Whiplash Claims: How a solicitor can help you?
Whiplash claims are the most common personal injury cases that are made against whiplash injury.
Whiplash forms due to a soft tissue injury to the neck, characterised by a collection of symptoms that occur following damage to the neck, usually because of sudden extension and flexion.
Although most commonly associated with road traffic accidents, whiplash can actually be caused by any injury to the ligaments, tendons and muscles of your neck. This injury is caused by any force to your neck that causes movement beyond the normal range of motion.
Whiplash injuries are painful and can have lifetime effects; for a whiplash victim, making a whiplash injury claim is something to be considered. People can apply for a compensation claim for their whiplash injuries if the accident was not their fault.
To be eligible to make a claim for whiplash, the accident must have occurred within the past three years, and one must have received medical attention for his/her whiplash injury.
The compensation amount one can get for a whiplash claim depends on several factors - including the severity of the injuries, the recovery period and any long term symptoms or disability resulting from the accident.
In addition to compensation for pain and suffering, actual financial losses resulting from the accident may also be awarded in a whiplash claim.
Neck injury claim win for teaching assistant
In a recent case, a grandmother who suffered severe whiplash personal injury while protecting pupils from a falling wall frame, has received £10,000 in compensation.
She was working as a teaching assistant, at Hartlebury Church of England Primary School, at Hartlebury, in 2007, when a faulty frame fell down from the wall.
The 49-year-old grabbed the bar to protect the six pupils standing nearby, but the bars landed on her thighs causing her to suffer multiple personal injuries.
She was left with severe bruising and swelling, whiplash to her head and shoulders, and suffered from insomnia and nervousness.
She had to take time off work for seven weeks, while she underwent physiotherapy. But the compensation claim payout she has been awarded for her whiplash injuries makes it very easy to deal with the financial problems she faced, due to absence of leave, and for the expenses she had to make to get the treatment for her whiplash injury.
Making Whiplash Injury Claims:
The whiplash claim process may at first seem difficult but it is relatively straight forward.
It is important that you seek legal advice and representation from an experienced solicitor who will take you through the whole process.
A solicitor can handle the entire whiplash injury claim process on your behalf, ensuring you receive the maximum amount of financial compensation for your injuries, every penny going towards re-building your life.
In the case of the teaching assistant, a claim was settled against the building firm that failed to secure the climbing frame to the wall.
Her personal injury solicitors were successful in making an out-of-court settlement with the insurers of the building firm and in addition to a component of whiplash compensation; the woman was also awarded a payout for head and shoulder injuries and consequent sleeplessness and anxiety.
Updated on 31/03/2010