Barratts Successful in Appeal for Criminal Injuries Compensation

Jimmy submitted an Application for Criminal Injuries Compensation after he had suffered a nasty injury to his hand. He was injured while he was attempting to breakup a fight at a Christmas party. Someone recommended that he should talk to Barratts and he met us in 2008. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) refused Jimmy’s first Application because they said that he had not reported the incident to the police. No one can make a claim to CICA unless they have already reported their incident to the police. This is a prerequisite for compensation. However, Jimmy had reported his incident to the police so the grounds that CICA gave were invalid.

Establishing Jimmy’s Claim

When Jimmy contacted Barratts about his claim for criminal injuries, we appealed against CICA’s decision. We used documents that the police had obtained to persuade an independent Tribunal that in fact Jimmy had reported the matter. This meant that he was eligible for compensation.

Settling the Compensation for the Injuries

Unfortunately Jimmy’s injuries made it impossible for him to continue in his job as a sales person. Even following 4 separate operations on his hand he was still unable to lift with that hand. As a result, his employers terminated his employment. We obtained evidence from an independent hand surgeon in relation to the severity of the injury. We used this to convince a Tribunal that Jimmy had lost a significant amount of function in his hand. Accordingly in June 2011, the Tribunal awarded him  just under £85,000.00 in compensation.

Jimmy was very satisfied with his award and described Barratts as ‘fantastic’ and ‘very professional’.

If you would like to talk to our criminal injury compensation solicitors, you can call us on 0115 931 51 71.