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Personal Injury Valuation

Personal injury valuations are a crucial aspect of all personal injury claims. Where a Claimant’s losses are particularly complex, the input of a forensic accountant is often required to assess the appropriate level of damages and ensure a fair outcome.

At Frenkels Forensics, we have been assisting personal injury solicitors and barristers in understanding the value of their clients’ claims for over 40 years. We work with both Claimant and Defendant firms, delivering a first-class, cost-effective service that often proves instrumental in the early resolution of a dispute or in assisting the Judge to appreciate the true extent of the Claimant’s losses.

What Is A Personal injury Valuation?

To succeed in a compensation claim for personal injury, a Claimant must satisfy two essential legal requirements. Firstly, they must prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the Defendant’s negligence caused their harm and loss. Secondly, they must establish the scale of that harm and loss. That’s where we come in. By undertaking a comprehensive personal injury valuation, we ascertain the value of the Claimant’s claim and produce a report detailing our findings for use by our client’s legal advisors during settlement negotiations or in Court.

Damages in personal injury cases are split into two types: General damages and special damages. General damages seek to compensate the Claimant for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity they experienced as a result of their accident. The level of general damages likely to be awarded in any given claim is case-specific and depends on several factors, including the nature of the injury and its impact on the Claimant. However, there are guidelines that a Judge can follow when considering the general damages award. The guidelines give a feel for the level of compensation deemed appropriate for various injury types.

Special damages are intended to make good any financial losses the Claimant has already incurred as a result of their accident and is likely to sustain in the future. The types of loss a claim for special damages might contain include loss of earnings, medication and treatment charges, and the cost of any care and assistance the Claimant needs.

Sometimes, a Claimant’s financial losses are readily identifiable. If, for example, the injuries were fairly minor, did not require ongoing treatment and rendered the Claimant unable to work for only a short period, special damages should be fairly easy to quantify. Other times, however, calculating the level of special damages due requires a careful analysis of numerous different complex factors and variables. Loss of earnings calculations, for example, can involve a comparison of countless scenarios, each taking account of the Claimant’s potential losses stemming from variables based on earnings, bonuses, pension contributions and retirement dates, amongst others.

We have developed a bespoke package of calculation tools to assist us in producing unlimited loss of earnings scenarios quickly and accurately. The ‘Frenkels Calculator’ distils hours of work into minutes, enabling us to provide our findings to our client’s legal advisors in unparalleled time and for a significantly reduced cost. When produced at an early stage of personal injury proceedings, the calculations assist the legal team in assessing their client’s position and devising an appropriate, robust dispute resolution strategy.

How Do We Present A Personal Injury Valuation?

When acting on behalf of a Claimant, we present our personal injury valuations in the form of a CPR report or a set of calculations. These are typically included with the Schedule of Loss. The Schedule of Loss is usually served on the Defendant at the same time as the claim to enable their legal advisors to assess the nature and extent of the damages claimed and consider and formulate their response. Whilst a Schedule of Loss should be optimistic in terms of the level of compensation due to the Claimant, it must also be accurate and justifiable.

When acting on behalf of a Defendant, we review and analyse the information contained in the Claimant’s Schedule of Loss and / or expert evidence and produce alternative calculations with a view to presenting a alternative valuations of the claim. That information is presented in what is known as a ‘Counter Schedule of Loss’. The Schedule of Loss and Counter Schedule of Loss are central to settlement negotiations, enabling the parties to understand each other’s position and negotiate a fair outcome. The majority of personal injury claims are resolved before trial, but if a case does proceed to a hearing, the Judge will refer to the Schedule of Loss and Counter Schedule when determining the personal injury valuation. We have attended Court on our clients’ acting as expert witnesses, explaining our findings to the Judge and defending those findings under cross-examination by the other party’s barrister.

If a comprehensive Schedule of Loss or Counter Schedule is not required, we can help a client’s legal team to get a feel for the personal injury valuation in several less detailed ways, including by way of desktop report or letter of advice.

To discover more, please call us on 0330 118 8200 or Make An Online Enquiry.

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