When we calculate compensation in personal injury claims, the settlement amount is made up of several “heads of damage”. One of them is called Pain and Suffering. It is also known as General Damages.
In theory, how much you can get depends on the severity of your injuries. In practice, it’s a little more complicated.
Before we move on, keep in mind: the information below is relevant to Queensland personal injury claims.
If you suffer injuries in a road accident or, let’s say in a slip and fall in a shopping centre, the amount you can recover is severely limited (capped) by Queensland legislation. (More on this below.)
However, if for example, your injuries happened at a construction site where multiple companies might have been responsible for your safety, then the amount is not capped by legislation. For instance, at a construction accident, both your employer and the principal builder may be responsible for your injuries.
What all this means is that – the same injury might be worth more money depending on whose negligence caused it.
We would obtain a medical report from a specialist which sets out the nature and severity of your injuries. The specialist will also say what are the short term or long term consequences of the injuries on your wellbeing.
In addition, we also draft a statement on your behalf that sets out in detail the day-to-day difficulties which you have experienced.
Many firms try to rush you to sign up with them without carefully considering your options. We encourage you to first learn about your personal injury claim. You should ask yourself:
Our book is available to you free of charge. You don’t have to be a client to receive this book. Head to the order page and we will be happy to send you a copy straight away.
In Queensland, most compensation firms will charge you 50% of your compensation amount – the maximum allowed at law. This is very expensive. Our fee is different. We will cap our fee at 25% if we don’t have to file a claim in court. Remember also, these are the maximum fees we will charge. If our fee in your claim is less, then we charge the lesser amount.
Before you engage us, we will provide you a written Disclosure Notice and a Client Service Agreement. These documents set out in detail the service we provide, as well as our fees and outlays. Before you sign anything, you can take these documents home with you, and study them with your family. You can take as long as you need, there is never any pressure from us. If anything in these documents doesn’t make sense to you, we can discuss it with you and you are free to ask another lawyer to give you advice. And remember, no win – no fee agreements come with a 5 day cooling off period for extra peace of mind.
Denes Lawyers is a legal firm based in Springfield Lakes. We service the local suburbs of Augustine Heights, Ripley, Ipswich, Greenbank and Ipswich.