M.I.S.T. Claims

Over the past decade insurance carriers have made intense efforts to limit payments in claims involving persons who have sustained musculoligamentous injuries to the neck and back in low-speed, minimal-damage auto collisions.

The most common cases occur when a driver has been struck from the rear at an intersection while stopped in traffic waiting to safely turn left or right, or waiting for the light to change.

These whiplash type injuries result from a sudden backward jerking of the head, followed by forward rebound motion. Such injuries are most common in rear-end vehicle impacts, and to a lesser extent in head-on and side-impact crashes.

Typical complaints include headache and pain in the neck, shoulders, and back. Often it may be several weeks before pain and tenderness in the neck, shoulders, and back becomes persistent to the point of disabling.

Musculoligamentous injuries are difficult to identify and take considerable time and medical expertise to diagnose because they do not show up on standard x-ray.

Insurance companies are quick to spot these types of injuries and to lump the claims together under the euphemistic heading of M.I.S.T. (Minor Impact Soft Tissue), and you can expect them to refuse to enter into pre-settlement negotiations, let alone make a settlement offer, relying instead on the tactical statement: "No property damage, no personal injury."

As soon as an "Independent Medical Examination" — a misnomer for a cursory exam by an insurance company doctor — can be conducted, the insurer will then stop paying no-fault benefits, forcing most people without private heath insurance to stop treatment for what is ultimately disabling and permanent injuries.

Our mission is to seek justice on behalf of clients injured by the negligence of others, and to force insurance companies to respect meritorious claims, regardless of whether the parties incurred minor property damage — less than $1,000.00 — and suffered non-surgical neck and back injuries.

Consequently we have acquired a reputation of fighting for the rights of this unfairly targeted class of injured persons and combating the "MIST" misnomer."