Baltimore Whiplash Injury Lawyer

Have you been recently injured in a car accident? At WGK Personal Injury Lawyers, our Baltimore personal injury lawyers can help you get the most compensation available for your injuries. Collectively, our lawyers have over 80 years of experience fighting for accident victims’ rights. Contact our Baltimore law office at (410) 837-2144 for more information.  

Whiplash is one of the most common injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents. If you suffered whiplash injuries after a Baltimore car accident, you may be entitled to financial compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and more.

How Can WGK Personal Injury Lawyers Help With My Whiplash Injury Claim in Baltimore?

How Can William G. Kolodner, P.A. Help With My Whiplash Injury Claim?

Whiplash is a common car accident injury. That doesn’t make it any easier to recover fair compensation for the pain and expense it causes. Insurance companies don’t easily accept fault after an accident–even if the person who caused the accident might. 

You need to prove both that someone else’s carelessness caused the accident and that the accident caused the whiplash injury. Insurance companies handle whiplash injury cases every day. They know the exact defenses to liability that victims tend to accept. They also know that if they put a lowball offer on the table, accident victims often jump at the opportunity.

Our Baltimore car accident attorneys at WGK Personal Injury Lawyers know that you need money in your pocket quickly. We also want to make sure that you get enough to cover all of your costs. We’re here to even the playing field and protect your rights.

When you hire us, our legal team will:

  • Conduct our own investigation to determine the cause of the crash
  • Bring in experts who can help establish causation
  • Work with medical and financial experts to accurately value your claim
  • Negotiate with the insurance companies and defense lawyers
  • Defend you when the at-fault party tries to shift the blame to you
  • Prepare a solid, evidence-based claim that is ready for trial if needed

The attorney-client relationship you choose can be key to recovering the fair compensation you deserve. Our family-run personal injury firm is proud to provide personalized, dedicated legal support that gets results for our clients. 

We’ve already recovered millions of dollars in compensation for satisfied clients across Baltimore. If you’re ready to learn more about how we can help in your case, give us a call today.

What is Whiplash?

Whiplash is a type of neck injury that damages the soft tissue in the neck region. It’s usually caused by overextension and flexing of the neck muscles. In other words, when the neck “whips” back and forth quickly. The most common cause of whiplash is a rear-end car accident, although any type of accident can cause whiplash injuries, including:

The muscles, cartilage, and other soft tissue in the neck can all be strained or sprained in an accident. The collective term for these injuries is “whiplash.”

Isn’t Whiplash a Minor Injury?

Most whiplash injuries are easy to treat with over-the-counter medications and a neck collar. In fact, patients with minor whiplash injuries might recover completely in as little as three months. Some patients are not so lucky, and might even suffer from chronic headaches and ongoing psychological issues.

On average, statistics show that whiplash injury victims miss about eight weeks of work–and about 7% of whiplash injuries prevent the patient from returning to work at all. 

There are about three million new whiplash cases reported every year in the United States. About half of those patients develop some type of chronic, ongoing symptoms that may require treatment over time. 75% of whiplash patients have symptoms that last for at least six months.

What are the Symptoms of Whiplash?

Whiplash is one of those car accident injuries that might not show up right away. In fact, many whiplash injury victims don’t know they’ve suffered an injury until a few days have passed.

Common symptoms that might indicate you have whiplash include:

  • A sore neck
  • Headache
  • Difficulty moving the shoulders, arms or hands
  • Stiffness in the neck area
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Dizziness 
  • Arm weakness
  • Jaw pain
  • Abnormal burning or prickling sensations in the neck
  • Limited range of motion

In more rare cases, whiplash can cause cognitive problems like memory loss, irritability and difficulty concentrating.

Because whiplash symptoms don’t always show up immediately after a crash, it’s important to keep a detailed record when symptoms do appear. Always seek medical attention right after an accident–and if you’ve begun to experience any signs of whiplash, make sure you see your doctor right away.

Remember, at-fault parties might claim that your whiplash injuries were really caused by something else. They might try to show that something happened between the date of the accident and the date you sought medical treatment.

That’s one reason why it’s so important to see a doctor quickly, especially after a rear end collision. Even if some time has passed, our personal injury attorneys know how to handle these and other insurance tactics. Don’t hesitate to call to see how our Baltimore car accident lawyers can help.

How Will the Doctor Treat My Whiplash Injuries?

Of course, every injury case is different and the doctor’s treatment plan will vary from patient to patient. Whiplash injuries are typically treated with a combination of:

  • Rest
  • Over-the-counter painkillers
  • A neck brace or collar designed to restrict neck movement
  • Ice and heat
  • Physical therapy
  • Chiropractic care
  • Acupuncture
  • Muscle stimulation
  • Lifestyle changes

Just because whiplash isn’t usually classified as “catastrophic” doesn’t mean it can’t impact your life dramatically. Even though you don’t have any broken bones, whiplash injury victims often find that they can’t work, exercise or even lift their children.

Maryland Statute of Limitations for Filing an Injury Claim

Even if the severity of your injuries isn’t immediately clear, you only have a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit. In Maryland, you only have three years to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Usually, you’ll file a claim with a car insurance company before resorting to a lawsuit. The time limits for filing a claim can vary between insurance companies, but will be much less than three years. Many insurance companies simply give you a reasonable amount of time to file.

Establishing the accident’s cause is key to getting compensation. That makes it important for our lawyers to get to work quickly to investigate your crash. Even if you’re still recovering, call our law offices for your free consultation as soon as possible. We can visit the crash site, locate witnesses and start to put together a strong damages claim right away.

What Damages Are Available for Baltimore Whiplash Injury Victims?

In every personal injury case, the value of your claim will depend on how serious and permanent your injuries are. As you probably already know, whiplash injuries can be expensive to treat. It’s important to get the complete picture before we rush in to file an insurance claim.

That means our attorneys will work with medical experts, your doctor and other specialists to reach a dollar value for your damages. That claim has to reflect both the costs you’ve already incurred and those likely to arise in the future.

Your settlement should include money to cover the cost of:

Severe neck pain can interfere with your ability to work in the long-term, so it’s important to get the settlement value right before signing anything. If your insurance company already has an offer on the table, speak with a lawyer before agreeing to anything. 

Even though whiplash sounds like a minor injury to most, it can impact your life in ways you might not see yet. Our personal injury attorneys are available to help you understand what your claim is worth, so call us today for a free case review.

Can Shared Responsibility Rules Limit My Damages Recovery?

Yes. In fact, if the at-fault party can prove that you contributed to the cause of the accident, you might not be able to recover damages at all. Maryland follows a pure contributory negligence rule. 

In English, that means accident victims can’t recover compensation if they were partly at-fault for the accident. This gives insurance companies an incentive to find any way possible to show that you were partly to blame for the crash. For example, they might use sensitive information posted on social media to create a timeline that works in their favor.

Our lawyers are familiar with these tactics because we’ve been handling cases like yours for over 40 years. We know how to fight back. Give us a call today to learn more.

Call a Baltimore Auto Accident Lawyer for Help Protecting Your Rights Today

At WGK Personal Injury Lawyers, we offer a free consultation so that you can learn more about your rights, options, and what your claim might be worth. If someone else caused your whiplash injuries, we can work to hold that party accountable.

Time is always limited in auto accident cases. If you or a loved one were hurt, call or contact an experienced Baltimore whiplash injury lawyer to get help today.

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