Whiplash Compensation Lawyers

Whiplash is an injury that typically affects the neck and back following a road or car accident or collision. Its name comes from the movement that occurs in a motor vehicle accident where there is an acceleration and deceleration, causing that jerking momentum. When you’re wearing a seatbelt, that jerking movement causes your head to jerk forward and backward. This can cause damage to the neck and spine. Typically, whiplash occurs in rear-end, head-on, and even side-on collisions. 

Whiplash can often be mistaken for a minor injury. And sometimes it is. However, it can also have really serious impacts on your quality of life. Chronic neck pain, difficulty moving, and headaches are some of the most common side effects of whiplash injuries.

There are a variety of symptoms you might experience if you have whiplash. 

Common symptoms

Below are some of the common whiplash symptoms — you may experience all or just a few of these. It’s important to note that your doctor or physiotherapist can help you find support for many of these symptoms as you navigate life after your accident.

If you have any of the above symptoms and haven’t yet, we absolutely recommend seeking medical advice as soon as possible.

The time it takes to heal from whiplash will depend on the severity of your symptoms and the injury itself. Some whiplash symptoms will only last a few days or a couple of weeks. Some whiplash injuries can take months to heal. 

It’s important to seek medical advice soon after a whiplash accident, no matter how severe you think your injury might be. Medical professionals like general practitioners (GPs) and physiotherapists will be able to set you up with the best treatments to heal sooner.

There are strict timelines around whiplash compensation claims. You will need to lodge your Notice of Claim Form within nine (9) months of the incident or within one (1) month of consulting with a whiplash compensation lawyer. 

We recommend contacting a lawyer as soon as you think you might have a claim. There are many things to consider and pieces of evidence to collect throughout your claim process. The sooner you consult with a lawyer, the more knowledge you’ll have as you navigate through this process.

Typically when we talk about whiplash injuries, we think of road and car accidents. While road accidents certainly are responsible for a lot of whiplash claims, there are a range of other accidents that may cause whiplash.

When claiming compensation for whiplash, there are a range of expenses and damages that can be claimed, depending on your injury and how it’s impacted you. 

Some common examples are:

• Hospital, medical, and rehabilitation costs
• Loss of earnings (past and predicted future losses)
• Pain and suffering
• Home care

Here’s what you need to know.

There are tight timeframes around claiming compensation for your whiplash injury. You need to submit your Notice of Claim Form within nine (9) months of the incident or within one (1) month of consulting with a compensation lawyer. 

For the best chance in your claim, we recommend contacting a lawyer ASAP so you can get the right advice from the start.

The whiplash compensation process is going to look a little bit different for each individual. Getting started with vbr Lawyers is easy, though.

Talk with a lawyer

The first step is a chat with one of our lawyers. These normally take 30 minutes, but there’s no time limit. We’ll want to find out what happened and your steps so far. Don’t worry, there are no wrong answers here.

Get a letter of advice

We’ll get a letter of advice back to you within a few days. Your lawyer will deliver a list of recommendations to you in a way that is easy to understand. If you haven’t already, your lawyer will always recommend seeking medical advice.

Start the process

Once you’re happy to get started, we’ll begin the claim process. This will look different from case to case but will start with us notifying the at-fault party and any other relevant parties like CTP insurers or WorkCover.

The best thing you can do for a whiplash injury claim is to begin collecting evidence immediately. Almost any step you take as a result of your whiplash injury should be recorded, and any proof of expenses or the impact on your life should be collected. 

Here are some of the pieces of evidence you should collect.

Photographs

Take photos of the accident or the scene following the accident. This might be a photo of your car, bicycle, or yourself. 

A record of events

We recommend writing notes about what happened as soon as you can as it will become harder to remember the later you do it. Note down the street or intersection, the weather, how the accident happened, and any witnesses’ details you have. 

Medical evidence

You should seek medical advice as soon as you can and keep documentation of the assessment. You will want to have details about your diagnosis, tests, treatments, and all associated costs.

Expenses & loss of income

As well as your medical treatment expenses, keep a log of all expenses related to your injury generally. Log any income you lose throughout the process due to your inability to work.

We pride ourselves on taking a different approach.