When one is the victim of a road accident, an accident of the life or a work accident, one suffers a more or less significant bodily injury. In the most severe cases, it can lead to disability in everyday life. When it is proven that these disorders will be permanent, the victim has the right to obtain compensation for what is called permanent functional impairment (PFP).
Summary
Why is it important to assess the permanent functional deficit?
To begin with, it is important to define what a PFP (Permanent Functional Deficiency) is. For that, let us turn to the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation which in a judgment of 2009 clarifies the contours of this concept. The DFP includes « damage to physiological functions, loss of quality of life and disturbances experienced by the victim in his personal, family and social living conditions ”. It is therefore a matter of permanent extra-patrimonial damage and more precisely of bodily injury, a category which includes physical, psychological, occupational and family damage. If it is important to evaluate the DFP, it is because it will allow the compensation of the victim of this particular damage and that it will serve as a basis for calculating the other types of compensable damage for the victim. The DFP has replaced the old expression « partial permanent disability » or PPI.
What does the DFP include?
Permanent functional deficit includes both physical harm. Bodily after-effects may result from other harms. For example, property damage such as health expenses, loss of professional income, incapacity for work or even loss of professional opportunity. Next, permanent functional deficit also includes an assessment of the moral prejudice that may result from being diminished, due to the shock of losing a limb or losing sight for example. The permanent functional deficit also contains what is called the “pretium doloris”, namely the price of the suffering endured.
How is the DFP assessed?
There are two steps to determining the amount of permanent functional deficit.
Medical examination
The victim is first of all the object ofa careful medical examination with several specialized doctors according to the inability to ascertain. There will also be an examination by a psychiatrist to assess moral damage. Based on the various medical reports, the doctors will establish the victim’s disability rate.
Assessment of the amount of damage
Unfortunately, the assessment of the amount of compensation for damage is not an obvious operation. On the internet, you can find scales for calculating the DFP. This is the case with the websites of different French courts of appeal. However, it is impossible for the victim to assess their damage on their own, as very often most insurance companies use their own scales and indices. It is for this reason that it is recommended in the event of bodily injury related to a road accident, a work accident or an accident of life, to call for the assistance of a lawyer specializing in the question to obtain fair compensation.
