The Purpose of Compensation for Negligence

If you are involved in a car accident and you make a claim for whiplash compensation, English law states that you are only entitled to receive compensation that will put you back in the same position as you were in if you had not had the accident. The law is very clear that you should not be put in a better position than you were before the accident.

Difficulties in Assessing the Amount of Whiplash Compensation

Whilst it is easy to assess some aspects of a claim for compensation, such as lost earnings due to injury, or the cost of repairs to your car, it is not so easy to compensate you for your injuries. If the purpose of compensation is to put you back into the same position you were in before the accident, how can this be achieved with your pain and suffering? The pain cannot be made to completely disappear in some circumstances. In cases of injury, the only solution is to try and ensure you make a full recover, and if not, to put a figure on how much the pain is worth to you in monetary terms. Therefore, if you suffer a whiplash injury, you can claim for the cost of any private medical treatment which will help to improve your pain and suffering, and you can also claim a sum of compensation for the pain you experienced until you made a full recovery, or if you fail to do so how much that ongoing pain is worth.

It is accepted that this is not an easy task, but over the years the courts awarded fairly standard amounts for similar types of injuries. This then enabled the Judicial Studies Board to review all of these cases and prepare a book which puts a value on the various different types of injuries sustained, from whiplash injuries, to broken arms and even more serious claims.

Claiming Compensation for Non Injury Losses and Expenses

In addition to claiming compensation for injuries, you can also claim compensation for other losses and expenses which were caused by the accident. These are more straightforward to quantify, normally by receipts or invoices, or in the case of lost earnings, wage slips from employers. These expenses and losses can include:

* Lost earnings due to time away from work

* Repairs to your vehicle

* Additional travel expenses incurred (eg travelling to doctor appointments etc)

* Private medical treatment (eg physiotherapy or chiropractic)

* Any medication purchased

Whilst it is not always easy to quantify a claim for compensation, over the years there has been sufficient case law which enables the courts to achieve the purpose of compensation: to put the person claiming compensation back in the position they would have been in had the accident not happened.