This guide aims to provide you with the essential information for making an eye injury compensation claim. If you suffered damage to your eye following an accident in the workplace, in public or on the roads because of a third party breaching the duty of care they owed you, our guide could help.
Eye Injury Compensation Claim Guide
As you read on, you can find information on the process involved in seeking compensation, including the eligibility criteria for beginning a personal injury claim as well as the time limits for starting legal proceedings and the steps you can take to strengthen your claim.
Furthermore, we will provide an overview of how personal injury settlements are calculated and what they could include as a way to address the pain and suffering you experienced because of your eye injury.
Finally, we discuss the benefits of using a No Win No Fee solicitor and the services they could potentially offer to help you seek compensation.
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to speak with an advisor from our team. They can offer free advice relating to your potential claim 24/7. To reach them, you can:
- Call on 0800 408 7827
- Contact us online
- Start a conversation with an advisor via the live chat feature below.
Choose A Section
- Eligibility Criteria For An Eye Injury Compensation Claim
- Top Tips For Making An Eye Injury Compensation Claim
- How Long Do You Have To Make An Eye Injury Claim?
- How Much Eye Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
- Make A No Win No Fee Eye Injury Compensation Claim Using Our Panel Of Solicitors
- Learn More About The Personal Injury Claims Process
Eligibility Criteria For An Eye Injury Compensation Claim
It’s important to ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria laid out below to begin a personal injury claim:
- Firstly, you need to show a third party owed you a duty of care.
- Secondly, you need to prove they breached their duty of care.
- Finally, you need to provide evidence that you suffered physical injuries, emotional harm, or both, as a result of the breach.
Together, these points define negligence, for which you could be eligible to seek personal injury compensation.
The following sections will explore the different third parties that owe you a duty of care and the legislation that outlines their responsibilities.
Road Traffic Accidents
The Road Traffic Act 1988 describes the duty of care road users owe one another. They must operate their vehicles and navigate the roads in a way that prevents causing harm to themselves and others. Additionally, the Highway Code contains rules for different road users that must be adhered to. It also contains guidance on the different responsibilities each road user has.
A failure to uphold this duty of care could result in you sustaining an eye injury in a road traffic accident. For example:
- Another road user may have failed to check their mirrors before pulling out of a side road causing them to crash into you. The impact of the crash may have shattered the glass in your windows and caused you to sustain an eye injury, such as a corneal abrasion.
- You may have sustained bruising around your eye in a rear-end collision involving a drunk driver.
If you have evidence that a road user breached the duty of care they owed you and this caused you an eye injury, a compensation claim could be made.
Accidents At Work
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) requires employers to take reasonable and practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees in the workplace. Section 2 of HASAWA, outlines some of the steps they need to take, including providing adequate training to employees and carrying out regular risk assessments and addressing any hazards that they become aware of.
A failure to uphold their duty could lead to the following accidents at work:
- An employer might fail to provide you with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety goggles. This could mean debris or chemicals come into contact with your eye when working on a construction site or with hazardous substances.
- You may slip, trip or fall on trailing leads that haven’t been covered in an office. As a result, you may hit your eye on the corner of a filing cabinet.
Accidents In A Public Place
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 requires any party in control of an area to ensure the reasonable safety of the general public that visit the premises.
A failure to do so could lead to you sustaining an eye injury in a public place accident. For example, you may have fallen down the stairs in a shopping centre due to a faulty handrail that wasn’t fixed in a reasonable timeframe. As a result, you could have sustained a laceration to your eye and a head injury.
To learn when you could be eligible to begin an eye injury compensation claim, get in touch on the number above.
Top Tips For Making An Eye Injury Compensation Claim
When beginning an eye injury compensation claim, it can be helpful to gather evidence to prove third party negligence. As such, there are several steps you could take to build your case, such as:
- Obtaining CCTV or dashcam footage of the accident.
- Keeping a personal diary detailing the treatment you required for your eye injury and the physical and mental impact it had on your life.
- Requesting a copy of your medical records, such as the results of a scan.
- Taking photographs of your injury.
- Collecting the contact details of any witnesses who could provide a statement at a later date.
It could be possible for a personal injury solicitor from our panel to represent your claim, provided it meets the eligibility criteria. They can offer services that could benefit you and your claim, including helping you to gather evidence and presenting your case in full within the relevant limitation period.
To find out more about how they could help and whether you’re eligible to access their services, please contact an advisor from our team on the number at the top of the page.
How Long Do You Have To Make An Eye Injury Claim?
Under the Limitation Act 1980, you will generally have three years to begin your personal injury claim. Typically, this starts from the date of the accident. However, exceptions can be made in certain circumstances. For example:
- If the injured person is under the age of 18, they will have three years from their 18th birthday to begin their claim. Before this point, the time limit is paused, during which time a suitable adult could apply to act as a litigation friend and claim on the child’s behalf.
- If the injured person lacks the mental capacity to claim themselves, the limitation date is suspended indefinitely. Whilst it is paused, a litigation friend who has been appointed by the courts could begin the claim on the injured person’s behalf. If the person recovers their mental capacity, they will have three years to begin their own claim from the recovery date, provided no claim has already been made for them.
To learn more about the time limits and exceptions, please get in touch via the number at the top of the page.
How Much Eye Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
As part of a successful personal injury settlement, you could be awarded compensation that addresses the different ways you have been impacted by your injury.
Firstly, compensation will be awarded for the pain and suffering you have experienced as a result of your injury under general damages. The way your injury has impacted your overall quality of life will also be considered when valuing your payout.
Legal professionals, such as personal injury solicitors, can use the Judicial College Guidelines to help them calculate the value of your eye injury. This document lists guideline award brackets, some of which we have used in the table below. Please only use these figures as a guide because the settlement you’re awarded can differ to what’s listed.
Guideline Award Brackets
| Injury Type | Severity | Award Bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Eye | Total Blindness | In the region of £268,720 |
| Eye | Loss of Sight in One Eye with Reduced Vision in the Remaining Eye (i) | £95,990 to £179,770 |
| Eye | Loss of Sight in One Eye with Reduced Vision in the Remaining Eye (ii) | £63,950 to £105,990 |
| Eye | Total Loss Of One Eye | £54,830 to £65,710 |
| Eye | Complete Loss of Sight in One Eye | £49,270 to £54,830 |
| Eye | Serious but Incomplete Vision Loss in One Eye | £23,680 to £39,340 |
| Eye | Minor but Permanent Impairment of Vision in One or Both Eyes | £9,110 to £20,980 |
| Eye | Minor | £3,950 to £8,730 |
| Eye | Transient | £2,200 to £3,950 |
Special Damages In An Eye Injury Claim
You could also receive compensation for the financial losses you have experienced as a result of your injury under special damages.
An eye injury may give rise to significant financial problems. For example, you may have needed to take time off work either temporarily or permanently due to the severity of your injury. As a result, you may have suffered a loss of earnings. If you have evidence, such as payslips, to prove this loss, you could claim it back under special damages.
Other losses you could claim back include:
- Medical expenses, such as prescription charges
- Domestic care costs
- Travel costs
For more information on the payout you could be awarded following a successful eye injury compensation claim, please get in touch on the number above.
Make A No Win No Fee Eye Injury Compensation Claim Using Our Panel Of Solicitors
The solicitors from our panel can offer their services, such as assisting you in gathering evidence and helping you build your case, under a No Win No Fee contract.
Whilst there are different types, they could offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which typically means no upfront or ongoing fees are needed for the work they provide. Furthermore, if the claim is not a success, the solicitors won’t ask for a fee for any work they have completed on your claim.
Following the completion of a successful claim, you will pay your solicitor a success fee. This amount is taken from your compensation but is subject to a legislative cap to ensure that you benefit from the majority of the compensation awarded.
Call our team for a free case assessment. If you have valid grounds to begin an eye injury compensation claim, you could be put in touch with a solicitor from our panel. To find out more, you can speak with an advisor by:
- Calling on 0800 408 7827
- Filling out our contact form
- Asking a question via the live chat feature below.
Learn More About The Personal Injury Claims Process
For more information relating to personal injury claims, you can read more of our guides below:
- A guide on how to sue your employer.
- Learn more about the personal injury claims process.
- Find out whether you could be eligible to sue a restaurant.
For more helpful resources:
- NHS – Eye Injury Information
- GOV – Statutory Sick Pay
- Health and Safety Executive – Workplace Health and Safety Statistics
Thank you for reading our helpful guide on when you could be eligible to begin an eye injury compensation claim. If you have any other questions, call an advisor on the number above.
Article by WAT
Edited by MIT