Public Liability Cases - Assembling Evidence & Getting Results

In public liability matters, there are fundamentally 5 areas in which evidence can be collected to ensure that a comprehensive investigation and assessment of the claim has been established.

It is imperative however, that we have the permission of our clients to seek the evidence from various institutions and treatment providers. This is facilitated by way of a signed authority from the client, including a medical authority, freedom of information authority and a Health Insurance Commission authority.

(1) Medical Evidence:

First and foremost, medical evidence will be derived to document the physical and psychological injuries and disabilities that have been incurred due to an accident.

Various sources will be relied upon to provide the medical evidence, and this will include contemporaneous evidence from suppliers such as the hospital which the client may have attended upon. A request made to the hospital will provide an Ambulance Report, the admission notice, the clinical notes and oftentimes surgery reports, as well as the discharge notice.

Also, treatment providers, i.e. a general practitioner, physiotherapists, psychologists, counsellors, etc will also be relied upon to provide clinical notes and progress reports to document the claimant‘s injuries.

Indeed, it may also be necessary to commission a report from a claimant’s treatment provider to provide insight into the nature and extent of the injuries and the consequent impact on the claimant’s life, economic standing, and treatment needs.

This process of collecting all the medical evidence will culminate in the commissioning of a medico-legal report by a specialist medico-legal doctor nominated by the firm. It is common practice that such a report will not be requested until there is confirmation from the treatment providers that the claimant’s injuries have indeed stabilised. The general rule of thumb is that stabilisation will normally occur approximately 9-12 months after the date of the accident.

The medico-legal report is of great importance, as this will provide an indication as to the extent of the damages that can be claimed for the claimant’s injuries. This will be ascertained by the percentage of bodily impairment nominated by the medico-legal doctor. This percentage will then be converted into a monetary figure by making reference to specific charts and legislative provisions.

(2) Liability Evidence:

Liability evidence is pertinent to prove that the defendant is indeed at fault for the subject accident and therefore should be responsible for compensating the claimant for their damages.

One of the most common sources of liability evidence is the claimant’s statement. Witnesses of the accident can also provide liability evidence by way of a statement.

If indeed liability may be a sticking point in a claim, it is common practice to commission a liability report whereby an investigator trained in that particular field of law, i.e. slip and fall expert, will attend upon the place of the accident and comment upon the issues of liability.

Photographs of the accident site and sketches are also invaluable forms of liability evidence.

(3) Economic Loss:

It is not unusual for people who have been in an accident to be unable to return to work for an indefinite period of time, or at least to return to work on modified duties. As a result, a claimant may suffer financial loss as result of their injuries. This loss may be for a closed period of time, i.e. claimants may be unable to return to work for three months and then resume their pre-accident duties. Others may however, be unable to return to work or be deemed fit to return to work on modified duties or sometimes consider a complete change of employment. Consequently, claimants may suffer economic los in the future, also.

In order to quantify past economic loss, it is vital that clients instruct their solicitor the periods in which they did not work. It is also of great import that clients provide notices of assessment, group certificates, pay slips for the period three years before the date of the accident and the period thereafter.

It may also be necessary to obtain an economic loss report from a specialist economic loss expert.

(4) Gratuitous & Paid Care:

Claimants may also find that their injuries have greatly impeded upon their lifestyle to the extent that they are unable to attend to daily tasks as before the accident.

It is quite common for claimants to be unable to attend to personal hygiene, dressing, cooking, cleaning, everyday household chores, etc. Therefore, claimants will often be the recipient of gratuitous care and assistance from family and friends. Or, claimants may employ gardeners, maids, etc to assist.

As the law stands, a claimant may be entitled to receive compensation for past gratuitous care if it meets the threshold of 6 hours of assistance per week for 6 months. Statements from the caregivers can support such a claim, as can invoices for paid assistance.

(5) Medication, Treatment & Travel Expenses:

Claimants are also entitled to recover expenses that they have incurred for medication, treatment and travel. Again, invoices and receipts are essential to buttress these claims.

How We Help You Prepare Your Claim & Get The Best Results

Here at Gerard Malouf & Partners we pride ourselves on our aggressive pursuit of securing our client’s entitlements to full and complete compensation. We have over 20 years of specialised expertise in personal injury law, and we are prepared to take the gambit and take on claims other firms simply will not.

Having extensive expertise at our fingertips, we will guide our clients through their claim every step of the way. With client satisfaction at the core of our ethos, we have implemented a streamlined process which takes all the stress and anxiety out of the pursuit of legal action, and our clients’ feedback has been most promising.