Whiplash can be experienced very mildly or extremely severely, and so can have little effect on your life or an extremely debilitating effect on your life. This is why valuing a claim for whiplash can be difficult; some sufferers can recover from the condition in a matter of weeks, whereas others can suffer for months or years. As you will probably have gathered, there will be extremely different valuations placed on the two extremes I have just outlined above, and the point of this blog is to let you know how solicitors come up with these valuations for your claim.
A solicitor will use a wide range of tools to value your claim – I have set these out below:
- Judicial Studies Board Guidelines: The JSB guidelines band neck injuries for the purposes of valuations – I have set out these bands below;
- Minor Whiplash Injuries – £875 to £5,150
- Moderate Whiplash Injuries – £5,150 to £16,400
- Severe Whiplash Injuries – up to £97,000
The average minor whiplash claim settles for around £2,500 according to statistics and averages.
Medical report: This medical report provides more information than you might think on your injury – it details the effects the injury has had on all areas of your life, including your professional and domestic life, together with any psychological effects it has caused. The medical report also gives a prognosis detailing when you are likely to recover from your injuries.
Skill, experience, and expertise of your solicitor: A solicitor will draw upon everything he / she can to value your claim. This is why it can be beneficial to choose a specialist personal injury lawyer with a vast amount of experience in dealing with whiplash claiming.
Case law: your solicitor may look at cases similar to your own which have settled already in order to value your claim.
But which law firm do you choose to deal with your claim…
Benefits which many good law firms offer are as follows:
- 100% compensation – make sure you receive all of which you are entitled to be awarded.
- No costs for you to pay – win or lose the claim ensure that you do not have to pay a penny. This should be reflected in your no win no fee agreement.
- High service standards – at The Injury Lawyers we offer extremely high client care standards whereby we return client calls and e-mails within 24 hours and update our clients every 14 days.
- Free home visits
- Medical package – as an example at The Injury Lawyers we are able to arrange private medical treatment at no cost to our clients – this includes physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic assistance.
If you require any further information regarding your claim then please feel free to give The Injury Lawyers a call.