Who caused the injury?

To make a successful personal injury claim it is not enough to show that you suffered injury or illness
- you have to prove that your injury or illness was caused by someone else.

This is not always easy, for several reasons:

• You might be partly to blame as well
Take the case of a car, going too fast, which knocks over a little boy crossing the road at traffic lights. Clearly the driver of the car caused the accident, and would probably face a claim for personal injury - as well as a police investigation.

But what if there were no traffic lights? What if the little boy ran out into the road right in front of the car? Who is responsible then?

In this situation there is responsibility on both sides, as the accident and injuries were caused by both driver and boy. While the boy would still be able to make a compensation claim, he is likely to receive a smaller award of damages, to reflect the fact that he was partly responsible for his injuries. This responsibility is called 'contributory negligence'.

Working out whether there has been contributory negligence, and the degree of that contributory negligence, is one of the more complicated parts of making a claim for compensation.


• There might be several people to blame
Sometimes there is no one person who is clearly the cause of an accident. A multiple car pile-up, for example, may be caused by several people making driving errors at the same time. A careful investigation is necessary to work out where the responsibilities actually lie.


• The passage of time
Some injuries are not immediately obvious. Some industrial diseases take 30 - 40 years to become symptomatic, by which time it can be hard to remember - and prove - where you were exposed to the harmful substance that caused the disease.

Take the case of a contractor who suffers from noise induced deafness after many years in the shipyards, working for a number of employers. Because of the length of time involved it can be hard to work out which employer was responsible for the injury.

It is a complicated area. Give us a call on 0800 0891 331 or complete the form below, even if you don't know whether you have a valid claim for compensation. Our personal injury experts can investigate and advise you on the best way to proceed. 

Contact our Personal Injury Lawyers