If you’ve suffered a bone fracture or several fractures, you are probably wondering how your injuries might affect the value of your settlement. The exact amount of compensation you might receive for your bone fracture claim will depend on the unique facts of your case. Being that all bone fracture cases have some common factors, we’ll discuss what you should consider when attempting to put a value on your claim.

What Does it Take to Settle a Bone Fracture Claim?

Medical Evidence

You must be able to show that you indeed have a bone fracture and what type of a fracture it is. There are five common types of fractures:

  1. Stable fracture: the broken ends of the bone line up and aren’t out of place.
  2. Open, compound fracture: The bone might pierce the skin or the skin might be broken upon impact at the time of the fracture. The bone may or may not poke out of the skin.
  3. Transverse fracture: this is a fracture with a horizontal fracture line
  4. Oblique fracture: the fracture has an angled pattern
  5. Comminuted fracture: the bone breaks into two or more pieces

Whatever kind of fracture you are suffering from, you will need an x-ray image that will show the extent of your injury. The great thing about bone fractures is that they are way more easier to prove than soft tissue injuries. You do not have to be a medical expert to see that a bone is fractured in an x-ray image. Furthermore, providing medical proof will help to jumpstart settlement negotiations with the insurance company.

How Your Case Will be Valued

Negotiating a settlement for your bone fracture claim requires that you calculate a reasonable amount you would accept to give up your legal claim. The value of your case will be determined by the amount the defendant is willing to part with and what the jury might award you. There is also another factor to consider which is how much both you and the defendant are willing to agree upon in order to settle your case before trial.

That is a lot to take in but the true value of your case will be determined by two factors:

  1. The severity of your injury. If, for example, you suffered from a hairline fracture, the value of your case would be much lower than if you suffered a comminuted fracture.
  2. If the jury will find the defendant liable for your injuries. Just because you were in an accident doesn’t mean that the other party is automatically responsible for the accident.

Estimating Your Damages

It’s very hard to predict the exact amount you will receive in damages. The good news is that it’s easy to calculate how much you might receive in concrete damages. Concrete damages include medical bills, lost wages, etc. Less concrete damages like pain and suffering are much harder to calculate. Unlike concrete damages, you can’t produce a receipt to show how much pain and suffering you are going through. At the very best, predictions on these kinds of damages are based on awards in similar broken bone cases in the past.

How your injuries impact your life plays a major role in how much you will receive in damages. For instance, if you used to play tennis but you suffered a fractured carpus (broken wrist) your damages based on loss of quality of life will be higher than if you were relatively inactive before your injury.

In addition, if you had suffered a prior fracture, which increased your chances of suffering another one, your damages might reduce. Finally, if your injury made you permanently or temporarily unable to earn a living, you might be compensated for the full amount of lost wages.

When to get Professional Help

It’s best to talk to a broken bone injury attorney in New Bedford about your claim. You’ll need to prove that the defendant was liable for your injuries. If there is very little or no evidence at all that they were responsible for the accident, you might lose your case. Your attorney will use their resources to investigate your case. They will also work to ensure they protect your rights during the entire process.

If you have suffered any kind of serious injury caused by someone else’s negligence, you can contact any one of our Kevin P Landry Law offices lawyers in New Bedford for a free initial consultation today.