| Description: | The three types of personal injuries mentioned above are the most common, but a personal injury claim need not be the result of an immediate physical injury sustained in an accident. Symptoms of whiplash can manifest many days after a person has been involved in a road traffic accident, industrial diseases cause by the inhalation of hazardous airborne substances may not become apparent for many years and brain damage sustained in a slip and fall accident could also take many years to manifest.
Claims for personal injury compensation have to be made within three years of the “date of knowledge” of an injury. If, for example, you were to be diagnosed with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease many years after working in a job where you inhaled an “occupational pollutant”, you would still be able to claim personal injury compensation three years from the diagnosis. This “Statute of Limitations” as it is known also applies to cases of medical negligence — another frequent reason for a personal injury claim. |
