public liability

What happens when you apply for a claim?
Nowadays, people are taking advantage of this service and making personal injury claims for dishonest reasons. To make sure this doesn’t happen, your application will never get granted as soon as you apply for it. Once you apply, there will be a defence lawyer appointed to your claim. This defence lawyer’s job is to determine whether you’re being truthful about your claim. They gather evidence on each applicant and this is when your social media profiles can come into the picture. One of the first things these lawyers do is look up your social media profiles to see if you are in fact, as injured as you claim.

There are cases where the claimants have been denied their rebate after defence lawyers looked at their social media profiles. As an example, imagine a claimant has made a claim for his broken hand or leg sustained during a car accident because is he unable to move around and earn an income. But contrary to his claim, suppose his social media profile gives an entirely different picture altogether. It shows him skiing or snowboarding at an incredible resort with his family. In such a case, his claim could be cancelled and he would be denied compensation. There are many similar instances to this recorded for such malpractices.

Along with physical injuries, the claimant can also claim for emotional loss or depression, as long as there’s no solid evidence to the contrary. The disability lawyer will, therefore, crosscheck your personal social media profiles, photos or blogs to find evidence to support your claim.

Not only do personal injury lawyers keep a lookout for questionable social media posts where a supposedly ‘injured’ person is being quite active, but they also will make a note of how you are expressing yourself on social media. For instance, if someone has claimed for compensation as he or she is facing depression due to an injury, yet this person is sharing happy moments spent with family and friends, the defence lawyer can take this as evidence and ask for the claimants compensation to be denied.

Frequently Asked Questions

A: The legal definition of a personal injury is general physical and/or psychological damage to a person which is the fault of another party. This can be, for instance, the driver of another vehicle, another person, owner of a public area, or an employer. A physical injury usually involves an injury of a psychological nature or it can be one or the other. Specialist doctors are required to identify the nature of injury to round out a personal injury claim.

A: A personal injury lawyer will represent you if you’ve been injured in an incident or accident that was not your fault. Lawyers such as the specialists at PK Simpson Sydney work in personal injury and compensation law, encompassing deliberate acts and negligence, to claim compensation for you. Apart from all the legal work, lawyers also help you to recover faster by making sure you get the treatment and resources needed. PK Simpson pays for all medical reports needed to maximise your claim and get the best evidence.

A: If you’ve suffered serious bodily, psychological or reputational injuries it’s crucial that you contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. There are special skills and training and a thorough knowledge of the law required to file a personal injury lawsuit and there are time frames in which you need to lodge your claim. Especially for traffic accidents and medical negligence claims in NSW, you will need an experienced team to handle and build your claim. So the advice is to take action as soon as you are able.

A: At PK Simpson in Sydney we act on a no win, no fee basis and an estimate of the costs will be discussed and clearly explained to you during the preliminary stages of your claim. At the end of your claim, we charge only for the work we’ve done, so if your claim is finalised faster than expected, we charge fees only up to that point. Also, we pay for all medical reports upfront.

Unlike most law firms, we don’t charge a strict percentage which would have you paying a set figure even if the claim settles in two weeks. Costs can be affected by the type of accident, your insurer, liability and other considerations.

A: The length of time you have to make your claim depends on the jurisdiction.

For instance:

  • TPD claims – these may be commenced up to 10 years after you’ve stopped work. TPD claims are very technical and you may have more than one TPD claim.
  • Car accident claims – A personal injury claim form should be filled in and sent to your CTP insurer as early as possible, but must be no later than six months from the date of your accident. HOWEVER, out of time claims may be made. New NSW CTP laws have made it difficult for injured people and many law firms still do not understand how to run new claims under these laws – so call us at PK Simpson Sydney as soon as possible.
  • Workers compensation claims – You should contact a lawyer within six months of the accident. But remember, out of time claims can be handled by PK Simpson Sydney. We can help you get the treatment required to build your claim.
  • Slip ‘n’ fall/occupiers liability claims – Your claim must be lodged usually within three years of the date of your accident.

Medical Negligence – within three years of the date of when the cause of action was discoverable to our client OR 12 years from the time of the act or omission which caused the injury through negligence.

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