In a situation where a responsible party needs to ensure public safety, being injured in an accident due to a faulty product entitles you to claim compensation. We work on a no win no fee basis, meaning there’s no financial risk to you if you don’t win your claim.
Compensation claims for injuries that don’t occur at work or on the road often fall under the umbrella of Public Liability claims. This would include injuries sustained through faulty or damaged goods, and the more widely-known slip and trip accidents which happen in public places.
However your accident happened, you will be entitled to seek compensation for your injuries if the accident wasn’t your fault. As well as a settlement for your injuries and distress, the compensation you receive will cover expenses that have resulted from your accident, such as medical costs, loss of earnings or even the loss of your job.
Examples of faulty product injury claims
Direct 2 Compensation have often helped people who have suffered injuries from damaged products and other such causes:
- In one case, an electrical item that was new, yet had a dangerous fault that meant that when it was first plugged in it caused the client to suffer full exposure to the electrical current and suffer a very painful and upsetting electric shock. The client was hospitalised (after emergency ambulance treatment) and required cardiac care. He has spent the past 6 weeks receiving medical care from both his GP and hospital as well as being left with muscle and soft tissue pain in the left arm and shoulder. His query to us was about making a claim against the product maker on the grounds of a faulty product. As with most members of the public, he knew about claiming for things such as whiplash but was not aware of his rights in this matter. After his contact with us, he now knows that he has a viable claim. He had ensured that he had reported the matter to the seller and manufacturer and still has the receipt from the recent purchase of the faulty item.
- Mrs. H attended a hair salon to have her hair cut and a colour change ahead of her son’s wedding. The stylist failed to carry out an allergy test and simply changed the colour of her hair. Unfortunately, our client suffered a severe allergic reaction to the hair dye and ended up in A&E with a swollen face, blotchy skin and scabs all through her scalp. Some hair fell out and she forced to attend her son’s wedding not looking as well as she would like. She received financial compensation for the injuries and distress, but nothing could make up for the fact that she was not looking her best at her son’s wedding.
- Mr. P purchased a well known brand of ready made pie. He bit in to the pie and snapped a tooth as there was a small piece of metal in the pie. His dental bill exceeded £2,000. He received £4,000 in compensation.
What you need for a successful faulty product claim
In terms of the injury side of the claim, there has to be a recognised injury and medical treatment has to have been sought and received by the claimant. Most injured clients get medical treatment in A&E or from their GP, or a chiropractor, osteopath or physio. This provides medical evidence, and if it’s noted on your medical records, it can be proven what injury you had.
It’s not enough to just be injured, the injury has to be severe enough to provide a sufficient level of quantum to enable the claim to be placed with a specialist personal injury solicitor. Quantum is the posh Latin term for value of the claim used in the legal world. To ensure that the injury value is sufficient, it is usually the case that an injured client will need to have suffered from their injury for a period of 4 weeks or more. Therefore, if you sprained your ankle mildly and recovered within a fortnight, you would struggle to bring a claim. But if you sprained your ankle badly, tearing the ligaments and spent 6 weeks on crutches and then had 5 physio sessions, your claim would easily pass the quantum test.
For the sake of a claim, its always best to ensure that your GP is made aware of any ongoing problems with an injury. If your injuries don’t settle and you notice discomfort a few weeks or months later, or if you’re not sleeping or feeling depressed because of your injuries, make sure it’s on your medical records.
The basic claim rules are this:
- Your accident must be someone else’s fault
- You must report your accident to the 3rd party
- You must seek medical attention for your injuries
If you believe that you have a claim that is worth pursuing our specialist team only need a couple of minutes of your time to ascertain whether or not the cause of your injury will merit a successful claim for compensation.
Simply call our offices on 01225 430285 or we can .
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