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Its common for a third party insurer to do anything to settle a whiplash claim as soon as possible. They do not care that you’re injured and how it is affecting your life, they just want to get rid of the claim as quickly as they can and save themselves as much money as possible! So do not be fooled if the third party insurer offers you an inviting sum of money to settle – you may well deserve far, far more!

Third party insurers usually offer a sum around £1,000.00 to settle a claim before any medical evidence has been obtained, which is known as a pre-medical offer. Medical evidence is used to value your whiplash claim as it consists of a report outlining the injuries you sustained in the accident and how long you are likely to suffer for. Without this evidence it is impossible to value your claim – therefore by accepting a pre medical offer you could be settling your claim for far less than it is actually worth!

Accepting a pre-medical offer seems extremely tempting, but there are serious risks.  If you accept a pre medical offer then there is no going back! Once you have accepted to settle your claim you cannot claim for any more compensation if you discover that you are still suffering from your injuries months down the line, or if you incur any more out of pocket expenses. So if your solicitor advises you not to accept a pre medical offer, they are doing this for your own good.
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The other day I was speaking with a gentleman who had great prospects of a successful claim for compensation.  I advised him of this but he was a little worried that his claim might take a long time and was not sure whether to go ahead. 

At The Injury Lawyers we come across this a lot – people have an idea in their head that the claims process is hard work and could take a lot of time to get settled and as such they find this off-putting.  The thing is, the reality of claiming for injuries from a road traffic accident is that it is actually very straightforward in the vast majority of circumstances, and then whole claim could be done and dusted within just a few short months!

Yes, a few years ago, road traffic accident claiming could have taken a fair while.  This was because the Defendant was allowed almost four months to just simply come back with their position on liability, or in other words, whether they admitted or denied fault for the accident.  This was unacceptable; so from April 2010 the process was reformed.  The Defendant’s insurer now only has a period of just over two to three weeks to admit or deny liability.
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What should you do if you have an accident at work?

Naturally, you should firstly seek medical attention to make sure you are okay!  At the end of the day, nothing is more important than your wellbeing.  Once you are sure you are fine you should report your accident to your manager or supervisor and make sure that a record is properly kept of your accident by your employer.

All employers are legally required to keep an accident book.  It is necessary to record all accidents in this book and it is good practice to even record near misses in the workplace.  For example, if you trip over something that shouldn’t have been there but don’t fall and hit the ground or injure yourself, you should still report this so that action be taken in order to prevent such incidents happening again.
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A lot of people who ask this question have received what is known as a pre-medical offer. This is an offer received in respect of your injuries prior to you obtaining a medical report.  But what does that mean?

In the claims process you will be asked to attend a medical appointment once liability for your claim is admitted, so that a legal medical report can be compiled.  This is arguably the most important part of your claim because it is enables your claim to be properly valued by your expert injury lawyer.  You medical report will diagnose your injuries and provide a prognosis (how long your injuries will last for) and from this your claim can be valued.  Generally, the more severe your injury and the longer it lasts, the more your claim is worth.

So a pre-medical offer is an offer received prior to you getting a medical report.  Is this a good or a bad thing?
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In the UK there are thousands of road traffic accidents occurring on our busy roads, which means there are a lot of claims for whiplash. Whiplash is one of the most common types of injuries associated with road traffic accidents; what many people do not realise is that they can claim for compensation for suffering from a whiplash injury.

The law states that if you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligent actions you are entitled to claim for compensation and be financially placed back in the position that you would have been in if the accident had not occurred. On the injury side of things, we cannot take away the pain you have endured, but we can settle your case for a financial sum as compensation for the suffering you have endured. And so you should be able to – why should you suffer from the pain and inconvenience of whiplash just because of someone else’s negligent actions?

So how do you go about making a claim for compensation? Well, first of all, you need to find an expert personal injury lawyer who can guarantee you 100% of your compensation and provide a genuine no win no fee agreement. We here at The Injury Lawyers can do just that!
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Whiplash: It is the bane of people’s lives when they have been injured in a road traffic accident. We have all heard about it – but what are the symptoms of whiplash and how do you treat it?

Whiplash is one of the most common types of injuries we come across here at The Injury Lawyers. If you have been involved in a road traffic accident, no matter how minor or major the accident was, you probably will have whiplash. We deal with whiplash claims on a day to day basis so we are expert whiplash claims solicitors.

So you have been involved in an accident but how do you know if you have whiplash? Whiplash is often only associated with neck pain, but don’t be fooled; whiplash injuries can include back and shoulder pain as well, not mentioning the other side effects. Whiplash can include the following symptoms:
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This is one of the most common questions we are asked by our own clients just as much as the accident victims who ring us up for our expert advice and to find out more about our quality representation. As a firm of specialist personal injury lawyers, we are the best guys to ask to answer this question.

Unfortunately, we can’t quite answer it yet…

It all comes down to the nature of your injuries, suffering, and losses. The value of your claim is entirely dependent on the severity of your injuries and how much they have affected your life. For example, a fractured leg is generally worth more than a bruise to the leg. If you are suffering for six weeks as oppose to two weeks, your claim will likely be worth more. If you are a very active person who has been prevented from taking part in sporting activities as a result of your injury, this can be taken in to account in comparison with someone who doesn’t take part in any sporting activities and has generally been impaired by the injury less.
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Any injury can end up being debilitating – but when it’s a vital limb we use as part of our everyday lives, the things we are normally able to do can end up being severely restricted.

A trip over a dangerous hazard or a slip on a wet floor can leave you falling to the ground, and doing what we all do when we are falling – instinctively put out your arms to break your fall! Whilst this vital instinctive defensive mechanism can minimise the damage to your body, you are likely to suffer a hard knock at the very least, if not a break in any area of your arm caused by the impact of the fall.

The common injuries we see here are fractures and dislocations to the wrists, fingers, and elbows, unless you’re luck enough to escape with soft tissue damage instead. The soft tissue injuries you can get can be equally as damaging and may leave you feeling tender for quite some time. If you suffer from ligament damage you could be in an even worse position as many ligament ruptures can be impossible to repair, leaving you needing some from of reconstructive surgery.
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If you’re reading this article I’m guessing you are wondering what on earth the pre-accident protocol stage of my personal injury claim is?

The pre-accident protocol is designed to make straightforward PI claims quicker, easier and more cost efficient to settle, and avoid the necessity of going to court where possible. The protocol helps govern how claims are processed by the solicitor handling the claim until settlement or going to trial.

Once a lawyer is instructed to act on your behalf, and we have informed you that there is a good chance your claim will be successful, a letter of claim is sent to third party who we believe to be responsible for your injuries. This letter contains details of the circumstance of your accident, the allegations of what the party did wrong, the injuries you sustained in the accident, and that we are acting on a No Win, No Fee basis, and finally a list of documents they will need to provide us in the event the claim is disputed.
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The Commons Health Select Committee debated the question as to whether the PIP implants are actually classified as ‘unsafe’ remains unanswered. Two reviews are looking in to scientific evidence of any risk the implants pose, as well as assessing the regulation within the cosmetics industry, and also reviewing the reaction and steps that were taken following the notification that the implants were dangerous back in March 2010.

As many of you are fully aware, we have only really been finding out about all of this n the last few months – two years on from the initial notification!

The conclusions from the reports remain unclear. According to the Committee, there is “no evidence of likely long term negative health effects attributable to PIP implants.” However, the advice goes in to say that “the quality of evidence available does not allow definitive conclusions to be drawn.” Further research is therefore a requirement to confirm whether the use of the silicon in these implants poses any health risk to the victims who have them.
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