People hear the term MIST claim and they do not know what it is. They do not know if their claim is a MIST claim. You are involved in a car accident and someone says MIST.
Do you even know what MIST means? Probably not. And don’t worry, most attorneys do not know what it means either!
MIST cases are an acronym for:
Minimum
Impact
Soft
Tissue
The “minimum impact” part usually means there is less than $1,500 in damage to your car. This does vary by insurance company. Some will say less than $1,000 and some will say less than $2,000 or $2,500.
The “soft tissue” part means that you have what is commonly called whiplash. You have a neck and back injury. Simple enough. There is nothing broken and you do not have a closed head injury, or a concussion.
MIST cases are different from other cases. Insurance companies take these cases very seriously. They spend a lot of money defending them, investigating them and paying “expert witnesses” for their opinions. Insurance companies hate paying out on these. Your own insurance company will even fight you on an uninsured motorist MIST case.
So, what do you do? Hire an attorney who handles these – a lot. Or better yet, hire someone who actually teaches other attorneys how to handle them.
I have written a book for attorney on litigating MIST cases. If you have a MIST case, you should talk to someone who has experience in MIST cases.