If you've been involved in a road traffic accident - especially if your vehicle was struck from behind - there's a chance you may have suffered painful injuries to the soft tissue in your neck as a result of being suddenly jolted forward. Since the movement is similar to that of a cracking whip, it's come to be known as whiplash, and it can be painfully debilitating.
People suffering from severe whiplash can be in enough pain to miss work, which can lead to financial problems due to lost wages. This can lead to disastrous results in the current economy, and if you've been involved in a rear-end shunt through no fault of your own, you could be entitled to personal injury compensation from the other driver's insurance company, which will offset any missed work.
Before you start running Google searches for personal injury lawyers in your area, you need to know a few things about the process. A whiplash diagnosis can be tricky, so you'll need to be examined by a doctor that is a whiplash injury specialist and has a familiarity with the legal claims process in order to support your claim.
More important is selecting legal representation with care to ensure your claim will be successful. If you've been out of work due to debilitating pain as a result of whiplash or a whiplash-related injury, you may not have the ability to hire a law firm with cash out-of-pocket - but many legal firms will take on your case for no money up front.
By entering into a conditional fee arrangement with a law firm, you'll be free of any financial obligations. More widely known as 'no win, no fee' arrangements, lawyers will take their payment only in the event of you winning your car accident claim - and in the UK, your legal team claims their fees and costs not from your settlement amount but directly from the losing defendant (the insurance company); this means that your law firm is highly motivated to win their case, as they don't get paid unless you do.
However, there are new laws currently working their way through Parliament that could put a change to this. While this new legislation won't eliminate no win no fee whiplash claims, they will change how they work significantly: no longer will lawyers be able to claim their legal fees and court costs from the losing side and will instead take them from your own compensation payment, so keep aware of this in the future, or you'll be in for a nasty shock!
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