Reasonable compensation after car hit us?

knightstyle

Hi everyone. I was wondering how much compensation we should get following an accident last April. We were hit from behind and my wife suffered wiplash and broke a front tooth. The car damage was repaired but the other persons insurance, Direct Line, have done all they can to delay things. Now, my wife is still having painful treatment for the tooth, they say they will give us £1250. When I said this was far too little considering my wife suffered from the wiplash for several months and still has problems with the tooth they said she must have another medical examination. It took five months for them to get the last report from a doctor so my feeling is this is just another delaying tactic.
What do you think we should do?

Steve1981

in October 2006 me and the now wife were hit from behind whilst stationary (I cant remember if its 'a' or 'e'). The wife had suffered whiplash in a similar incident 3 years prior, thankfully I had never been in this situation before.

It took until May 2007 to get everything sorted in terms of personal injury - I was paid out £1,500 and the wife £1,800. I was paid out in the February the wife the May. Thankfully I have had no further problems, though the mrs does get an aching sometimes-which is probably a result of it being weakened by the first incident.

SOOOOOOO to be honest the £1,250 does seem a little low considering the required dentistry and pain that brings.

Your OP does not make it clear if £1,250 is each or between you - if its between you then I would have thought it is more than half short

V_tricky

Hi,

You don't say how long each persons whiplash lasted, but certainly for your wife, £1250 does sound very low.

Insurers, solicitors and Judges themselves refer to the Judicial Studies Board Guidelines when considering the valuation of personal injury claims.

Each year it's updated as PI payments inevitably do change over time, but it can give some idea of what you can reasonably expect.

As there would be some overlap in symptoms, it's not a case that you would add the two figures (for dental & whiplash) together, as there would be some overlap in symptoms, but it should certainly give you some starting point.

A whiplash claim, with a full recovery between a few weeks and a year is normally valued at £750 to £2,550. Bear in mind though as the period of greatest suffering (which is what you're being compensated for) is at the beginning. "At the lowest level, claimants may suffer a minor strain, may not have time off work, and may suffer symptoms for a few weeks, justifying as little as £750". However to get anywhere near the £2550 you would expect the person to have been suffering for nearly the full year, probably with quite a lot of physiotherapy, pain when working, doing housework, gardening, driving medium/long distances etc. NB I say pain when DOING these things, NOT avoiding these things because it'll cause pain (after all, if you've avoided doing them, you're not suffering, and you don't get any compensation for no additional suffering!).

This is what the JSB Guidelines say about dental:

"(f) Damage to Teeth

In these cases there will generally have been a course of treatment as a result of the initial injury. The amounts awarded will vary according to the extent and/or the degree of discomfort of such treatment. Any difficulty with eating increases the award. These cases may overlap with fractures of the jaw, meriting awards in the brackets for such fractures. Awards may be greater where the damage results in or is caused by protracted dentistry.
(i) Loss of or serious damage to several front teeth. £5,100 to £6,600
(ii) Loss of or serious damage to two front teeth. £2,550 to £4,300
(iii) Loss of or serious damage to one front tooth. £1,300 to £2,300
(iv) Loss of or damage to back teeth: per tooth: £630 to £1,000"

The fact that DL have requested another medical report is good news - they can only base their valuation on the medical evidence to hand. If the first medical report was light on information, or gave what has turned out to be an innacurate prognosis (estimated period of time suffering) then they need updated medical evidence - perhaps from a specialist or orthopaedic surgeon instead of a GP - in order to revalue their claim.

Sending her for another medical report isn't a delaying tactic - they want your claim settled ASAP, and medical reports cost at least £220 a time (more like £400-500 if it's a specialist) and this isn't money that they'd want to pay out unless they had to.

5 months to get a medical in sounds a very long time though - hopefully the next one wont take so long. The most important thing is to ensure that the doctor has FULL information relating to the injury and ongoing suffering. DL can only base their valuation on a full account, so make sure that the doctor has put everything relevant and correct in their report. If it's not got the full information, or is incorrect - send it back to the medical expert and get them to change it (they will, no problems).

Anyway, this has turned into a bit of a long post - I hope at least some of the information is useful to you.

Hope you & your wife get on okay

Careful_with_that_Axe

I suffered whiplash in a rta 27 years ago and received £3,000 compensation. However, I was unaware that I would end up with arthritis in my neck later in life (I'm 44). This was something that was never raised as a possible issue in the 3 medicals I had. Sometimes it's worth letting claims go on for that bit longer to be absolutely sure there is no medical evidence that problems may crop up from current injury in the future. It may be worth asking questions about the possibility of future arthritis.
All the best to you and your wife.

Steve1981

V-Tricky - that is a truely amazing world class post

knightstyle

Yes it is so many thanks to all of you and HUGE thanks to V-Tricky.
I am now pursuing this with renewed vigor.