Personal Injury Claim Time Limit
If you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence or harmed due to no fault of your own, whether at work, on the road, in public or somewhere else, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation – but how long do you have to make that claim?
There are strict time limits in place for making a personal injury claim and if you leave it too late, you may be unable to start a claim regardless of how entitled you are to compensation.
Time Limits For Personal Injury Claims
As a guide, the time limit for making a personal injury claim is normally up to 3 years from the date of the injury happening. This means, the proceedings need to be sent to the court within 3 years of you suffering your injury, so it’s a good idea to contact a solicitor as soon as possible if you’ve been injured.
There are exceptions, however, and if you only become aware of your injury or its severity a while after it happened, the time limit may apply from this point, giving you longer to claim – the courts have discretion to extend the normal time limit where appropriate.
How Long Do You Have To Make Personal Injury Claims For Children?
If you were under the age of 18 at the time of being injured, the 3-year time limit only applies from when you turn 18. This effectively means you have until your 21st birthday to start making a claim for compensation.
If your child was injured and you are making a claim on their behalf, the time limit is the same – you need to make a claim before their 21st birthday.
How Long Do You Have To Make Fatal Injury Claims?
If you have lost a loved one because of an injury or illness they suffered due to no fault of their own, the 3-year time limit for making a fatal accident claim usually starts from the date of the accident resulted in their death.
The exception to this is when the injury happened years before their death but only came to light much more recently – this happens a lot with asbestos-related illnesses, for example, when the exposure happens decades before the person’s death and only becomes apparent when they become ill shortly before dying. In these cases, the 3-year time limit begins from the date it became apparent the disease caused the death and was the result of a workplace injury.
How Long Do You Have To Make Personal Injury Claims If Lacking Capacity?
For serious injuries such as brain or spinal injuries, the individual can be left without the mental capacity to pursue a claim for personal injury compensation on their own behalf. For these individuals, there is no time limit for someone else to make a claim for them and the 3-year limit would only apply if that person regained capacity and was then able to make a claim themselves.
How Long Do You Have To Make Personal Injury Claims For Assault?
If you’ve been injured due to an assault, you can make a claim against the attacker or through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Agency (CICA) within 2 years of the assault taking place. Depending on the circumstances of your assault, you may be able to pursue compensation outside of this 2-year limit but there is no guarantee the CICA will consider your claim as they are generally very strict about the time limit. The two year time limit also applies to claims involving children who have been victims of crime.
How We Can Help You Make A Personal Injury Claim
If you’ve suffered an injury through no fault of your own or a loved one has been injured because of someone else’s negligence or deliberate actions, you may be able to make a compensation claim for yourself or on behalf of a loved one.
Our personal injury solicitors have an established track record for making successful personal injury claims and provide an effective and supportive approach throughout the whole process to ensure the best possible outcome for you.
We offer free, no-obligation advice about making a claim and would be happy to discuss the details of your potential personal injury claim with you. By ensuring we fully understand your situation, we can advise you on whether you have a right to pursue compensation and provide guidance on the best way to do so if you decide to make a claim.
To speak to one of our specialist solicitors about making a personal injury claim, contact us on 0800 988 3674 or Tel: 01244 405 399 (Chester) Tel: 01978 360056 (Wrexham) or email advice@bartletts.co.uk
