How is a whiplash claim valued?

Solicitors can use a variety of resources to value a claim for whiplash. Many of these I will list below:

1. Medical report: A medical report goes further than simply assessing your injuries – it can also contain the effects the injury has had on your work, social, and domestic life, as well as your hobbies. The medical report also gives a prognosis of when you are likely to recover from your injuries. This is key to helping your lawyer value your claim accurately.
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We all know that we have to wear seat belts when travelling on the roads where they are provided. We know that we have to wear a seat belt in order to protect us and others in the car or vehicle if we were to have a road traffic accident; we also know that wearing a seat belt is a legal requirement for most people.

You may not realise however that there is another reason why you should wear a seat belt…
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At The Injury Lawyers, we have many clients who have suffered an injury whilst at work, and these injuries can stem from a whole host of hazards that they have fallen victim to in the workplace. When clients first approach, us many are very wary about claiming against their employers, and the possible repercussions that they believe can result. We always understand our clients concerns, but also make them aware that employers could get themselves into a lot of trouble were they to treat you differently due to you claiming against them. Plus, employers should have employers’ liability insurance in place to deal with these sorts of situations anyway. It’s a perfectly normal and natural process to claim from the insurance they have.

I have gone on to list below some of the possible workplace hazards and duties of employers:

Work Equipment
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Manual handling tasks can be delegated to you whatever role you may be in. If you work in an office, you may be asked to move a box of heavy files, or if you work in a library you may be asked to carry a box of books. Manual handling tasks need not simply be heavy lifting, but could also include the pushing and pulling of machinery. Whatever manual handling task you do, there are duties on your employer, and these will be the subject of the following blog.

Manual handling in the workplace is regulated through the use of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations Act 1992 (amended in 2002). This sets out the duties of employers when their employees are carrying out manual handling tasks.

The legislation need not be the topic of this entire blog, but there is a hierarchy of control measures which can be taken from it:
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Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI, is a common problem nowadays that can not only affect those in manual jobs, but also the thousands of office based workers who are sat in the same position day in day out typing away on their computers.

Any form of repetitive tasks can cause an RSI, of which there are two common types:

Type 1: This is where your injury can be given an accurate diagnosis by a medical professional – a diagnosis such as Tendonitis, which is the inflammation of tendons.
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There has been a lot in the news recently regarding referrals fees – or as Jack Straw described them, the insurers’ ‘dirty little secret’.  Here is a quick guide:

A referral fee is a fee which a law firm pays insurers upon agreement that their insured’s’ contact details will be passed to them where this person is likely due compensation having been involved in an accident whereby they suffered an injury through no fault of their own.  This fee can be anything in the region of £200 to £1,000!  As such, this has seen the advent of claims management companies, or middlemen, who make their money from buying insured people’s contact details and selling them to law firms for profit.  This has been happening for approximately 20 years, believe it or not.  Further, as the BBC has reported today, the ‘racket’ goes further than just referral fees – It may involve cold calling or texting potential accident victims who have not provided their mobile numbers to any of them directly.
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When people call us up to see if they can make a claim for compensation for the injuries they have suffered at the hands of a negligent third party, apart from wanting to know how much their claim is worth, they generally want to know what happens.  In other words, they want to know each stage of the claim.  I have therefore compiled this quick guide to the compensation claiming process:

Step 1: Letter of Claim

In almost every claim for compensation, except for those where you have been injured in what is considered to be a low value road traffic accident, your lawyers will need to submit a Letter of Claim to the other side.  The Letter of Claim is a straightforward letter which outlines the details of your accident, your injuries, and particularises why we believe the Defendant is at fault and should compensate you for your injuries. 
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Choosing a law firm to instruct for your claim can be difficult; especially when there are so many firms to choose from. The following blog aims to make this process of choosing easier, as I will point out things to look out for in firms.

A first point to note, however, is that you should go to a law firm directly, and ensure not to use referral agencies or your insurer to direct you to a law firm. Agencies and insurers essentially act as middlemen on claims, selling them on for a fee of what could be up to £1,000 – so, if a law firm has paid as much as this for your claim, it’s likely that they’ll work less on your claim in order to redress the balance in their loss of profits. This can lead to receiving a poorer service, having a claim that drags on for longer than it has to, or the firm failing to maximise your compensation.

The following are important items to look out for in a law firm:
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Walking over manholes and utility covers are a thing of superstition – some people do not mind walking over them, and some try to avoid them at all costs. Myself, I try to avoid walking over them not due to superstition, but also due to the many claims we get in here at The Injury Lawyers on a daily basis that involve manhole and utility covers.

If you have been injured due to a manhole or defective utility cover, and it was through no fault of your own, you may have a claim for personal injury. A couple of examples of common accidents we see here at The Injury Lawyers are as follows:
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It seems that one of the first questions clients ask us here at The Injury Lawyers is – what is my claim worth? At the very early stages of a claim, this is a difficult question to answer; however, due to our skill and experience here at The Injury Lawyers, we are often able to give a ball park figure around which we think your claim may potentially be worth.

We like to explain the claiming process fully to our clients, so I have written an in depth blog explaining compensation.

Compensation can also be called ‘damages’ and there are two heads of damages for which you can claim – these being General Damages and Special Damages.
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