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“What are Special Damages?”

I have read your website and since I see this term appear regularly I must ask “What are special damages?”

he term “special damages” refers to income you have lost or costs you have acquired which are connected to the personal injury* for which you are claiming compensation and, if your application for an assessment to the Injuries Board Ireland contains a substantial amount of personal injury* special damages, you would be advised to complete your application online.

The online application provides you with a lot more space for elaborating on what special damages you have, as Part 8 (“Special Damages”) allows you to state the amount you are claiming for loss of wages and Part 9 (“Medical and Other Expenses”) provides text boxes which permits for thousands of characters to be entered – compared with the somewhat small area on the paper copy of Application Form A.

You should have as much space as you need to give specifics of the special damages for a personal injury* you wish to claim and, by completing your claim online, you will also be able upload copies of your supporting documents and retain your original receipts – rather than post them to Cork with the hard copy application form.

Your online personal injury* special damages claim is saved on the Injuries Board secure server and you are assigned with a unique user number and password. Assuming you have access to a private computer, this would allow you to return to your online application form and amend it if needs be or to follow the progress of your claim for injury compensation.

It is advisable to consult an experienced solicitor who will be able to answer the question “what are special damages?” in relation to your personal circumstances and personal injury* compensation claim. The solicitor will also be able to make sure every item which is eligible for special damages is sufficiently accounted for – especially since personal injury* special damages often comprises a substantial part of a compensation claim.