Guide to Whiplash Settlements

2019 Edition

Whiplash is the most common injury associated with auto accidents. It is estimated 83 percent of passengers injured in a collision suffer from some degree of whiplash. It’s estimated four out of every 1,000 people annually are treated for whiplash.

If you’ve suffered from a whiplash injury as the result of an accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries, lost wages, and/or pain and suffering. 

This guide is designed to give you all the tools you need to find the whiplash settlement that’s right for your case. 

A Typical Whiplash Accident Case

Recently, our law firm received a call about a man that was rear-ended by a 17-year-old teen driver. The young girl had her license just two weeks, and was holding her small dog in her lap while driving when she collided with our client at 20 miles per hour. 

Our 32-year-old client went to the emergency room with foot numbness and other typical whiplash symptoms (see below). He had trouble sleeping and performing his job due to the pain he was feeling throughout his body. 

The teen driver’s insurance company agreed that their client was totally at-fault for the accident. And though the damage to our client’s car was less than $1,000, his injuries were painful and debilitating. 

The insurance company’s last settlement offer before trial was $20,000. We weren’t afraid to take the case to trial, and ultimately recovered a $98,000 jury verdict for our client. 

What is the Average Settlement for Car Accident Whiplash?

Many people call our office or email us asking, “What’s the average payout for a whiplash injury?” or “How do I calculate a fair whiplash settlement?” These are good questions and ones that thousands of Americans are asking themselves right this very moment. 

Whiplash injuries are commonly put into five levels: 

• Grade 1 (minimal). Symptoms include complaints of neck pain, stiffness, or tenderness only, no physical signs.
• Grade 2 (slight). Symptoms include complaints of neck pain and musculoskeletal signs indicating a decreased range of motion and tenderness.
• Grade 3 (moderate). Symptoms include a limitation on motion, some physical ligamentous injury present, neurological findings may or may not be present.
• Grade 4 (moderate to severe). Symptoms include limitation on motion; ligamentous instability; neurological findings present; and there may be fractures or disc rearrangement on the spine.
• Grade 5 (severe). Symptoms require surgical intervention to manage/stabilize injury.

Depending on which level your whiplash falls into will determine the payout you receive. 

More severe neck and back injuries routinely settle in the high six figures, possibly reaching a million dollars. The facts of each case are different, and whiplash injuries have many different moving parts. 

The nationwide average settlement for whiplash is between $12,000 to $20,000, though people with attorneys receive much more in settlement money. Studies have shown that people with a lawyer receive on average 3.5 times more in compensation than those people that represent themselves.

The whiplash lawsuit settlement amounts will vary depending on the victim’s age, health, insurance coverage, property damage, injuries, and quality of legal representation. The 

Real Examples of Whiplash Settlements

The following are actual real life examples of whiplash settlements secured by the attorneys at Seattle-based Davis Law Group.  We have had much larger settlements and much lower settlements.  The represent the median of the range.

• $75,000. Settlement for a young woman who was badly injured in a motor vehicle accident on the highway. A speeding drunk driver rear-ended her car, causing her serious whiplash and other more minor injuries.
• $55,000. Settlement for a man who was T-boned while driving through an intersection. The at-fault motorist did not have insurance, but our client’s own Uninsured Motorist policy helped cover his medical bills and treatment for the whiplash injury.
• $30,000. Jury verdict for an elderly man who was involved in a six-car accident during a snowstorm. Several drivers attempted to blame our client for the accident, and our attorneys successfully proved the wreck was caused by another driver.
• $10,000. Out-of-court settlement for our client that was hit at a low speed and suffered whiplash.
• $10,000. Settlement for a woman who was rear-ended in stop-and-go traffic on the highway.