Broken Nose Compensation – Your Rights & 5 Key Tips

You can claim compensation if your broken nose was caused by an assault. A claim in these circumstance does not depend on the person being charged or where the assault happened.

It does, however, need to be reported to the police within 48 hours of the incident.

Providing it was an unprovoked attack and you meet all the eligibility criteria, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) will ensure you get compensation for your injury. You may make a claim to CICA yourself, or with the assistance of a legal representative.

You are entitled to file a compensation claim if your broken nose was caused by a road traffic accident, providing it was due to someone else’s error/negligence and no fault of yours. This type of claim typically covers road traffic accidents caused by cars, cycling, public transport, or getting hit as a pedestrian.

If your broken nose was caused by sports, your eligibility for compensation will depend on who is responsible for the injury.

This means there may be grounds to file a claim if you can prove it was due to an avoidable error by a coach, referee, ground staff or player, or if the sports facility failed in their duty to keep you safe. You would usually need to prove that their negligence or dangerous disregard for your safety directly caused your injury.

You could be eligible to make a claim if you fell, slipped or tripped and got a broken nose due to provable negligence. This negligence could be things like falling down a pothole that your local authority neglected to repair, or slipping on a wet floor in a public place that failed to display warning notices.

Getting a broken nose in your workplace could make you eligible for compensation, as long as you played no part in the accident.

Also, the nature of your work environment will determine if you can file a claim or not. For instance, if you work in a factory, your injury claim would be different from someone working in an office. Each workplace accident is treated differently.

If the case goes to court, you will need more than just word of mouth to prove that the injury happened. This is where the evidence gathered immediately after the accident will come into play.

Your evidence should include photos of the place you sustained the injury and also pictures of your injury. In addition, you should get contact details and statements from witnesses who were present at the time of the accident.

A broken nose can worsen and cause complications if you don’t get it treated immediately. So, your first port of call should be your GP, or the hospital is the injury is severe. It is during your medical assessment and subsequent treatment that your doctor can determine the extent of your injury. Furthermore, if it is a serious break or you suffer from complications, its effect on your quality of life and long term prognosis can be diagnosed and discussed.

This important information will form part of your medical records, which will have a significant role to play in determining your final compensation amount.

Another step to claiming compensation is to write down a clear narration of how the accident happened. Your written record should include the location of the accident, the date and the time when the accident occurred.

You can go further to include details of what you were wearing that day or any other specific information that could ultimately help your case. Don’t shy away from details, the more descriptive you are the better. Relying solely on your memory later on is less reliable than giving the solicitor or the court a detailed account of the incident you made at the time.

Treatment of your broken nose will likely require you to spend money on pain relief, whether via prescription costs or over-the-counter. When that occurs, ensure you safely keep all the receipts or invoices for any item you bought to ease the pain of your injury. Also, document any injury related travel expenses you incurred to and from medical facilities. You will get a refund for these expenses when your compensation is calculated.

In the majority of cases, you are likely to need a lawyer to help you make sense of the process and formally file your claim for compensation. If you do seek legal advice, take along all the evidence, medical records, and receipts you have collated.

Your solicitor will go through all the information and assess how strong your case is. Whoever your choice of a lawyer is, ensure you instruct someone experienced in similar cases, so that you can get the maximum compensation pay-out for your specific case. Most solicitor firms offer no win-no fee arrangements, whereby you will only pay the legal costs if and when you win your case.

This covers your broken nose injury, as well as its long-term impact on your life.

It aims to compensate you for the physical pain and suffering endured, any psychological trauma you have experienced and any reduction to your quality of life (called loss of amenity) caused by the injury. These things can be difficult to calculate, so the Judicial College has set out guidelines for what the compensation can be.

This usually covers the financial expenses incurred due to the injury and aims to refund them for you. These include loss of earnings (current and future, if the injury affects your ability to work or return to your previous job), any medical related expenses (such as prescription costs) and any travel expenses incurred (e.g. bus or taxi fares to attend medical appointments etc). This is why you need to keep all receipt and invoices, and document any additional costs you have incurred.

In addition to the above, special damages may also be awarded if there was a requirement for extra care provisions or services, or if there needs to be any adaptation to the victim’s home or car. This last part would not usually be relevant for the majority of broken nose cases, but it could be if the injury was particularly severe and the victim suffered a permanent disability.

If the injury causes a fracture in the nose which heals easily and causes no long term pain, then compensation could be around £1,000 – £2,000. However, if the injury displaces the nasal bones and required treatment at the hospital to set it in place, the compensation is likely to be around £2,000 – £3,000.

If the injury leads to multiple fractures of the nasal bones requiring surgery and causes permanent damage, such as breathing difficulties, damage to tear ducts or nerves, or facial deformity, then compensation could be anywhere from £3,000 – £20,000.

Compensation pay-outs can be even higher than this and reach over £30,000 depending on the severity of the damage caused.