The majority of injury claims arising out of accidents involve bones. Bones break or fracture in many different ways, causing pain, aches, temporary or even permanent disabilities of all kinds and even helplessness.
Imagine having 2 fractured wrists both put in plaster. You soon find out who your friends are! Mr Jones did just that, by falling over a broken manhole cover and smashing both wrists on the kerb. Even worse than the pain was the helplessness caused by having 2 immobile hands which were unusable for many weeks. This aspect alone ensured Mr Jones received a healthy amount of compensation, although as he always said, nothing could make up for what he went through.
Unfortunately, while we can help to point clients in the right direction for the best private treatment (invariably at the defendant’s cost), really all the Law can give you is compensation of the financial kind. People are often disappointed at the levels of compensation awarded for such pain and suffering as most lawyers (usually on the claimants’ side) will agree. An uncomplicated fracture of the forearm which heals completely will only be worth maybe £4,500 or so. Not much, these days.
Oddly enough, we tend to find that bone injuries heal more quickly and completely than soft tissue injuries. A broken arm mends, a fractured leg is often okay to run on after it heals up. Broken joints however, such as elbows and knees, are often bad news.
Injury Law Case Study
Mr Green was crossing the road when he had the misfortune of catching a large 4 x 4 in the seat of his pants. The difficult landing after a short flight through the air added to his problems. Yet amazingly, despite numerous fractures and breaks and some very nasty contusions and bruises, he was back on his feet within a matter of months and almost back to normal within a year and a half. The driver of the 4 x 4 denied liability but changed his mind after being prosecuted in the magistrates court, which in turn persuaded the insurers to deal with Mr Green’s claim.
Whiplash injuries (the most common form of road traffic injuries) often do not involve bone damage. Instead the muscles and other soft tissues are affected, which can take longer to heal and can often give far worse trouble than a broken bone.
When dealing with a bone injury, we have to be careful to refer our clients to a good orthopaedic consultant surgeon. The Consultant writes us a report on the injuries, setting out the injuries, the effect on all aspects of the claimant’s life, the prognosis for the future and the nature and cost of treatment. We use this report as the basis for assessment for compensation. Sometimes follow up reports are necessary if the injury is more serious.
The same injuries can affect different people in different ways. A broken arm may put a manual worker out of commission for many weeks, but someone who works from home and can use his keyboard with one hand may be able to carry on working, albeit with some difficulty.
For this reason, we claim not just money for the injury. That is called PSLA or pain, suffering and loss of amenity and often represents only a small part of overall compensation. We claim various financial losses as well, notably loss of earnings, care costs (even where provided free by a relative or friend) and many other items too numerous to mention.
Injury Law Case Study
Mr Smith had a nasty fracture to his knee. As he was a roofer, he couldn’t work after his accident and remained off work for about 18 months. He received £22,000 for PSLA (i.e. the injury itself), but a further £46,000 in past loss of earnings and £52,000 for future loss of earnings. Mr Smith went back to work but could not do anything like as much as he did before, so there was a loss ongoing to retirement age (he was about 48 at the time of the accident). There was a further £12,000 in other claimable items. That added up to £132,000, but of this only £22,000 was for the injury. Had he only received the £22,000 which the Law said his injury itself was worth, it would have been an insult to a very nasty injury indeed.
Incidentally, his claim took about 3 years. The insurers admitted liability quite quickly, but until we had a clear idea of the extent and duration of his disability, we couldn’t settle it. The insurers certainly wanted to and tried very hard to do that, knowing that settling early means settling low, but Mr Smith rightly held out and achieved a fair and just settlement in the end. He had a few interim payments along the way, as his bank wasn’t being very understanding.
Most therapy costs can be included. Physiotherapy, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, hydrotherapy and many other therapies can be claimed for. So can private medical fees including x rays & scans. We had to draw the line at crystal healing therapy (especially since it didn’t work), but we did once have a vicar who, having sustained fractured ribs in a car accident, claimed a small amount for spiritual healing, which in his case did work. Fortunately, the insurers there were understanding, probably because what he said was divine intervention actually saved them money.
The moral of the story is: if through no fault of your own, you break a bone, don’t groan, claim!
If you feel you may have a claim or simply require further information, please complete the online questionnaire or alternatively please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or ring us on freephone 08000 815 815.
