Whiplash Payouts and Which Companies to Use

There are undoubtedly A LOT of personal injury solicitors out there that help with road traffic accidents and whiplash injuries. However, it is important that you choose the right one to help run your claim since, unfortunately, there are some out there that may present themselves as something they are not.

Whiplash is the injury primarily to the neck and is most commonly caused by the action of being jolted forwards and backwards quickly. This distorts the muscles in your neck and can consequently lead to long term problems in this area such as reduced movement and constant pain and discomfort. Settlements for whiplash injuries can differ with regards to the “grade” of the injury you have sustained. The JSB guidelines (for more information on these see the JSB guidelines blog) separate whiplash injuries into three main categories: minor, moderate and severe- with understandably the last being valued at the highest amount.

I mention these different categories as this links directly to being prudent when deciding on a solicitor to pursue your claim as it is important you are classed as the right one and receiving the right settlement.
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Had a Fall? Make Sure You Get 100% Compensation!

A fall can occur in many different ways. So how can we ensure when you have suffered injury from a fall  that you get not only 100% of your compensation, but also the best amount of compensation?

Slipping and Falling

When you have fallen after slipping on something, you can of course sustain serious injuries. These types of cases are commonly covered by the Occupier’s Liability Act when they occur inside a public place. Under this, owners of premises are required to take reasonable steps to prevent this type of accident occurring. So for example; if you fall on some spilt liquid in a supermarket, the supermarket would have to prove that they have taken reasonable steps to prevent this from happening. This usually comes in the form of an inspection regime that can be proven through a signed sheet of paper confirming when the area has been cleaned last.
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Can you get whiplash by hitting a pothole?

First of all, whiplash is an injury to the neck which is caused by the soft tissue in the neck being stretched and strained after a sudden jolt or movement. It is not just confined to the neck, it can affect the shoulders, back, arms and hands and most of the time can result in headaches.

Therefore, if you are travelling in a vehicle which has unluckily driven into/over a pot hole (and let’s face it, some of them at the moment are large enough to get stuck in), then the jolting movement of the vehicle can jolt your body and more importantly your neck.
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Legal Expenses Insurance NO NO NO!

Legal expenses insurance is undoubtedly the biggest scam in the personal injury claims arena!. It involves your insurance company SELLING your details across to a solicitor – and this solicitor will then contact you and run your case (if you confirm with them of course). Many would think that, this has nothing to do with them – so what if they have bought my details – why does that matter to me?

I assure you IT DOES! Nothing causes more frustration here in the office, than when insurance companies and the solicitors involved in this system catch people in their trap.

Under the road traffic accident protocol, solicitors are only able to recover fixed fees. This is relevant because, if your solicitor has already paid a chunk of money to the insurance company for your details (shall we say £1,000 – which is not an uncommon amount), this takes away from the amount of money they have available to them to run your case.
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Understanding Why Mitigating Your Claim is a Good Thing

When you are suffering from an injury as a result of an accident, it is inevitable that you will incur some losses. This can include things such as loss of earnings, medical and treatment expenses but also any items that may have been damaged because of the accident. This last one some may think is only applicable to road traffic accidents as of course cars are inevitably damaged one way or another; but items such as clothing and jewellery are always vulnerable to damage.

However, understandably, there has to be something in place to ensure these losses are not exaggerated and stay in the realm of “reasonableness“. This word is used A LOT in relation to losses and is the main guiding principle when calculating losses. So always think to yourself “Is this reasonable?” when incurring any losses – hiring a supercar rather than the courtesy car offered to you is probably not mitigating your loss (unless your car you’re temporarily replacing happens to be a supercar, because an argument for having like-for-like may be accepted).

So what does “mitigating you losses” mean? Basically, that you must try and keep your losses to a reasonable minimum.
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Highways Act Claims Does Size Matter?

Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on the local authority to maintain the highway. The effect of this, is that councils and local authorities, have a duty to keep public highways in a reasonable state of repair and free from dangerous defects. If the local authority fails in their duty and a member of the public is injured as a result, then that injured party may be able to bring a claim.

The cost of maintaining the highway is paid for out of the public purse, and therefore the local authority only have finite resources each year to pay for the reparation of defects that occur. Indeed, these restrictions were acknowledged in the case of Mills and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council 1992 where the Court of Appeal opined that…
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Medical Negligence Claims Solicitors

A recent report showed that during 2011, the General Medical Council (GMC) the organisation that manage, register, and licenses doctors practicing medicine in the UK, received a total of 8,781 complaints from patients

The three most commonly reported types of complaint were related to:

• concerns with investigations and treatment, such as failure to diagnose or prescribing inappropriate medications
• problems with communication – such as not providing appropriate information or not responding to people’s concerns
• perceived lack of respect for the patient – such as being rude or dishonest

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Getting the Maximum Amount of Compensation – How do we do it?

Claiming for an injury is often something that nobody knows they will do; after all, an accident is by definition something you did not mean or want to do. However, if you have been affected and make the decision to pursue a claim an important part of this is, of course, is making sure you have a solicitor that will get you the maximum amount of compensation you deserve.

Now, claiming for compensation gets bad press sometimes – however an injury caused by an accident can have devastating consequences; for example, you suffer from loss of earnings or in serious cases you can no longer pursue the career you were heading for. Of course this is a main concern for many, however there are others such as medical and travel expenses that start to mount the longer your rehabilitation time is.

So how is compensation calculated? Basically, the compensation you are awarding depends upon how serious your injury is and how long this will affect your everyday life. For example; if your injury is going to affect you for the rest of your life, you are entitled to more compensation than someone who’s injury will be fully recovered in a couple of years (generally speaking).
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London 2012 Paralympic Cyclist chances ruined by drink driver!

With the London 2012 Paralympics in the headlines, the sad story of Simon Richardson has pulled at the nations heartstrings.

Simon Richardson is a successful Paralympic cyclist. In August 2011 Simon was out in South Wales riding his bike training for the Paralympics when a farmer collided with Simon with his van and fled the scene. The farmer was later arrested for the incident and was found to be twice over the drink-drive limit.
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Care and Assistance After an Injury.

One of the worst parts about being injured after an accident can be the need to rely on those around you to be able to perform the simplest of everyday activities. This can also not be the most convenient set-up for those helping as sacrifices may have to be made – such as time off work. So can this be included in your claim for compensation? Simply put: Yes!

In your claim we look to recover what are called special damages and these include things such as loss of earnings, medical expenses, travel expenses and the subject at hand – care and assistance.

A common miss-conception is that only professional care and assistance can be recovered; but help from family and friends is also recoverable.
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