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Amount of Compensation

In order to promote consistency and assist the courts, personal injury solicitors and other advisers, the Judicial Studies Board publish a set of guidelines for the level of injury awards for a broad range of injuries. The information, which follows, has been taken from those guidelines. Whilst the guidelines are very useful and provide a good general indicator of the level of damages which may be paid, it should be remembered that no two cases are ever the same and general damage claims for injuries resulting from accidents will always reflect the individual circumstances of the particular in dividual and the injuries he or she has suffered and claims will be assessed accordingly.

Accidents Leading to Leg Injuries Compensation Claims

In accidents where the injuries to the legs are below the knees and the compensation is sought for amputation of the legs below the knees, the range of settlement will be lower. Compensation within the bracket £105,000 and £140,000 should expect to be paid.

Where the personal injury claim is for compensation for above knee amputation of one leg only, the claim should be settled within the region £50,000 and £72,500. Within that scale, variations in the amount paid would depend upon the degree of pain and discomfort continuing to be felt by the accident victim together with the difficulty of fitting a prosthesis and the occurrence of psychological conditions such as depression.

Below knee amputation of one leg, would attract a personal injury award of between £47,500 and £67,500. Claims would be settled at the lower end of this bracket where the injury was uncomplicated and greater sums would be paid depending upon factors such as the number of operations taken to achieve the final state of the leg and particularly where amputation took place after several operations and amputations took place several years after the accident.

Moving down the scale of claims settlement, sums in the region of £50,000 to £70,000 wpuld be paid for the most serious injuries  which do not actually require amputation. Claims would be settled within this bracket where, for example, the legs were very extensively fractured and, perhaps, bone grafting and the insertion of pins and plates was required. In many claims settled within this range, there will have been marked shortening of one or both legs.

Where the accident results in serious injuries to the legs but those injuries are not quite as severe as those in the bracket above, claims for personal injury compensation should expect to be settled for between £28,500 and £43,750. Typically, within this range, the accident victim will have sustained personal injuries such as multiple fractures that have taken years to heal but have left the victim continuing to suffer pain and restrictions in mobility. There will usually be the potential for the early onset of arthritis in claims settlement within this bracket.

In compensation claimsfor personal injuries to the legs such as serious injuries to the joints or ligaments with a resultant loss in stability of the joint coupled with lengthy treatment periods and the inevitability of arthritis, claims may be settled between £20,000 and £28, 500. Typically, claims for personal injury settled in this range, will feature items such as hip replacement and extensive scarring.

Personal injury claims may be paid within the range £14,500 and £20,000 where there are serious complicated or multiple fractures. Once again, typically, the injuries will not have healed perfectly and there may be some reduction in muscle mass, the knee joint may be unstable and there may be reasonably extensive scarring and cosmetic disfigurement.

Where the accident resulted in fractures which are uncomplicated but which leave a degree of instability or disability, claims for compensation for personal injury may be settled within the bracket £9,250 and £14, 500. Characteristically, within this range, the accident victim will be left with a degree of sensory loss and perhaps some pain and discomfort.

A personal injury compensation claimant may receive up to £7,250 in claims where there is a simple fracture of the femur which heals in an uncomplicated way. Up to £4,750 may be the level of personal injury claims settlement where a complete recovery from fracture of the tibia of fibula has been made. Accident victims suffering soft tissue injuries, cuts and bruises and, perhaps, a very minor degree of cosmetic scarring would receive lesser sums in compensation.