Summerville Whiplash Lawyers

Whiplash is a common soft tissue injury affecting the neck’s muscles, tendons, spinal discs, and nerves. It is caused by sudden accelerations or decelerations that cause the head to whip back and forth, such as in falls, auto accidents, and sports injuries. Whiplash injuries can result in medical bills, lost wages, and significant pain and suffering. Injured victims can seek compensation through a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party.

If you suffered a whiplash injury in South Carolina, contact the experienced Summerville car accident lawyers at Murphy Crantford Meehan for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, explain your options for seeking the compensation you deserve, and answer your questions about the legal process and proving the legitimacy of your whiplash injury.

What Are the Common Symptoms Experienced by Whiplash Victims?

Those suffering from whiplash injuries can experience a broad range of symptoms, including:

• Neck pain or stiffness
• Headaches originating at the base of the skull
• Pain in the shoulders, arms, and back
• Numbness in the shoulders or arms
• Dizziness
• Blurry vision
• Concentrating difficulties
• Swallowing difficulties

You should seek medical attention if you experience any of the symptoms listed above after a car crash, fall, or other accident.

Why Is Prompt Medical Attention Important for Treating Whiplash?

Seeking medical attention as soon as possible after a possible whiplash injury is not only important for your physical health but also for your potential personal injury lawsuit. Health benefits of early medical intervention include:

• Having your injury diagnosed sooner so you can begin receiving the treatment you need
• Ruling out more serious neck injuries that may require immediate surgery
• Implementing pain and inflammation management practices sooner, such as receiving painkillers or muscle relaxers
• Mitigating potential long-term complications associated with neck injuries

Your personal injury lawsuit will also benefit from prompt medical attention in the following ways:

• It’s harder for the at-fault party or their insurance company to claim that your injury was caused by something else if you get a diagnosis and seek treatment for an injury directly after the incident they caused.
• It’s harder for the at-fault party or their insurance company to claim that your injury isn’t real or as serious as you say it is if you seek immediate medical treatment and follow up with that treatment until your injury heals.

What Is the Legal Process for Recovering Compensation for Whiplash?

Recovering compensation for whiplash typically involves filing a personal injury lawsuit against the party responsible for the accident that caused your injury. Some of the most common defendants in whiplash injury lawsuits are negligent motorists and property owners or managers who allowed a hazard, like a wet floor, to remain on their property.

An experienced whiplash lawyer can help you through the legal process of seeking the compensation you deserve, including:

• Identifying the Liable Party – Your lawyer will investigate the incident to identify all parties liable for your injury.
• Collecting Evidence – Your lawyer will gather evidence connecting the at-fault party’s negligence to your injury. This evidence may include security or traffic camera footage, eyewitness statements, expert testimony, and your medical records.
• Calculating Your Damages – Your lawyer will calculate the compensation sought through your lawsuit, including money for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
• Filing Your Lawsuit – Your lawyer will file your lawsuit within the three-year deadline outlined in South Carolina’s statute of limitations for personal injury.
• Negotiating for a Settlement – Your lawyer will negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company and seek a fair settlement that covers all of your losses.
• Representing You at Trial – If the insurance company refuses to offer a fair settlement, your lawyer will take your case to trial and seek the maximum compensation for your whiplash injury.

How to Prove Whiplash in a Personal Injury Case

Proving you suffered a whiplash injury can be a bit more challenging than proving some other, more visible injuries. Since whiplash affects the soft tissue, it’s often not visible unless there’s extensive bruising present. For this reason, your personal injury attorney will likely use other evidence to prove that your injury occurred, such as:

Medical Records

Your medical records are one of the best pieces of evidence when establishing the validity and severity of your whiplash injury. These records can include your initial diagnosis, the treatments you underwent, and medical images showing the extent of the damage to your soft tissue.

While MRIs are the best way to visualize the damage to your muscles and ligaments, your treating physician may also order X-rays or CT scans to check for additional damage to your spinal discs.

Expert Testimony

Testimony from your treating doctor or another medical professional can be valuable evidence in support of your case. It can be difficult for the at-fault party to push back against testimony provided by a medical professional who has looked at your medical records or examined your injury directly.

Pain Journal Entries

After any kind of personal injury, it’s a good idea to keep a pain journal. This is a notebook in which you write down your daily pain levels, how your injury impacts your daily routine, and how you feel emotionally. Your lawyer may use the entries in your pain journal as supporting evidence to show the extent to which your injury disrupts your life.

Damages Available Through a Whiplash Injury Lawsuit

Whiplash victims can seek compensation for various losses they experience because of their injuries. Some of the most prevalent types of compensation sought in personal injury lawsuits for whiplash include:

• Medical Expenses – You can seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, including surgeries, medical treatments, medical devices, physical therapy, and prescription medications.
• Lost Wages – You can seek compensation for the wages you lost while recovering from your injury. If your injury is severe enough to impact your ability to work in the future, you can also seek compensation for loss of future earning capacity.
• Pain and Suffering – You can seek compensation for the physical pain and emotional suffering you experience because of your injury. Whiplash can lead to chronic neck pain, which may increase the value of your case.

Contact Murphy Crantford Meehan’s Whiplash Lawyers

Call Murphy Crantford Meehan’s personal injury lawyers or contact us online for a free case review if you suffered a whiplash injury in Summerville, South Carolina. Our law firm is dedicated to helping Summerville residents secure fair compensation for their whiplash injuries by guiding them through South Carolina’s legal system with our compassion and experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below, you’ll find answers to some of the most common questions asked by those suffering from whiplash after a personal injury:

Can I still file a claim for whiplash if my symptoms didn’t appear immediately after the car accident?

Yes, you can still file a lawsuit or insurance claim for whiplash if your symptoms didn’t appear immediately after the car accident that caused your injury. Adrenaline can mask the pain immediately after a car crash, and many whiplash victims only report symptoms like pain or stiffness in the neck days after the incident that caused it.

The longer you wait to seek medical treatment and get a formal diagnosis, the more wiggle room the defendant and their insurance company have to try to claim your injury isn’t connected to the accident. However, an experienced car accident attorney can collect the necessary evidence to push back against those claims.

What if the at-fault driver’s insurance denies that whiplash is a legitimate injury?

If the at-fault driver’s insurance company denies that whiplash is a legitimate injury, your attorney can use evidence, including MRI images and medical professional testimony, to prove that it is. Fortunately, whiplash is an injury commonly accepted to result from car accidents. That works in your Summerville car accident lawyer‘s favor.

How is compensation for future medical treatment calculated in a whiplash claim?

If your whiplash injury results in long-term medical treatment, your lawyer must accurately calculate your future medical expenses. That’s so you don’t run out of compensation for those treatments. To calculate your future medical expenses, your lawyer will typically consider a few factors, including:

• How much longer your treating doctor expects your recovery to take
• Whether your injury is going to require lifelong treatment
• The estimated cost of the treatments you are expected to need in the future

The longer your condition is likely to persist, and the more intensive the treatment you’ll need, the more compensation you should seek for your future medical expenses. An accurate assessment requires the assistance of an experienced attorney who has handled cases like yours before.

Can I recover damages for emotional distress caused by my whiplash injury?

Yes, you can recover compensation for emotional distress caused by a whiplash injury. Emotional distress falls under the larger umbrella of pain and suffering, for which you can seek compensation.

However, to seek compensation for emotional distress, you must have a diagnosis for a condition such as anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You must be able to connect that diagnosis to the accident that caused your whiplash injury.