The neck is a fragile, precise piece of the human body. With carefully stacked vertebrae, tightly bundled nerve ganglia, complex tendons and ligaments, and so much more functionally necessary material, it doesn’t take much to throw the neck into disarray. An injury as seemingly minor as whiplash can be a literal pain in the neck for weeks or even months. Likewise, the neck serves as a microcosm for the rest of your life after a neck injury, as your injury ripples outward to impact your comfort, happiness, and even finances. When filing a neck injury claim, the goal is to restore your life to normal. If you don’t know where to begin, here are some details on what to expect from your neck injury claim.
Neck Injury Assessment
The first step in ameliorating the ill effects of you injury is to understand more precisely the extent of the pain and damage. You’re in pain and discomfort, but how can you translate that into something quantifiable for the purpose of your neck injury claim? A group called the Quebec Task Force established a gradated system for evaluating whiplash-associated disorder (WAD), and neck injury claim lawyers still tend toward using this metric.
- Grade 0: No complaint about the neck and no physical injury.
- Grade 1: Complaint of pain, stiffness, or tenderness, but no identifiable physical injury (e.g. via CT scan, MRI, etc.)
- Grade 2: Complaint of pain, etc., and signs of musculoskeletal injury.
- Grade 3: Complaint of pain, etc., and signs of neurological injury.
- Grade 4: Complaint of pain, etc., and fracture or dislocation.
Most neck injury claim settlements can be broadly organized by the grade that your injury best fits. As you would expect, higher graded injuries entitle victims to larger compensatory sums. However, the physical aspects of a neck injury aren’t the only ones to consider during a neck injury claim.
Other Compensation
Courts often award non-pecuniary damages in neck injury claims. Non-pecuniary damages refer to damages received as compensation for intangibles like pain, suffering, or loss of enjoyment after your injury. Since the courts recognize that those factors cannot be restored in and of themselves, monetary recompense is the closest option.
If, after your injury, you are not able to continue in your job for any amount of time, you may be entitled to loss of past/future income. Lost past income is the income you did not earn between when you suffered your injury and the eventual trial; lost future income occurs if your injuries are severe enough to reasonably limit your ability to continue work or to be re-hired following the trial. In either case, your Toronto personal injury lawyer will have to rely on past neck injury cases to establish a compensatory value.
There are several more factors that a trial judge might consider, including the cost of rehabilitative treatment and future care, the loss of housekeeping abilities, and various out-of-pocket expenses.
If you’re still unsure about your neck injury claim, contact an experienced Toronto personal injury law firm as soon as possible for a free consultation.