If you’ve suffered a knee injury, it can have a big impact on your daily activities. It could mean you’re unable to work, drive your children to school, or participate in sports. Importantly, if you have suffered a knee injury as a result of a workplace accident, a road traffic accident, or any other type of accident caused by somebody else negligence, you may be eligible to make a knee injury claim for compensation.
In this guide to knee injury claims, we’ll explain when you might be compensated for a torn knee ligament, bursitis, ligament damage, a fractured kneecap, and other knee injuries.
As we progress, we will explain what type of accidents commonly lead to knee injury claims. Also, we’ll look at how you prove that your knee injury was caused by somebody else’s negligence. If you’d like to know how much compensation for a knee injury you might be paid, we’ve included average payout amounts too.
Table of contents
- Am I Eligible To Make A Knee Injury Compensation Claim?
- Common Causes Of Knee Injury Claims
- Common Types Of Injuries To Knees
- How Much Compensation Will I Get For A Knee Injury Claim?
- Evidence To Support A Knee Injury Claim
- Time Limits For Claiming Knee Injury Compensation
- How Long Does The Process Of Claiming Knee Injury Compensation Take?
- Do I Need A Personal Injury Solicitor To File A Knee Injury Claim?
- Starting The Knee Injury Claims Process
Am I Eligible To Make A Knee Injury Compensation Claim?
If you suffer a knee injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you are well within your rights to seek compensation. Your claim should cover any pain and suffering you’ve endured as well as any loss of amenity. Furthermore, it should ensure you don’t lose out financially too.
Generally, you may be eligible to make a knee injury claim for compensation if you can prove that:
- The person/party responsible for the injury (the defendant) owed you a duty of care; and
- Due to their negligence, that duty was breached and an accident occurred; and
- As a result, you sustained a knee injury.
If you are wondering if you’re eligible to make a knee injury claim, our team can help. A specialist advisor will review your case in a no-obligation telephone consultation and give advice on your options. Where there appear to be grounds to proceed, they could pass your claim to one of our personal injury solicitors. Importantly, you won’t need to pay solicitor’s fees unless you’re compensated because ours work on a No Win No Fee basis.
Can I Claim Compensation For A Knee Injury If It Was Partly My Fault?
Depending on the specific circumstances of your case, you may still be able to claim compensation for a knee injury even if it was partially your fault. However, the amount of compensation you receive may be reduced to reflect your share of the blame. This is known as contributory negligence.
An example of contributory negligence in a knee injury claim might be if you were stuck by a car while cycling in the dark but the accident was caused in part by your own failure to use lights. Therefore, if you were found to be 20% responsible for your knee injury, the payout may be reduced by the same amount.
If you’re unsure of your eligibility to claim compensation for your knee injury if you believe it was partly your fault, please contact our claims advisors who can then advise you accordingly.
Common Causes Of Knee Injury Claims
There are many different ways in which you could injure your knee which might mean you’re eligible to claim compensation. Some of the more common include:
- Road traffic accidents. Where a pedestrian, driver or passenger’s knee is injured.
- Accidents at work. An example might include where an employee’s knee is trapped under falling objects.
- Sporting injuries. These might be caused by unsuitable playing surfaces or reckless tackles.
- Slips, trips and falls. Caused by wet floors or raised paving slabs for example.
- Cycling accidents. If you fall from your bike because of a large pothole, for instance.
If you’ve suffered a knee injury from any of these types of accidents, give our advisors a call today on 0800 6524 881 as you may be eligible to claim compensation.
Common Types Of Injuries To Knees
Some of the most common types of injuries to knees that might lead to a compensation claim include:
- Fractures, breaks or dislocations.
- Soft tissue knee injuries.
- Knee ligament tears.
- Torn meniscus.
- Cartilage damage.
- Housemaids knee (bursitis).
- Patella (kneecap) damage.
If you’d like to check if you have a valid knee injury claim, please get in touch with our team today.
How Much Compensation Will I Get For A Knee Injury Claim?
The severity of your knee injury and the prognosis for your recovery are two of the main factors that will influence the amount of compensation for a knee injury that you are awarded as a settlement. You may receive a few hundred pounds in compensation for what may be described as a simple, temporary knee injury, whereas a more serious, permanent injury may warrant compensation that could total several thousand pounds.
It is important to note that every knee injury payout is unique. Therefore, it’s essentially not possible to determine how much your knee injury might be worth until it has been reviewed by a personal injury solicitor. However, we can explain what elements might be included. They are:
- General damages compensation. The pain, suffering and loss of amenity you’ve suffered because of your knee injury.
- Special damages compensation. Any costs, expenses, or monetary losses caused directly by your knee injuries. This could include any lost earnings, medical costs, travel expenses, care costs, or modifications to your home if you are left disabled. Also, you could claim for any personal property damaged in the accident.
For general damages compensation, you may be required to attend a medical assessment to help demonstrate the extent of your knee injury. If one of our personal injury solicitors takes on your knee injury claim, they’ll book your meeting locally so you won’t need to travel too far.
Average Knee Injury Settlement Amounts
We are now going to look at knee injury settlement amounts. We can do this by referring to figures provided by the Judicial College. These are figures that solicitors and insurers both use when determining settlement figures.
- £6,020 compensation payout at the maximum for minor knee injuries such as twists, sprains and bruising with relatively quick recovery times.
- £6,020 to £13,740 compensation for knee injuries that result in permanent ongoing minor symptoms.
- £14,840 to £26,190 compensation for major knee injuries such as a dislocated knee or a torn meniscus.
- £26,190 to £96,210 compensation for a severe knee injury at work such as torn cartilage, fractured patella, severe tears to the cruciate or other injuries that result in permanent limitations to the movement of your knee or require knee replacement surgery.
As mentioned earlier, the awards are based on the severity of your knee injury/injuries. As a result, a life-changing knee injury affecting your ability to function normally would be paid more than one that you completely recovered from within a year. Essentially, every knee injury claim is calculated differently depending on the merits of each case.
Evidence To Support A Knee Injury Claim
Before we look at the time limits for making a claim, let’s look at the evidence you could collect to support a knee injury claim. It includes:
- Medical records. These can form an important part of any knee injury compensation claim. Therefore, if you do injure your knee, you should visit A&E or a minor injury unit for assessment and treatment.
- Witness statements. If anybody else was present when your accident happened, ask for their contact details. Your solicitor may contact them later on to take a statement of what they witnessed.
- Photos. Proving what happened can be a lot easier if you capture the aftermath of your accident in a photograph. Ideally, this should be done as soon as possible and before the cause of the knee injury is removed.
- CCTV or dashcam footage. If your accident is captured on camera, it can make proving liability a lot easier. Therefore, where possible, request a copy of any footage.
- Accident reports. Where your accident happened in a public place or you suffered a knee injury at work, report it. Companies must log incidents in an accident report book. By law, you can request a copy that could help to prove locations, dates and times.
- Financial records. Evidence of your financial losses, such as receipts for medication, travel costs, loss of earnings, and any other costs and expenses you have incurred as a result of your knee injury.
A personal injury solicitor can assist with collecting evidence to prove a knee injury claim so please call us today if you’d like an advisor to take a look over any you might already have and assess the strength of it.
Time Limits For Claiming Knee Injury Compensation
It’s important to make a note of the knee injury claim time limit. In most cases where your knee injury is immediately obvious, you’ll have 3-years to claim from the date of your accident.
In cases where a child is injured, a parent or responsible adult could claim on their behalf as a litigation friend. The 3-year time limit won’t apply so long as the claim is filed before the child becomes 18 years old. However, the time limit will apply from their 18th birthday if a claim hasn’t been made.
If you’d like to check how long you have left to begin a knee injury claim, please call our team today.
How Long Does The Process Of Claiming Knee Injury Compensation Take?
The length of time it can take to claim knee injury compensation generally varies depending on a number of different factors, including:
- The type of knee injury and its severity.
- The type and strength of your evidence and the ease with which it can be obtained.
- The willingness of the other party/parties involved to admit liability.
Overall, the knee injury claims process may only take a few months or so in fairly straightforward cases to a year or considerably longer in more complex cases.
Do I Need A Personal Injury Solicitor To File A Knee Injury Claim?
No, you could file a claim yourself. However, during any knee injury claim, it is important to prove exactly what happened and who was to blame. That’s because when you send your claim to the defendant, they’ll typically send it straight to their insurance company. Insurers will always try to act in their best interests to try and keep their company as profitable as possible. Therefore, if you don’t have the evidence or ability to prove to them how their client caused your knee injury, you may not be compensated fairly.
For that reason, we believe the best chance of winning knee injury compensation is to have a legal representative on your side. If your claim is taken on, a personal injury solicitor from our team will be appointed to your claim. So that they fully understand how your knee injury has affected you, they’ll spend some time reviewing your case with you. They’ll then begin collecting and collating evidence to support you.
So that you don’t need to deal with any legal or medical questions from the insurer, your solicitor will deal with all communication. They’ll try to provide further evidence, where needed, to counter any objections that are raised. Ultimately, they will do everything they can to try to ensure that you get the maximum level of compensation possible.
Starting The Knee Injury Claims Process
If you would like to start the knee injury claims process as soon as possible, please get in touch with our claims advisors today. Our team can be contacted on 0800 6524 881.
Your case will be reviewed for free and your options explained. Remember, if you do go on to make a knee injury compensation claim with us, your solicitor will represent you on a No Win No Fee basis.