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At The Injury Lawyers, many of our clients suffer from the painful and frustrating condition known as whiplash.  Whiplash is a condition which is not so plain to see a scar or a broken bone, and so many people may discount it or devalue it in their minds. At The Injury Lawyers, we know the pain our clients suffer through whiplash and the destructive effect the condition can have on their lives; we therefore treat the condition extremely seriously and with the importance it deserves.

Symptoms

The symptoms of whiplash can be felt differently by different people. However, for most, the symptoms do not become apparent until around 6 – 12 hours after the accident – they may then increase in severity for up to one week. A sufferer may feel tenderness, stiffness, and/or numbness in their neck which may radiate to other areas such as in the shoulders or back. Sufferers can have decreased mobility in their neck, or in more extreme circumstances, have no mobility at all.
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I think it’s obvious to understand that if you are injured due to a faulty product, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation; but what about services that have caused your injuries?

Britain’s industry is primarily comprised of services – so there’s a lot that could go wrong. As long as your injuries were not your fault, but caused through the negligence of a company or another person, you can make a claim under the Sale of Goods and Services Act 1982.

I personally have seen an increase in claims related to beauty clinics and beauty treatment recently. We are seeing burns, rashes, and even scarring from laser treatment that has gone wrong, or chemicals that have caused a reaction. Ultimately, the clinic or practice where the treatment was performed has an important duty of care to ensure you are not harmed through the use of their service.
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We have many clients approach us after tripping on a defect on a public highway. After a harsh winter and the coming of Spring, I feel it is a good time to address the issue of claims against the Council for accidents stemming from a defected highway. Potholes can occur for a multitude of reasons – but after a long harsh winter, it is highly likely to be due to frost. The frost and ice seeps into small cracks in the highway which then expands to form larger cracks which can further crumble away to form large pot holes. These pot holes can form a major hazard to pedestrians on the pavement, or to vehicles if on the road. Vehicles which are especially vulnerable to pot holes are motor bikes, mopeds, and bicycles, which can be easily knocked off course due to a defect in the road surface.

What to do

If you have had an accident stemming from a defect on the road and it was not your fault, then you may have a claim for compensation.
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Bus and coach accidents are something which may be overlooked when considering personal injury claims. This is because when we hear about road traffic accident claiming it is often regarding car or motorbike accidents. We hear advertisements on television all the time asking if we have had a road traffic accident; for some reason I guess we would usually associate this with a car accident.

Bus and coach accidents may be less common than car accidents, but we still have many clients approach us after being injured whilst on a bus. If you have been injured on a bus and it was not your fault then you may have a claim for compensation. Whether the road traffic accident was the fault of the bus driver or another car and you, there is a high chance you have a claim. If the fault was with the bus driver you may be able to bring a claim against the bus company. Bus companies are often vicariously liable for the actions of their drivers – meaning the bus company is responsible for the actions of the bus driver involved, and you can be compensated through the company insurance.

On the other hand, if fault lies with another driver, you may be able to bring a claim against them. Either way you may have a valid claim.
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Whiplash is not a nice injury to suffer from. It generally occurs after a road accident, but can also occur after a slip or a fall.

Whiplash is caused by the sudden jolting of your neck beyond its normal range of movement – this effectively stretches the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, and can result in anything from minor neck pain for a few days, to months and months of agony and pain.

The more common symptoms of whiplash:
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Supermarkets of one of those necessary hassles of modern life.  Back when I was young there were not some many of these and people would spend maybe a couple of hours going from their bakery, to their butcher, and to their fishmonger. Now it seems the modern fast paced lives of today demand everything under one roof and with lots of choice and convenience.

Saying this, many people love the convenience the supermarket offers – many however would not anticipate having an accident in one which was not their fault. Many clients come to us at The Injury Lawyers after suffering an accident in a supermarket; these accidents can range from a slip on a spillage to a trip on an item negligently left in an aisle or an item falling on them from a poorly stacked shelf. Whatever the accident, as long as it was not your fault and it has caused you an injury, you may have a claim for compensation.

If you have an accident in a supermarket it is advisable to report it as they may need to place a note of it in their accident book. This entry in the accident book can also serve as evidence that the accident did actually take place.  Although it is advisable to report the accident, this allows the Defendant to be put on notice of the accident, so to speak. Shortly after the accident, many of our clients have then been approached by the supermarkets with a goodwill gesture of money or vouchers. This can end up with a Third Party Capture situation whereby the Defendant may be attempting to settle your claim on a full and final basis before it goes any further and you instruct a solicitor to begin a personal injury claim. If you accept this offer you may be settling any potential claim you have; you would not be able to make any further claim. Without legal advice you do not know what your potential claim is worth, and so by accepting this early (and often small) offer, you may be under valuing your claim.
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Completing a personal injury claim may be seen as two-pronged. On the one hand you have your claim for your injury compensation to which any good injury lawyer would advise you an approximate value. On the other hand you have you losses. Now, you may wonder – ‘what am I talking about’, and think that your claim was just for compensation. Well, succeeding in a personal injury claim is meant to put you in the position you would have been in had you never have suffered the accident. Therefore, if we did not include in that claim any loss of earnings you had suffered, or all the travel costs you had incurred as a result of the accident, you would still be worse off.

Therefore, any financial losses you incur as a result of the accident will be compiled in a document known as a Schedule of Loss. This document will not contain a valuation for your injury compensation because, as I said, it can be seen as two-pronged; so the compensation part is claimed separately.

Below I have listed some of the more common items of loss which you may see on a Schedule of Loss:
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It is an unfortunate statistic that road traffic accidents are on the increase. This is one of the reasons, why for road traffic accidents that happened after 30^th April 2010 and are worth between a certain range of values, a new system has been put in place making the system more stream-lined, simpler, and quicker. The system sets out that within 15 business days of the other side receiving the circumstances of your claim in a document known as a Claim Notification Form, you should have an answer regarding liability – i.e. whether they admit or deny fault. This means that the angst and frustration of not knowing what is going on with your claim is taken away.  At The Injury Lawyers we have a policy of updating our clients every 2 weeks – this means that you always stay in the loop, so to speak.

Injuries and Treatment

Many clients that come to us after a road accident are suffering with whiplash. This can be a painful and frustrating condition which many people can overlook as it is not so clear to see as a broken bone or a laceration. At The Injury Lawyers we always treat whiplash with the seriousness it deserves as we know what a destructive effect it can have on people’s lives.  When a client approaches The Injury Lawyers we can usually arrange for treatment for injuries such as whiplash right from the start – this treatment may include physiotherapy, chiropractic, or osteopathic treatment; the cost of which is either payable by the other side upon succeeding with your claim, or by insurance if you lose. This means that you would not have to wait on an NHS waiting list whilst suffering with the pain and inconvenience of the whiplash.
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Product liability may seem like legal jargon and too complex a term to bother to understand. It is however quite simple in its meaning – it simply means a product which through no fault of your own has caused you harm.

Product liability claiming can be fairly complex as there is often a point of confusion as to whether the retailer and/or the manufacturer is at fault. If it is the manufacturer they can sometimes be difficult to locate – that is why it is advisable to seek the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer with experience in this area to advise you.

Faulty Products:
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I can hear many of you out there when you see personal injury advertisements on the televisions saying – ‘claiming for compensation is easier said than done’. Well, if you end up making a bad decision and instructing the wrong law firm where you have to always chase them for information or for things to be done, then that may be the case.

However, if you chose the right solicitor you may get an all together different experience. At The Injury Lawyers we like to give our clients the most hassle free experience we possibly can – we feel that you have already been through the trauma of an accident, so you shouldn’t have any further unnecessary hassle or bother. Much of the hassle and frustration can stem from not knowing what is going on with your claim and feeling out of control. Well at The Injury Lawyers we update our clients every 2 weeks whether something has happened on the claim or not – this keeps you in the know and so reduces any worry or uncertainty.

When you first approach a law firm with a claim, a solicitor will ask you the accident circumstances in order to assess whether there is a claim and it has good prospects of succeeding – we do not want to waste your time or give you false hope on a claim which will not succeed. If the claim is then taken on and you agree to instruct the solicitor, a Letter of Claim will be produced – this is the first document the other side will receive regarding your claim. The letter will set out the circumstances of your claim as well as request any documents we need in order to assess the case.
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