DAMAGES FOR PAIN SUFFERING AND LOSS OF AMENITY: RECENT CASES AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM: WEBINAR 23rd JULY 2026

Every personal injury claim includes a claim for damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity. Yet it is often the least analysed part of the claim. Awards are frequently based on broad assumptions, whilst opportunities to maximise a proper award—or avoid serious errors—are missed. This practical webinar looks at how the courts actually assess damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, using recent authorities to explain the reasoning behind judicial awards and, more importantly, what practitioners should be doing to present these claims effectively.

The webinar looks at the legal foundation and principles for awards of damages for pain and suffering.   It goes on to examine the practical issues that arise in everyday litigation, including proving injury, establishing loss of amenity, dealing with multiple injuries, using comparable authorities, inflationary adjustments, the impact of the whiplash tariff and avoiding the common mistakes that lead to under-settlement.

Booking details are available here. 

THE WEBINAR

The webinar looks at recent decisions on damages for pain and suffering and then considers their practical relevance. In particular how the principles governing the award of damages can be applied in practice.  It  identifies twelve practical points that every claimant lawyer should consider when preparing a claim for damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity. These include proving that the claimant has suffered a legally recognisable injury; understanding what the law means by “injury”; presenting persuasive evidence of pain, suffering and loss of amenity; dealing with pre-existing conditions and multiple injuries; making effective use of the Judicial College Guidelines and comparable authorities; accounting properly for inflation; understanding the impact of the whiplash tariff; recognising when a case falls outside the Guidelines altogether; and avoiding the common mistakes that lead to under-settlement.

Throughout the webinar the emphasis is on what practitioners should actually do. Delegates will receive a series of practical checklists covering client interviews, medical evidence, witness statements, schedules of loss, valuation, settlement and trial preparation. The aim is that participants leave not simply with a better understanding of the law, but with practical tools they can use in every personal injury case to present claims for damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity more effectively

THE CHECKLISTS

Delegates will receive practical checklists covering:

• Interviewing clients about pain, suffering and loss of amenity.
• Identifying and proving every compensable injury.
• Building persuasive evidence of loss of amenity.
• Making the best use of medical evidence.
• Using the Judicial College Guidelines properly.
• Selecting and deploying comparable authorities.
• Valuing cases involving multiple injuries.
• Dealing with pre-existing conditions and exacerbation claims.
• Drafting witness statements that properly support general damages.
• Preparing schedules of loss which assist the court.
• Practical steps before settlement and before trial.

These checklists are designed as working documents that practitioners can use in their own cases long after the webinar has finished.

Part of a series

This session is the first webinar in the APIL Damages Series 2026, a nine-part programme providing practical guidance on the assessment and proof of damages in modern personal injury litigation.