This article delves upon certain important issues pertaining to personal injury.

Personal injury can either be a physical injury, disease or illness or a psychological injury or illness and could also possibly result in death. Examples of personal injuries are: injury at work, psychological illness caused by stress at work, injury caused in a traffic accident, injury received as a result of faulty goods or services, injury caused if you trip over paving stones, psychological illness suffered as a result of abuse as a child, injury caused by errors in hospital treatment or by vaccinations (medical negligence). Physical or psychological injury sustained by a victim in the course of a crime, psychological illness caused by discrimination or harassment in your work place etc.

Whatever you are intending to do about your personal injury, actions you could take the following steps:

• In relevant cases inform the police if, for example, the injury resulted from a road accident.
• If the injury resulted from a road accident, report it to your insurance company.
• If the injury resulted from an accident at work, you should notify your employer and the accident must be recorded in the accident book. Your employer has a legal responsibility to report the accident to the Health and Safety Executive or the local authority environmental department and can be prosecuted if they fail to do so.
• Reporting the injury to your doctor because it could become more serious. You should do this even if the injury seems minor. If you subsequently go to court to get compensation for the injury, the doctor will be asked to provide a medical report.
• Gather evidence about the accident and injuries. For example, it may be useful to take photographs of the scene of an accident and of what caused the injury. You should also, if possible, write an account of the incident while details are still fresh in your mind. If there are witnesses, you should make a note of their names and addresses.

If you have sustained a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence you may be able to claim two types of compensation, general damages and special damages.

1. General Damages: These cover non-financial losses and most commonly relate to the physical or psychological injuries that have been sustained in the incident. The court will decide on the amount to be paid. Things that can be claimed for include:Damages for pain and suffering.This includes the injuries themselves, the suffering caused by them as well as possible future suffering,Loss of amenity.Covers everything that reduces the enjoyment and pleasure of life. An example of this would be a keen guitarist who can no longer use his hands or a woman who was blinded and is unable to ever see her children again,Loss of congenial employment.A personal injury sustained may make it difficult to find a specific job in the future

2. Special Damages: These are the financial losses and expenses that may arise, in addition to the compensation for the actual injury, because of the accident. These are paid for actual financial loss caused by the accident up to the date of the hearing.

When a person makes a compensation claim, responsibility for assessing the extent of a psychological personal injury will fall to a panel of independent medical experts. Through detailed analysis and observation of the claimant they will determine whether he or she has valid case for receiving personal injury compensation. More often than not, an award of damages made for a psychological personal injury forms part of a larger compensation award paid out for accompanying physical injuries.

There are different time limits within which you must begin legal action in a personal injury claim. The most common claim in an injury case is for negligence which has a three year time limit. Unless it is a extreme or unusual case, there is a time limit of three years after the incident of which you can make a claim. Legal action for compensation for a personal injury can be expensive. You may be able to get help with legal costs amongst other things from, for example a no success, no fee agreement.

A no success, no fee agreement means that your solicitor will receive no fees if you lose your case. If you win your case, your solicitor's fees and expenses will normally be paid by the other side. In certain circumstances you may, however, be required to pay the legal fees and expenses of the other side. Morgan Walker Legal Services will normally ask you to take out insurance to cover this situation.

At Morgan Walker Legal Services, we are committed to helping accident victims – individuals that have been injured in accidents that were no fault of their own. We take pride in delivering highest standards of personal advice and services to every one of our clients. Our personal injury lawyers have several years’ experience in this sphere of compensation claims and are amongst the very best compensation claims solicitors in the country.