Personal Injury

We specialise in claims arising from accidents resulting in serious injuries, including:

• Brain injury
• Spinal injury
• Serious orthopaedic injury
• Fatal accidents

Held in the highest regard by clients in the UK and lawyers further afield, Gerard McDermott QC has undertaken personal injury and clinical negligence claims of the utmost severity for the last 20 years and has a wealth of experience in spinal injury, acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy cases.

He is recommended in Chambers UK as having a ‘strong reputation for quantum’. His substantial expertise in employment law has been utilised in ensuring that proposed care regimes are compliant with the Working Time Regulations. He has been recognised as having led many of the arguments on this specialised area, which in turn has a significant impact on the value of claims.

Gerard has extensive experience in complex and high-value personal injury cases that involve injury at work. These include stress, bullying and harassment.

Gerard has a significant practice at Appellate level and as above, regularly acts for clients in settlement meetings. He has recovered damages of over £150 million for clients either at trial or by negotiated settlement since late 2011.

We can also represent individuals on all matters resulting in less serious personal injury including:

• Road traffic accidents
• Accidents at work
• Accidents in public places – i.e. roads, pavements
• Accident in privately owned places – i.e. shops and other private dwellings
• Injuries caused by faulty products and sub-standard workmanship and other services
• Criminal injuries compensation claims

“‘On foreign cases, he is nothing short of excellent’”

Chambers and Partners 2016

Gerard McDermott QC Ltd specialises in handling claims for injuries and losses arising out of accidents occurring outside England and Wales, including:

• Road traffic accidents
• Accidents in hotels – including slips and trips
• Sporting activities accidents – including skiing and rock climbing

The time limit for bringing a claim in the UK is 3 years from the date of the accident. This is known as the limitation period. 

The limitation period can however be different depending on where the accident happened and can often be shorter than 3 years.

In Spain for example, the limitation period is only 1 year. In the USA, limitation periods vary from state to state and so whereas in Illinois a lawsuit must be brought within 2 years from the date of the accident, New York allows a period of 3 years.

In those cases involving accidents on aircraft and on ships, a 2 year time limit applies.

It is  recommended that you seek legal advice and representation as soon as possible.

We appreciate that you will want the security of knowing you will not end up out of pocket as a result of making a claim, win or lose.

We will initially consider your claim (usually by way of a telephone discussion or face to face meeting) on a free-of-charge basis.

We would then advise you as to the best method of funding your case. It is likely that your claim would be handled on a ‘no-win-no-fee’ basis.   That means, if you win your case then the other side are likely to have to pay most of your legal fees and expenses. You would then also pay us a capped amount from your compensation to make up the rest of our fees.

If you were to lose your case, your legal ‘expenses’ would be covered by a policy of insurance. That insurance would protect you as long as you had provided us throughout the case with honest and truthful instructions.