Military Negligence Claims: How to prove the armed forces are at fault for your injury claim

Find out the two most common types of military negligence claims, the difficulties of claiming compensation from the armed forces, how to overcome these difficulties to show “legal fault” and how much compensation you should be able to claim for all manner of personal injuries.

What are military negligence claims?

There are two main types of military negligence claims:

Injury to employees

If you are a member of the armed forces – including the army, navy and air force; and you suffer injury as the result of the negligence of your employer you might be entitled to claim compensation.

A typical example of military negligence claims can involve the training of the forces. I have known:

1. A marine to claim compensation for being required to do a parachute jump without proper training – which led to a broken leg.

2. During training soldiers were told to jump into a river from a high embankment when the officer in charge did not check the depth of the river at that point. One soldier suffered severe back injuries as the river was too shallow.

Injuries to civilians

Civilians can be injured in military training – such as when an aircraft crash lands in a populated area of the UK injuring or killing local civilians.

In such instances the armed forces will be held responsible for the injuries and fatalities.

What are the difficulties with military negligence claims?

Military negligence claims should in theory work as any other claim against an employer – but there are some particular difficulties with such actions, including:

Claim against the Crown

When you make a claim against the armed forces – you are in actual fact claiming against the Crown. in other words your claim is against the State (those in control of the UK).

The Crown has certain protections and privileges which are not open to others – such as judgment on liability (or legal fault / legal responsibility) cannot be obtained against the Crown without the court’s permission.

If a judgment is obtained against the Crown – enforcing that judgment does not follow the normal procedures. Once again the court’s permission is necessary to attempt to enforce a judgment.

Closing rank

In military negligence claims – the forces are notorious for closing ranks . In other words – you can be faced by a wall of silence or certainly a reluctance for witnesses to verify what happened in your accident.

I have known documents, even military medical records, to be very difficult to obtain requiring applications to the court to have proper access.

The in house legal team employed by the forces

The armed forces have their own legal team of specifically trained lawyers who represent the interests of the Crown. These legal advisers and solicitors are well trained and very familiar with defending claims for compensation made against the armed forces.

How do you overcome the difficulties and prove legal fault?

In short the answer is, “You need a specialist military negligence claims solicitor to help you make a claim.”

Do not worry – with a specialist lawyer acting in your interests you will eventually recover the correct amount of compensation, but the process might take some time.

How much compensation are military negligence claims worth?

The amount of compensation military negligence claims are worth depends entirely on the type of injury you suffer.

Click compensation amounts to see examples of how much compensation your accident solicitor can recover for injuries to various body parts.

Summary of military negligence claims

On this page you have seen examples of military negligence claims, discovered how to overcome the difficulties in proving “legal responsibility” for your accident and seen how much compensation you can recover for various different injuries.

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