Military Negligence Claims Guide: How To Win Compensation For Injury From The Armed Forces
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.
- Military Negligence Claims Guide: How To Win Compensation For Injury From The Armed Forces
What are military negligence claims?
Military negligence claims are claims for compensation for injury, illness or death caused by the negligence of legal fault of the Armed Services – either as regular or reserve serving personnel or civilians injured by the error of the Armed Forces.
This might be either the Army, Navy or Air Force.
| Compensation For No-Fault Injury |
|---|
| The Ministry Of Defence recognises the dangerous nature of your job in the Armed Forces. This has resulted in two no-fault schemes being set up to ensure you receive compensation for injury, illness or death as a result of your service. See our War Pensions Scheme And AFCS article for more details. |
Types of person who can claim
There are two main class of individuals who can claim:
Service personnel
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.
| Military Negligence During Training |
|---|
| Military negligence can often occur during training. For example: A marine claiming compensation for being required to do a parachute jump without proper training – which led to a broken leg. Soldiers are required to jump into a river from a high embankment during training. However, the officer in charge did not check the depth of the river at that point. Soldiers may suffer unnecessary injuries as the river was too shallow resulting in compensation claims for negligence. |
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. However, there are some particular difficulties with such actions, including:
Claims 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.
For example:
- Judgment on liability (or legal fault / legal responsibility) in your claim – cannot be obtained against the Crown without the court’s permission.
- Enforcing judgement against the Crown. 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
The Armed Forces are notorious for closing ranks when military negligence claims are made against them.
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.
Often pertinent documents, even military medical records, can 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. However, 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.
See our compensation amounts article to find examples of how much compensation your 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 with access to our guides on how much compensation you can recover for various different injuries.
Free online legal help
See our solicitor online and telephone help options. You can make use of our website’s free telephone and online legal help. Ask a question or speak direct to a solicitor about your accident and military negligence claims.
