Published: 10 August 2018
Author: Stringer Clark TAC Law team

Factors to consider when estimating TAC compensation

In my years as a lawyer, I have heard a lot of different things from my clients about how much they think their claim might be worth. Sometimes they think it is worth a lot more than it actually is, sometimes a lot less than they end up getting.

A key thing to remember is that while your family and friends have your best interests at heart, it’s unlikely that they have the legal expertise to know what your claim may be worth. I’ve heard many times from clients that the result they got was much better than they had been led to believe it was going to be by someone they knew.

I’ve also had many people say something like “my mate had the same injury and he got…” or “I read in the paper about someone that only broke their toe and got…” and the amount mentioned is far in excess of what my clients claim is worth.

There are a lot of factors that need to be taken into account when looking at a claim. A non-exhaustive list of those factors follow in no particular order:

• Nature of the injury
• Whether it is a WorkCover, TAC, public liability, medical negligence etc. claim
• Age
• Education
• Prior work history and earnings
• Future job prospects with the injury
• How that injury affects the client in particular
• How likely it will be that the other party will be held to be at fault, and
• The tolerance for risk that the client has.

It’s important to remember that no two cases are the same. There are always features of an individual’s case that are different and will affect what the claim is worth.

It is not advisable for you to try and estimate what your claim might be worth based on what you have read in the media or been told by your family or friends. You will have a much greater indication of the size of the claim after liaising with a lawyer.