More about private compensation claims
A private compensation claim is a claim where Labour Market Insurance has been asked to make a statement on the health consequences of a personal injury.
Anybody may ask Labour Market Insurance for a guiding statement. Usually insurance companies or lawyers ask Labour Market Insurance to make a statement on the health and occupational consequences of a personal injury.
Such a statement is useful, for instance, if an insurance company finds it hard to assess the health consequences of a complicated case or as a guide if the injured person and the insurance company disagree on the consequences of an injury.
What does a statement include?
Our statement may include an assessment of three things:
- Permanent injury rating: the direct health consequences of the injury
- Loss of earning capacity: the permanent loss of earnings as a consequence of the injury
- Date of maximum medical improvement: the date when there is no longer any substantial, permanent improvement in the health complaints (only for injuries which occurred before 1st July 2002)
Cost of statement
The charge for a statement appears from the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Who can ask for a statement?
Anybody can ask Labour Market Insurance for a statement in connection with private personal injuries.
Often insurance companies or lawyers ask for a statement if they find it hard to assess the health and occupational consequences for an insured person in a complicated case.
Such statements are used as a guide if, for instance, there is disagreement between an insurance company and the insured person in connection with the assessment of the health complaints (permanent injury percentage) after an injury.
The statements are advisory
In private compensation cases the statements made by Labour Market Insurance are guiding statements. If the parties do not agree with our statement, they can bring the case before a court of law.
Some insurance companies use our statement for arbitration in connection with their cases. Such use will appear from the insurance terms.
Labour Market Insurance has authority to make guiding statements under section 81 of the Workers’ Compensation Act and section 10 of the Damages Liability Act.
Victims of violence
Our centre for private compensation claims also processes cases regarding victims of violence. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (“Erstatningsnævnet”) asks Labour Market Insurance for statements in violence victim cases, and each year we receive about 200 such cases. Our task is to examine the health and occupational consequences of a personal injury or a violent incident.
This is how we process a violence victim case
When receiving a violence victim case, we gather the information which is necessary in order to assess the case. This may be information from family doctors or hospitals, medical specialists’ certificates and social and financial information from the local authority and the tax administration Skatteforvaltningen.
Violence victim cases are often complicated, firstly because the victim sometimes is extremely traumatized. It may take a while before the victim’s health is sufficiently stable for an assessment of permanent injury and loss of earning capacity. Secondly, the violence victim may have different injuries which require assessments from different medical specialists of the health consequences.
Against the background of the information of the case, we determine the victim’s permanent injury and loss of earning capacity. Our statements are guiding statements and therefore not legally binding for the parties to the case. However, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board agrees with the major part of our statements.