Written By: Kevin Wong
Reviewed By: Rebecca Sorgiovanni, Director and Personal Injury Lawyer
Last Reviewed: 1 September 2026
To start your personal injury claim in Western Australia, your lawyer needs five things from you: who you are, what happened, your injuries and full medical history, your work and income, and how the injury has changed your daily life. Hand those over early, because time limits apply in WA, and some are shorter than people expect. You generally have three years from the date of the accident to start court proceedings, and a workers’ compensation claim is usually lodged within twelve months. I have practised in this area since 1991, and the files that run smoothly almost always start the same way: the client came in organised.
Most people have never done this before. You will not have everything, and that is fine. Your lawyer can chase records, order reports, and fill the gaps. What you bring to the first meeting simply decides how quickly the claim can get moving.
A personal injury claim is a request for compensation when someone else’s carelessness or wrongdoing causes your injury. In WA that covers car crashes, workplace injuries, harm in public places, and injury from negligent medical treatment. The claim asks the person or insurer at fault to pay for what the injury has cost you.
What counts as a personal injury claim in WA?
It is any claim where another party’s fault left you injured, and the path depends on how you were hurt. A car crash runs as a car accident claim through the Insurance Commission of Western Australia. A workplace injury runs as a workers’ compensation claim through WorkCover. Trip on a broken step in a shopping centre and you are into the public liability process. Get hurt by treatment that fell below standard and it becomes medical negligence.
You do not have to be the driver. Even passengers, pedestrians and cyclists can claim after a crash they did not cause. If some of the legal terms are new to you, that is normal, and part of a lawyer’s job is translating them. Each path has its own body, its own form, and its own deadline, but the information you gather is much the same across all of them.
The five buckets your lawyer works from
Everything you provide falls into five buckets, and each one answers a question the insurer will ask. Here is what each covers and the WA deadline attached to it.
| What you are claiming for | Who handles it in WA | Key time limit |
|---|---|---|
| Motor vehicle injury | Insurance Commission of WA (ICWA) | Report as soon as practicable; court action generally within 3 years |
| Workplace injury | WorkCover WA | Claim generally within 12 months of the injury |
| Injury in a public place | The occupier or their insurer | Court action generally within 3 years |
| Negligent medical treatment | The provider or their insurer | Generally within 3 years, from when you knew of the injury |
| Victim of a crime | WA criminal injuries scheme | Separate scheme, different limits apply |
Treat this as a guide, not gospel for your own file. When the clock starts can shift with your age and when the injury showed up, which is the next thing worth understanding.
Your identity and the boring admin details
Start with who you are and how to reach you: full name, address, phone, email, and date of birth. Your lawyer also needs your Medicare number and, if you receive payments, your Centrelink number. This is not box-ticking.
Medicare and Centrelink can recover money from your settlement for treatment and benefits they paid while you were hurt. If that is not sorted before you settle, it comes out of your pocket later. Your date of birth matters too, because your age at the accident can change your deadline, as you will see below.
What happened, in as much detail as you can give
Write down the incident while it is fresh, because memory fades and this is where liability is won or lost. Note the date and time, the exact place, and what the conditions were like: wet road, low sun, poor lighting, a spill left on the floor. If you can sketch the scene, do it.
Then the people. Names and contact details for anyone else involved, and for every witness, even the stranger who stopped to help. Witnesses move house and change numbers within months, so a phone number today is worth more than a statement chased in a year. Note who you reported it to as well: police, your employer, a duty manager, a report number. In a crash, that report number is your entry point, because motor injuries are lodged through an online crash report and injury notification, not a paper form mailed to an office.
Why should you tell your lawyer about old injuries?
Because hiding a pre-existing problem is the fastest way to sink your own claim. This is the mistake I see most. Someone with an old back strain stays quiet about it, worried it will cancel out the new injury. It does the opposite.
The insurer will obtain your full medical history regardless. When the old injury surfaces, and it will, it looks like you concealed it, and your credibility takes the hit right when the claim turns on whether the court believes you. Tell your lawyer everything, including injuries you never claimed for and conditions that seem unrelated. Told early, we can separate the new harm from the old and argue the difference properly. One more habit worth keeping from day one: have every injury recorded by a doctor, even the minor aches, because an injury with no medical note is an injury the insurer gets to dispute. Remember, this information goes to your lawyer, not straight to the other side. Part of our job is working out what actually has to be shared and what does not.
Your work and income history
Give your lawyer your job title, your duties, your qualifications, and the contact details for your current and recent employers. Then the money: recent payslips, tax returns, and any record of time you had to take off or work you could no longer do.
Loss of earning capacity is often the largest part of a personal injury payout, larger than the medical bills. If a shoulder injury means you can no longer swing a hammer full-time, that future loss has to be proven with real numbers, and those numbers come from your work history. Vague estimates get discounted. Payslips do not.
How your injury has changed daily life
Tell your lawyer what you cannot do now that you could do before. Not just work, but the ordinary things: mowing the lawn, lifting your kids, sleeping through the night, playing sport on the weekend.
This is what compensation for pain and the loss of life’s enjoyment is built on, and it is easy to undersell. People downplay it out of habit. A short diary of the tasks you have handed to someone else, or given up entirely, tells the story better than a list of diagnoses ever will.
How long do you have to start a personal injury claim in WA in 2026?
For most claims, three years from the date of the accident to start court proceedings, set by the Limitation Act 2005 (WA). Miss it and the claim is usually statute-barred, which means the court will not hear it no matter how strong it is.
The paths differ underneath that. A workplace claim through WorkCover WA is generally lodged within twelve months of the injury, under the law that replaced the old scheme on 1 July 2024. A motor injury should be reported to ICWA as soon as practicable, and a long, unexplained delay can give them room to refuse. None of these are dates to sit on.
What if you think you’ve missed a deadline?
Talk to a lawyer before you write the claim off, because “too late” is often wrong. A late motor injury report is not automatically fatal; the question is usually whether the delay caused real prejudice, and a good reason for it can carry weight. Children get more time again: for someone under 15 the limit runs longer, and those aged 15 to 18 at the time generally have until they turn 21. Courts also hold a narrow discretion to extend time where an injury stayed hidden.
I will not pretend these exceptions are a safety net. They are narrow, and relying on them is a bad bet. But people do come to us assuming a claim is out of time when it is not, so the honest answer is to get it checked rather than guess.
What starting a claim with Soul Legal looks like
Before you even sit down, we send an upload link so your documents are read in advance, which means the first meeting is spent on your claim, not on shuffling paper. That first consultation is free and confidential, and if you decide not to proceed, there is no charge. You deal with a director, Kevin or Rebecca, from your first call through to your final settlement.
We run personal injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis, so there are no legal fees unless the claim succeeds, and you get written cost estimates, including any other costs, before anything moves. If the claim succeeds, we pursue costs from the insurer, which covers most of your legal fees. We only take on claims we believe have merit, and if you do not have one, we will say so at that first meeting rather than send you down a dead end. If you cannot travel because of the injury, we visit you at home or in hospital. Bring what you have, and we will build the rest.
Starting a personal injury claim in WA FAQs
What information does my lawyer need to start a personal injury claim in WA?
Five things: your identity and contact details, a full account of what happened, your injuries and complete medical history, your work and income records, and how the injury affects daily life. Bring photo ID, your Medicare and Centrelink numbers, any incident or crash report, medical records, and recent payslips or tax returns. The more you bring, the sooner your lawyer can lodge.
What documents should I bring to my first meeting with a personal injury lawyer?
Photo ID, your Medicare and Centrelink numbers, any police or crash report, contact details for witnesses, photos of the scene and your injuries, medical records and receipts, and recent payslips or tax returns. Bring any letter you have had from an insurer too. Missing a document is fine, because your lawyer can request records on your behalf.
How long do I have to start a personal injury claim in Western Australia?
For most claims you have three years from the date of the accident to start court proceedings under the Limitation Act 2005 (WA), and a workers’ compensation claim is usually lodged within twelve months of the injury. Children get longer. Motor injuries should be reported to ICWA as soon as practicable, not left to sit.
Do I have to tell my lawyer about injuries I had before the accident?
Yes, and it helps your claim rather than hurting it. The insurer will obtain your full medical history anyway, so staying quiet about an old injury only damages your credibility when it surfaces. Told early, your lawyer can separate the new harm from the old and argue it properly. This information goes to your lawyer, not straight to the insurer.
What if I think I have already missed a deadline?
Speak to a lawyer before you assume the claim is dead. A late motor injury report is not automatically fatal, and children often have until age 21, with a longer period again for those under 15. Courts can also extend time in limited situations. The safe move is to get advice now, because these exceptions are narrow.
How much does it cost to start a personal injury claim with Soul Legal?
The first consultation is free and confidential, and Soul Legal runs personal injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis, so there are no legal fees unless the claim succeeds. If it does, we pursue costs from the insurer, which covers most of your legal fees. You get written cost estimates before anything proceeds.
Who can make a personal injury claim in WA?
Anyone injured by someone else’s fault, including drivers who were not at fault, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists, injured workers, people hurt in public places, and patients harmed by negligent treatment. For motor injuries, ICWA can still help if the at-fault vehicle was unidentified or unlicensed. A free case check tells you where you stand.
This article is general information about Western Australian claims, not legal advice for your situation, so check your own circumstances with a lawyer before you act on it.
Kevin Wong is the Director of Soul Legal and a seasoned Perth-based personal injury lawyer who has been passionately representing injured clients across Western Australia since 1991, handling everything from minor claims to complex catastrophic injury cases.
