Personal Injury
Personal Injury is that body of law that deals with the issue of liability and compensation where one is injured as a result of an accident. That accident may fall within the category of a motor vehicle accident, an accident while one is on the job, a slip and fall or any other accident tor incident where because of the Negligence of another person, injury results to a Claimant.
At Kinghorn & Kinghorn we represent mostly persons who have been injured. Our experience is that 90 percent of Defendants who are Negligent are reluctant to settle and consequently we usually opt to institute our personal injury matters in the Courts. This is especially true when it is the Government of Jamaica that we are pursuing our big Corporations.
There are 2 Courts in Jamaica that provides the vehicle through which compensation can be arrived at: The Resident Magistrate’s Court and the Supreme Court of Jamaica. Both Courts have entirely different procedures which can be tedious and complicated.
Compensation in respect of a personal injury claim can be looked at from the 3 categories of compensation that exists.
This area of compensation takes into consideration specific losses. These would include, loss of earning, medical expenses, transportation expenses, and any other loss that can specifically proven.
This area of compensation takes into consideration the Pain and Suffering that a victim has experienced as a result of the accident or incident. The figure that is awarded for Pain and Suffering is a combination of the medical evidence in relation to the injury sustained and what the law says is a reasonable award for an injury of that type.
Sometimes the injury sustained by an individual is so serious that even after extensive medical treatment, that person is unable to recover fully. The victim is therefore left with a disability.
This normally occurs in very serious accidents or incidents. A disability has serious implications for one’s lifestyle, one’s ability to earn and one’s ability to enjoy one’s social life.
The law says that a victim of an accident must be compensated for any disability suffered by him in terms of the impact of that disability on his health and on his life.