Back injury claims seek compensation when you suffer a back injury at work, in a road traffic accident or even in a slip on the wet floor of a bar or restaurant. 

Your employer owes you a duty of care, as does the other road user or the owner of the public property. If they breach their duty of care to you and you suffer one of the many types of back injury, you may have a back injury claim. 

A back injury can cause significant inconvenience, discomfort, and problems for anyone affected. Even minor back injuries can cause a lot of inconvenience.  

If you have injured your back and it was not your fault, you may have a personal injury claim. In a personal injury case, you claim for the effects of the back injury today and in the future. 

Hughes & Associates personal injury solicitors can look at your case and see if you have a valid back injury compensation claim.

Contact Hughes & Associates for help with your Back Injury Claims

What is a back injury compensation claim?

A back injury compensation claim is for when you suffer an injury to your back due to the negligence of another person.  

In a back injury claim, you seek compensation for the effects of the personal injury on your life today and in the future. You can claim for the pain and suffering, the loss of income, and any adaptions you need to make to your house and car. 

Common back injuries in compensation claims can be:

  • Back sprains
  • Strains to the back muscles
  • Nerve damage in the lower back
  • Torn muscles in the back
  • Herniated disc
  • Spondylolisthesis
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Fractured vertebrae

You can suffer a back injury at work, in an RTA, when exercising or in a case of public liability and back injuries in workplace accidents makeup over 20% of reported incidents.  

You can make a back injury claim if you suffer one of the many back injuries in an accident that was not wholly your fault.

Common back injury claims

Common back injury claims range from the workplace manual handling back injury to the spinal damage in a car accident and the torn muscles in a slip on a wet gym changing room floor. 

You can claim back injury compensation for the nerve damage, the torn muscles and broken bones and the effects of the injury on your life. 

Some common back injury claims in Ireland are: 

Manual handling back injury claims are common workplace personal injury cases, and you could injure your back lifting, moving or shifting goods at work. 

If you are not trained, provided with lifting equipment, or taught properly how to do manual handling work in the workplace, you may injure your back. 

A manual handling back injury in the workplace may be: 

  •          Torn muscles in the back lifting goods in the warehouse
  •          Nerve damage from shifting boxes in the supermarket storeroom
  •          Moving office furniture causes back pain  

If your employer does not train you in manual handling tasks and you strain or damage your back, you may have a workplace injury claim.  

Slip, trip, or fall back injury claims are when you injure your back due to the negligence of your employer, property owner or the local authority in an accident not wholly your fault. 

Types of back injury in a slip, trip or fall accident: 

  •          Disc damage due to a slip on a wet train station platform
  •          Back strain after a trip on a broken pavement on the street
  •          Nerve damage in the back after a fall when exercising in the park 

Hughes & Associates Solicitors in Dublin can make your slip, trip or fall back injury claim.

Office workplace back injury claims are for the damage done to your back due to an employer’s lack of duty of care to you. 

You could suffer a back injury in the office from faulty office furniture or when the manager asks you to do a job you are not trained to do. 

A back injury in the office can be: 

  •          Lower back pain from sitting on a faulty office chair
  •          Torn back muscles when shifting office furniture
  •          Nerve damage in a repetitive strain injury from working without a break 

You may be able to claim compensation if you suffer a back injury while working in the office.

A road traffic accident back injury claim can be for crushed vertebrae, the spinal nerve damage, and the persistent pain you suffer after an RTA that was not wholly your fault. 

Back injury is one of the most common injuries from a road traffic accident. 

Types of back injury seen in road traffic accidents: 

  •          Paraplegia when travelling as a passenger in a road traffic accident
  •          Spinal nerve damage when knocked off your bike by a bus
  •          Broken back when hit by a car that does not stop at a red light 

You could suffer the effects of a road traffic accident back injury for life, and you may have a compensation claim.

Sports-related back injury claims are for those back injuries you may get due to a lack of coaching or when you are injured due to poorly maintained sports facilities. 

A back injury from playing sports could be with you for life, and you may have a sports injury claim if one happens to you. 

Types of sports-related back injury: 

  •          Spinal nerve damage from a collapsed scrum in a rugby match
  •          Torn muscles from using gym equipment without the correct training
  •          Back pain from poor coaching methods 

Any sports injury can cause you pain, and you could have a sports related back injury claim if you suffer one in an accident due to a breach of duty of care by the coach or sports club.

Hughes & Associates Solicitors has an experienced team to handle your back injury claim. We can be with you from day one and help get you that compensation for a back injury that was not wholly your fault.

Compensation for a back injury

Compensation for a back injury is for when you suffer an injury while at the gym, when moving furniture at the office or if you are injured when hit by another car in a road traffic accident. 

The compensation is for the damages suffered today and in the future. You can make a personal injury claim for the back injury in a workplace accident, a road traffic accident, or a public liability accident and for the effects of the injury on your life. 

There are two types of damages in a back injury claim in Ireland:

General damages in a back injury claim will see you compensated for the Loss of Amenity due to the accident in which you damaged your back while working in the warehouse, driving home from the office or when you slip, trip or fall while out for a walk in town. 

You may suffer a loss of amenity, such as difficulty walking, exercising or getting to work due to a back injury. 

You can also claim for the Pain and Suffering due to the back injury you suffered in the accident that was not wholly your fault.

Special damages in a back injury claim are for the costs and expenses you will have due to the RSI from doing the same work in the office, the broken vertebrae when you fall off a step ladder in the warehouse or the injury when exercising on the roads.

 

Special damages in a back injury could be:  

  • Medical costs
  • Loss of earnings
  • Physical therapy costs
  • Travel costs 
  • Cost of care
  • Cost of aids and equipment

A compensation claim combines the two damages due to you when you have one of the many types of back injury in Ireland.

Who is liable for a back injury claim?

The person who had a duty of care to you but breached that duty of care, causing you an injury, is liable for a back injury claim. 

If you suffer a back injury due to a lack of duty of care by the negligent party, you may have a back injury compensation claim. 

You may have a back injury claim if you suffer a back injury due to a lack of duty of care by:

  • An employer
  • Another road user
  • The local authority
  • The owner of the local pub
  • The management company of the estate
  • The owner of the shopping mall
  • The public transport company
  • The taxi driver

A back injury can happen when playing sports, in the workplace, or even while sitting at the till at the supermarket. 

You could have a personal injury claim when you suffer a back injury due to a lack of duty of care by the negligent party at the gym, the sports arena, the gig, or the local pub or café. 

Hughes & Associates can make your back injury claim for compensation and advise you along every step of the way.

The steps to making a back injury claim

The steps to making a back injury claim are easy to follow, and we at Hughes & Associates have the experience to be with you at every step of the personal injury process. 

At Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors, we want to make a personal injury claim as easy as possible. 

You have had the accident, made the trips to the hospital and to the doctors, and we can help you now to take the steps to making a successful back injury compensation claim. 

The steps are designed to provide an efficient and effective way to make a claim for a personal injury compensation claim.

The first step to making a back injury claim is to contact a personal injury solicitor. You can contact Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors today and outline the issues you have experienced.  

It may be difficult for you to take a personal injury compensation case against an employer or someone you have known for many years, like the bar owner or the estate management company. 

We will take the time to understand your situation and build a professional relationship with you.  

You and your solicitor work together to create your compensation case.  

One of the main aspects of this step is to gather evidence. We will want to look at your medical records, CCTV of the accident, and any eyewitness accounts related to your case.  

If you have reported an accident to the Gardai, we can look at the Garda report as part of creating a personal injury case. 

The solicitor helping you with the case will know what areas of evidence to cover and what will help your case.  

When the back injury claim is complete, we can make your personal injury claim by sending a letter of claim to the Personal Injury Assessment Board, PIAB. 

The PIAB will assess your case and recommend a compensation payment, or they may reject your case. 

The solicitor or insurance company for the guilty party has several weeks to reply to the PIAB compensation claim recommendation. 

When a PIAB is accepted at this stage, the process of providing your compensation will begin. 

When a personal injury claim is rejected, or if you are not happy with the amount of compensation offered, we can begin court proceedings on your behalf.

Court proceedings can be the next step if the defendant rejects the back injury claim or you feel you should receive more in compensation. 

Court proceedings are rare, although your Hughes & Associates solicitor will be prepared. We may look to gather further evidence to support your back injury claim when it comes to a court hearing.  

Often, a personal injury claim is settled on the morning of the court case when the guilty party realises you are not backing down and they look at your evidence. 

When the court case is successful, the process of paying compensation for a personal injury claim will follow.  

How long do you have to make a claim for back injury in Ireland?

You have two years to make any claim for back injury in Ireland—the two years to make a claim begin from the date of the personal injury. 

You could also have a case of ‘date of knowledge’, which is the date you became aware of the back injuries you experienced in the workplace, in a public place, or in a road traffic accident. 

In such cases, it could be more than two years later that a doctor traces the pain you are suffering back to the injury you sustained in the accident at work or on the road when knocked off your bike. 

In all cases of personal injury, it is recommended that you begin your claim process as soon as possible after an accident. Making a claim as quickly as possible makes it easier to obtain evidence while your memory is fresh and the injury is more obvious. 

Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors can help with all aspects of your back injury claim.

Make a back injury claim today

Make a back injury claim today by contacting Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors in Dublin. 

You could have a compensation claim if you injured your back in a workplace accident, a road traffic accident, or a public liability accident due to a breach of duty of care by the negligent party.  

The spinal nerve damage, the torn muscles in the lower back, the paraplegia, and other back injuries, along with the medical bills and the loss of income, could be a direct result of the personal injury. 

Contact Hughes & Associates Personal Injury Solicitors today for a confidential and professional service with your back injury claim.

Contact the Hughes & Associates Team