Whiplash, neck strain / neck sprain soft tissue injury in rear end car crash in northwestern Minnesota. Jury verdict: approximately $18,000. A woman was stopped at an intersection waiting to turn left when a negligent driver failed to stop and slammed into the back of her small SUV. The impact caused our client soft tissue neck injuries (whiplash), neck pain when driving her car and headaches. The insurance company had to pay for the damage the negligent driver caused.
In Minnesota and North Dakota, damages for a whiplash injury or soft tissue neck sprain / neck strain injury are the total of three things: the medical bills, wage loss, and pain and disability (a list of the ways that this injury changed the client’s life).
The other driver (negligent driver) was talking with his passenger and said his brakes did not work. The driver broke two common sense safety rules: he should have been paying attention to the road in front of him, and if his brakes did not work, he should not have been driving. The impact on the SUV was on the trailer hitch. An impact on a trailer hitch goes straight to the vehicle frame and does not leave much of a dent – even in a hard crash. Trailer hitches are very sturdy. The impact was hard enough to push our client’s SUV forward several feet, but there was very little visible damage to our client’s car or bumper. We took out client’s case to trial. The jury awarded money, and the insurance company paid the damages.