. Courts do not look favourably upon financial disputes of this nature, and both parties will be encouraged to seek a knuckle injury compensation claims settlement before an appearance in court is required. With the majority of compensation claims for knuckle injuries in Ireland, your solicitor will approach the negligent party´s insurers at the same time as an assessment is submitted to the Injuries Board, and can advise you at an early stage whether or not court action to settle your claim for injuring a knuckle is a possibility.
Compensation Claim for Injuring a Knuckle: Summary
No two compensation claims for knuckle injuries in Ireland are identical – regardless of the similarity of the circumstances of the accident – and it is always in your best interests to talk about your accident and knuckle injury with a solicitor at the first available moment. A solicitor will be able to help with potential issues such as establishing liability for your knuckle injury, gathering evidence of negligence on your behalf and making sure that your application for the assessment of knuckle injury compensation claims to the Injuries Board properly reflects the consequences that your injured knuckle have made to your quality of life.
A knuckle injury can often be a debilitating experience, and although no amount of compensation for injuring a knuckle can ever make up for the negligence of the person who was to blame for your injury, it costs nothing to find out whether you have an injured knuckle claim for compensation which it is worth your while to pursue. For this reason, you are advised to discuss your eligibility to make a compensation claim for injuring a knuckle with a solicitor at the first practical opportunity.