What is an eye injury compensation claim?

An injury to one or both of your eyes, either permanent or temporary, could have a devastating impact on your life. If the injury happened because another party acted negligently then you may be able to make a claim for compensation.

Here at Beacon Law we have a track record of handling successful eye injury claims. We understand that no amount of compensation can truly make up for an injury to something as important as an eye, but it can play a major role in your recovery and rehabilitation.

At the same time, claiming compensation for an eye injury can make sure that you aren’t impacted financially as well as physically and psychologically, while the team at Beacon Law will do all they can to help you access any wider help available.

If you’ve suffered an eye injury of any kind and think it happened because another party acted negligently then contact our personal injury solicitors today. After a free no obligation consultation we’ll explain whether you have good grounds for an eye injury claim and how the process works if you have.

When we process eye injury claims we work in a supportive and empathetic manner, giving you space to concentrate on your recovery while we do everything we can to win the compensation that could help put your life back together.

Can I claim compensation for an eye injury?

You can claim compensation for an eye injury in the following circumstances:

• You suffered an eye injury of some kind. This could range from a minor temporary injury to permanent loss of sight, and can affect one eye or both.
• The injury happened because another party with a duty of care to you was negligent in some way. This could involve medical negligence, an accident in the workplace, a road traffic accident or a faulty product.
• You can show a direct link between the negligence of the other party and the eye injury you suffered.

If your eye injury meets these criteria then you should be able to claim compensation, whether the injuries are mild and temporary or severe and life-changing. The nature of your eye injuries will impact the amount of compensation that could be awarded but not whether you can make a claim.

Although most eye injury claims are made by the injured individual it is possible to claim on behalf of family members who are unable to claim.

This could be the case if the injured person is a child, or if they lack the mental capacity to claim on their own behalf.

How much compensation can I claim for an eye injury?

The amount of compensation awarded for a successful eye injury claim could range from around £5,000 for a minor eye injury from which you’ll make a full recovery up to more than £500,000 for an injury which causes permanent loss of sight in both eyes. The exact amount will depend upon the specific nature of your eye injury and factors including the following:

• How bad any sight loss is and whether it is permanent or temporary in nature
• Whether you have been injured in one eye or both
• The impact it has had on the quality of your life in general and your ability to earn a living

Any compensation awarded for your eye injury claim will be made up of amounts called general damages and special damages. These are calculated as follows:

General Damages

General damages are paid on the basis of the specific nature of your eye injury, and in particular:

• The severity of your injury
• The pain and distress caused by the injury
• The ways in which the injury stops you doing things like enjoying family life and pursuing hobbies and interests.

General damages are calculated using amounts set out in the Judicial College Guidelines.

This is a publication which sets out compensation ranges for specific injuries, including eye injuries.

Examples taken from the latest edition include the following:

• Total loss of sight in one eye – £60,130 to £66,920
• Temporary loss of sight – £4,820 to £10,660
• Temporary eye injury with recovery expected in a few weeks – £2,690 to £4,820

When we handle your eye injury claim we’ll make an estimate of the general damages you are likely to receive based on a medical evaluation of your injuries. If this estimate changes at any time we’ll communicate this new information quickly and in jargon-free, easily understood language.

No matter what the exact nature of your eye injury is, we will always work to get the full amount of any compensation you’re entitled to, never settling for anything less than the amount you deserve.

Special Damages

Special damages are an amount paid to compensate for the financial impact of your eye injury. They should be enough to ensure that your financial position is no worse than it would have been if the accident had never happened.

In the first instance, this means an amount to cover any earnings or pension provision lost because of the impact your eye injury has on your ability to earn a living as you used to. In addition to this, special damages are paid to reimburse any money which you have to spend as a direct result of your injuries.

Expenses covered by special damages include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Money spent on medical treatment linked to your eye injury, now and in the future
• Money spent on care provision which has to be purchased because of your eye injury, now and in the future
• An amount to reflect any time spent by friends and family caring for you as a result of your eye injury
• Any money you have to spend on special equipment needed because of your eye injury
• Any money spent on adjustments which have to be made to your home because of the effects of your eye injury
• Money spent on travelling to and from medical appointments needed because of your eye injury
• Money spent on counselling or therapy directly linked to the impact of your eye injury

When we handle eye injury claims we work closely with clients to make sure that they know exactly what they are entitled to claim for as expenses, and how to keep records showing exactly what they’ve had to spend.

We take charge of everything involved in making sure you get the compensation you’re entitled to, so that you are free to concentrate on recovering from an upsetting and destabilising injury.

How to make an eye injury compensation claim?

Making an eye injury compensation claim probably sounds like a daunting prospect, especially in the aftermath of an accident which has impacted your sight.

We understand that it’s probably the last thing on your mind, and that’s why we work as hard as we can to make sure that claiming fair compensation for an eye injury that wasn’t your fault is broken down into simpler individual steps:

Prior to starting your claim you should seek immediate medical attention if you’re involved in an accident which injures your eyes. Prompt treatment will maximise the chance of any recovery at the same time as making sure that there’s an official record of your injuries as and when they happened.

You should also report the accident that caused your eye injury to the relevant authorities. This could be your employer, the police in the case of a road traffic accident or the party responsible for safety in a public place.

In most personal injury cases we would recommend collecting evidence at the scene of the accident, such as photographs. We realise this could be difficult or even impossible when dealing with an eye injury, but even if nobody else is able to collect photographic evidence we will still be able to build a compelling case for compensation.

Get in touch with Beacon Law if you think you may be able to claim compensation. We offer a free, no obligation consultation, during which we’ll take the time to listen to you explaining what happened.

If we think it sounds like you could be entitled to compensation we’ll explain how the process works and, if you agree, we’ll immediately get to work gathering evidence on your behalf.

As a family firm we treat each claimant as an individual person, not just a claim number, so as well as offering expert legal advice we’ll provide empathetic support and advice on accessing help coming to terms with your injuries.

We’ll start by taking a detailed statement from you, setting out the details of your eye injury, including how it happened and the impact it has had.

We’ll book a medical examination on your behalf with a trusted expert in the field. This will enable us to gain a full understanding of your eye injury in the aftermath of the accident and what the prognosis is for any recovery.

We’ll also access your wider medical history such as the records of any treatment you received immediately following your eye injury

We’ll gather the evidence needed to show that the accident which led to your eye injury happened because someone else was negligent. The evidence in question could include the following:

• The accounts of any witnesses to the accident which caused your eye injury
• If the accident which caused your eye injury was covered by CCTV cameras – as is likely with a road traffic accident or slip, trip or fall in a public place – then we’ll track down any footage available.

If your eye injury claim is based on a road traffic accident we will gather the names, contact and insurance details of anyone else involved

We’ll get a copy of any official account of the accident, such as a police report or a workplace accident book

We’ll gather evidence of your income before and after the accident if it has been impacted, such as payslips and bank statements

We’ll gather evidence of expenses related to your injury, such as bills and receipts

We’ll set out details of any time friends and family have spent caring for you free of charge

We’ll encourage you to keep a journal of the recovery process, detailing the impact your eye injury is having on your life in real time. Keeping an account of this kind will help to record the physical and psychological impact of your eye injury while it is still fresh in your mind.

We’ll contact the party we think was negligent, informing them that you are claiming compensation. The strength of the case we build and our experience of dealing with eye injury claims mean that many parties admit liability when we contact them in this way.

We always work to settle claims as quickly as possible, using our skill in dispute resolution to reach an agreed settlement without having to go to court. We’ve got more than 200 years’ worth of combined experience of making claims of this kind, and we know how to deal with bodies such as insurers in a calm but firm manner.

Despite wanting to process claims as quickly as possible and get the compensation you deserve, we never settle for anything less than 100% of the amount you’re entitled to. In some cases, liability is admitted but the complex nature of your eye injuries might mean it takes longer to arrive at a fair compensation settlement.

In cases such as this we will apply for interim payments to cover your expenses such as medical bills until a final compensation amount is agreed. If interim payments are made, the amount will be deducted from any final compensation agreed.

In a small number of eye injury claims it is impossible to agree liability, or a fair compensation payment. If this happens then the claim will be settled in court, and our experts will be by your side throughout, presenting your evidence and arguing firmly on your behalf.

Choosing the right solicitor for an eye injury claim

Choosing the right eye injury solicitor is vitally important when it comes to claiming the compensation you’re entitled to.

Here at Beacon Law we can point to an impressive track record of making serious personal injury and medical negligence claims, experience that could prove vital when it comes to claiming any compensation you’re entitled to.

We know exactly how to build a case proving that an eye injury was caused by negligence, and what a fair settlement would be in each individual case. We never settle for less than 100% of the compensation you’re entitled to, including lost earnings and expenses which you shouldn’t have to cope with on your own.

As well as legal expertise and experience we offer an empathetic and supportive approach to compensation claims. We treat you as a person, not just a case number, and our experts are always on hand to offer one-to-one advice in a friendly and jargon-free manner.

As well as working to get the compensation you deserve we’ll help you to access the support which is available to help with the recovery and rehabilitation process, and we’ll do all of this on a no win no fee basis. Our no win no fee approach means that you won’t have to pay anything as we build your claim, gather evidence and negotiate on your behalf.

We’ll only ever take a fee if your claim is successful and the compensation has been paid, and it will never be more than 25% of the money awarded. If your claim fails then the costs of the other side will be covered by insurance we take out on your behalf.

Our no win no fee approach means that you don’t have to worry about fees, costs or hidden charges when you’ve suffered an eye injury. If you’ve been injured through negligence then you can claim the compensation you’re entitled to without having to ask if you can afford to do so.

We think that fair compensation should be available to everyone, so if you’ve suffered an eye injury because another party was negligent then please contact us today and find out exactly how Beacon Law will work on your behalf.

What is the time limit for making an eye injury claim?

There is a statutory time limit of 3 years in place on making compensation claims of this kind, running from the date of the accident. If there is a delay between the event which causes the eye injury and diagnosis – if the eye injury has been caused by long term working conditions or is the result of medical negligence such as misdiagnosis, for example – then the 3 year limit will run from the date of diagnosis.

When the 3 year period has passed you will no longer be able to make an eye injury claim, with a few exceptions:

• If you were under 18 years of age at the time of the accident then the 3 years will run from your 18th birthday to your 21st
• If you were unable to start a claim during the 3 year period due to being ‘mentally incapacitated’ then the 3 year time limit will run from the date of your regaining mental capacity

Despite the 3 year limit on eye injury claims we would always recommend starting any claim as soon as possible after the accident in question. The sooner we can start working on your claim, the sooner you’ll get any compensation you’re entitled to, and the claim itself will be stronger if the events are still fresh in your mind.

No win no fee eye injury claims

We handle eye injury claims on a no win no fee basis. In simple terms this means the following:

• You pay nothing up-front, or while we gather evidence, build your claim and negotiate on your behalf
• You only have to pay us a ‘success fee’ if your claim is successful, and only after you have actually received your compensation. The amount we take will never be more than 25%, leaving you to keep the majority of your compensation.
• If your claim is unsuccessful then the costs of the other party will be covered by After the Event (AtE) insurance which we take out on your behalf

Our no win no fee approach means that you can pursue a compensation claim if you think you have been injured through negligence without having to worry about whether you can afford to do so.

There are no hidden fees or extra charges, just a completely transparent approach which means you get to keep the majority of any compensation awarded.