Taking A Previously Unavailable Path To Bring An Accident Claim
In most cases where a person has sustained an injury due to an accident that was not their fault they will know exactly where to seek compensation from. Cases involving car accidents or falls in a public places are usually quite straight forward and need little thinking. Yet sometime accidents will occur where it will be unclear to the victim as to who they should seek compensation from.On occasion though a incident will occur where things are less clear and the victim will be unclear as to where they can seek compensation. In some of these cases it may well be that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is the right place to pursue an accident claim.
What is CICA?
Set up in 1964, CICA are a non-departmental public body in the UK that administers a compensation scheme to those that receive injuries as a result of violent crime. The Authority is one of the most generous of its type in the world and has, along with its predecessor the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, paid out over ?3 billion in compensation claims.
Accidental injuries and CICA
Until recently CICA had never made a compensation payment for injuries sustained in what was considered and accident. In 2007 this changed when a motorcyclist collided with a pedestrian who later died from his injuries. The youth of just 12 years old was with some friends playing chicken on a dual carriageway, but failed to spot the motorcyclist overtaking a van that he was running in front of. Even though the motorcyclist was only travelling at 50mph in what was a 70mph zone, he still had no chance of avoiding the youth and was not to blame in any way.
Motorcyclist’s injuries
Obviously the death of such a young child was a tragic loss, but the motorcyclist through no fault of his own was left badly injured. His lawyers successfully argued that by running out into the road whilst playing chicken the boy committed a violent act.
Taking an accident claim up with CICA may well be the right route to take if you have received injuries in a similar kind of accident.