The Case for Whiplash Compensation

Every year in the United States there are millions of automobile accidents resulting in tens of thousands of claims for auto-related injuries. The overwhelming majority of these claims concern soft tissue injuries, or strain and sprains to the muscles and ligaments that surround the discs in the neck and back. The job of injury or personal injury attorneys who take on these claims on a contingency fee basis, is how to determine reasonable whiplash compensation for their clients.

A soft tissue or whiplash type injury can be tricky for an attorney to handle. Because soft tissue injuries are largely subjective (they cannot be verified by x-ray or other more sophisticated medical scanning devices for the most part), potential claimants have the potential to exaggerate or falsify their symptoms in the interest of easy financial gain.

Insurers as well as injury attorneys will evaluate the claimant’s chances for whiplash compensation by focusing on other aspects of the accident such as the extent of property damage and the medical care provided. If the property damage to the claimant’s vehicle exceeds several thousand dollars, it is more likely that an injury occurred. Also, the medical care provided is examined, for if the injury can be verified by an orthopedic physician or neurologist, then the insurer must take the claim more seriously.