You have already learned to live with a chronic neck and back condition. Then an absent-minded driver makes it worse. Do you have a claim?

Of course you do. But itsa国际传媒檚 the toughest of claims.

Why do I say sa国际传媒渙f course?sa国际传媒� Because this is a most basic of legal rights we have as British Columbians. If someone causes you harm, they are accountable to fairly compensate you for that harm.

Itsa国际传媒檚 as basic as a loan transaction. If you lend money, the borrower is accountable to pay it back.

But in a motor vehicle collision you donsa国际传媒檛 choose to lend the money. Harms and losses are imposed on you.

And unlike a loan transaction, where the amount of the claim is crystal clear, the onus is on you to prove your harms and losses from a crash injury.

Those with a pre-existing neck or back condition face extra hurdles. The offending driver (through their liability insurance company ICBC) will say: sa国际传媒淵ou had neck pain before the crash. You have neck pain now. Where is the loss?sa国际传媒�

Fortunately, the law doesnsa国际传媒檛 work that way. But if you donsa国际传媒檛 understand how the law works, yousa国际传媒檙e likely to be taken advantage of.

Think about the moment of vehicle impact as being the start of two time lines.

One time line pretends the absent minded driver wasnsa国际传媒檛 motoring around with their head up their ass. It pretends they noticed your completely stopped vehicle, applied the brakes and came to a stop behind you. Letsa国际传媒檚 call that your sa国际传媒渟hould have.sa国际传媒�

The other is your new reality.

If your new reality is the same as your sa国际传媒渟hould have,sa国际传媒� then do a happy dance because that means you werensa国际传媒檛 injured! Absent an injury, theresa国际传媒檚 no injury related harms and losses and therefore no claim.

But if your chronic neck and back pain starts worsening that evening, and you wake up the next morning in a jacked up world of hurt, brace yourself for a challenge.

The most important challenge is figuring out how to recover as quickly and fully as possible. Your best case scenario, after doing all that rehabilitation, is a return to whatever level of chronic neck and back pain you had gotten used to before the collision.

Yousa国际传媒檙e likely to ignore the other challenge: proving the difference between your new reality and that sa国际传媒渟hould havesa国际传媒� time line.

A year and a half later, after undergoing all sorts of care and reaching a new plateau, yousa国际传媒檙e asked how yousa国际传媒檙e feeling. No big surprise: you have chronic neck and back pain! But is it different from what it would have been had the collision not occurred?

Read more: Hergott: The slippery surface on injury claims

Read more: Hergott: The problem with passing school buses

Yousa国际传媒檝e gotten used to a sa国际传媒渘ew normalsa国际传媒�. You know that your new normal is worse than it had been before. But how much worse?

Yousa国际传媒檙e getting weekly headaches. How often were you getting headaches before the collision?

You wake up with pain and stiffness every morning at a 7 out of 10. What was the level before?

You knew to keep a journal of your symptoms, and diligently did that. You can look back at that journal to refresh your memory about how things had been after the collision.

But thatsa国际传媒檚 not enough. You must also compare that new normal with how things had been before.

Itsa国际传媒檚 even more important to journal your pre-collision condition. That journaling must be done as immediately as possible, while your memory of that pre-collision condition is as clear as it will ever be.

The more you wait, the more you get used to your new normal and forget how things had been before.

If you cannot describe the differences between your new normal and that pre-collision condition in a very detailed, clear and credible way, your chance at fair compensation for your harms and losses will swirl down the toilet bowl.

Please do keep a journal to help refresh your memory of the onset and progression of post-collision symptoms. But please also sit down as soon as possible to prepare a very detailed journal of how things had been in the lead up to the collision.

Early in the New Year, I plan to pick up from here to explain how medical specialists, and the courts, gaze into the crystal ball to establish your sa国际传媒渟hould havesa国际传媒� time line. You will see that itsa国际传媒檚 more complicated than just looking at your status immediately before the collision.

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