Personal Injury

Whiplash Lawyers in Atlantic Canada

A spider plant in a window of the firm's Moncton office

Whiplash is the neck and upper back injury a rear-end collision produces most often, and an insurer’s first offer on one is usually a capped offer made before the treatment has finished. In three of the four Atlantic provinces the whole argument is whether the minor injury cap applies to your pain and suffering. A whiplash lawyer at this firm fights that classification with the medical record, because the record is the only evidence a whiplash claim has.

The Minor Injury Cap Decides What Most Whiplash Claims Are Worth

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island each cap pain and suffering for injuries their regulations class as minor, and the regulations were written with whiplash in mind. Newfoundland and Labrador has no cap; it subtracts a deductible from the pain and suffering award instead. The cap touches non-pecuniary damages only. Lost income, treatment costs, future care and housekeeping loss are never capped in any province. Whether your injury fits the definition is a medical question, not the adjuster’s call, and it is the question we work on from the first file review.

Whiplash Is Proved with the Medical Record, Not with Imaging

X-rays and MRIs are usually clear, because whiplash is a soft tissue injury. The claim is proved by what your doctors recorded: the first visit within days of the crash, the symptoms repeated consistently, the physiotherapy attended, and the restrictions your employer saw. A gap in treatment reads to an insurer as recovery. See your doctor early, report every symptom including headaches, dizziness and sleep loss, and keep every appointment.

A Whiplash Claim Covers More Than the Capped Head of Damages

Pain and suffering is one head of damages among several. The claim also recovers income lost during recovery, treatment and medication costs beyond what the no-fault benefits funded, the help you had to hire at home, and future care where symptoms persist. None of those are capped anywhere in Atlantic Canada.

Clinicians grade whiplash by severity, from stiffness alone up to grades with neurological signs such as numbness or weakness in the arms. The higher grades support the argument that the cap does not apply. The grading comes from your doctors, which is one more reason the medical record decides these files.

The Claim After a Crash Has Two Parts, and Section B Is the First

Section B benefits from the auto policy pay for physiotherapy and replace part of your income while the tort claim runs. The damages claim against the at-fault driver covers the rest. How the two parts work together is set out on the car accident page, and this firm runs both.

Whiplash That Does Not Resolve Becomes a Different and Larger Claim

Most whiplash resolves within months. A minority becomes lasting neck and shoulder pain, headaches and reduced work capacity. At that point the injury is argued outside the cap, and the claim is valued on the lasting impairment. The chronic pain page covers that fight, and the long-term disability page covers the insurer that stops your benefits while you are still off work.

Every Province Gives Two Years to Sue

Each Atlantic province sets a two-year limitation period for an injury claim in its limitation statute. New Brunswick’s is the Limitation of Actions Act, SNB 2009, c L-8.5, which runs the two years from discovery; Prince Edward Island’s Statute of Limitations has no discoverability rule written into it, so treat the collision date as the start there. Section B runs on its own much shorter clock, set by the New Brunswick Insurance Act, RSNB 1973, c I-12 and its counterparts, which give days rather than years to give notice and file proof of loss.

Each Province Has Its Own Whiplash Page

The X-Rays Were Clear. Is There Still a Claim?

Yes. Clear imaging is normal in whiplash. The claim stands on the clinical record and your function, not on a scan.

The Adjuster Says My Injury Is Capped.

That is the adjuster’s opening position, not a ruling. The definition is argued on the medical evidence, and injuries with lasting impairment fall outside it.

What Does a Whiplash Lawyer Cost?

The firm acts on contingency. There is no fee unless the claim resolves.

Start with the contact page or any office. Every claim type the firm takes is listed under injury law areas.