Personal Injury Lawsuits

Settlement Compensation for Fractured or Broken Bones

Every day, people in and around Los Angeles are injured in accidents of one type or another. Whether it is

Every day, people in and around Los Angeles are injured in accidents of one type or another. Whether it is the result of a slip and fall, a car accident, a workplace injury, or another unexpected event, a fracture or broken bone can lead to exorbitant medical bills and a long road to recovery. Luckily, a personal injury victim who suffers a broken bone can receive compensation for their losses.

Knowing how to calculate damages is an important step in ensuring fair compensation. The serious injury lawyers at Salamati Law have the know-how to quantify your losses and the determination to hold those responsible accountable.

Factors Affecting Broken Bone Settlement Value

The settlement amount for a fracture or broken bone will always depend on the circumstances. However, certain factors have often influenced jury verdicts and settlement amounts involving these types of injuries. A few examples include:

• Severity of the Injury – Not all fractures are equal. For example, a compound fracture or spiral will be worth more than a hairline fracture. A broken femur can cause more damage than most broken fingers.
• Medical Costs and Related Expenses – These include emergency treatment right after the accident, as well as any other necessary medical costs like follow-ups, rehabilitation, prescriptions and over-the-counter medication, and medical devices.
• Prognosis – A permanent injury will net larger a compensation package than an injury that is expected to resolve fully. A permanent or long-term injury can require future treatment and medication, as well as interfere with daily tasks.  
• Lost Wages – A minor break can cause at least a few days of missed work. A serious broken bone may limit the work that the individual can perform throughout their career. This can lead to missed promotions or other job opportunities, compounding the lost pay.
• Non-economic Impact – Damages for physical pain and suffering, emotional impact, loss of consortium, and other non-economic losses are also recoverable.
• Fault – In California, even if you were partly to blame for an accident, you may recover from another at-fault party. This is true even if you bore 99% of the fault. However, the amount recoverable as damages will be reduced in proportion to your share of the fault.
• Comparable jury verdicts – Even if you never set foot in a courtroom, the jury verdicts in your location for similar injuries often play a factor in settlement value.

How a Fracture or Broken Bone Settlement Value Is Reached

Receiving the maximum personal injury settlement due is often the result of meticulous organization and strong advocacy. Your lawyer will gather evidence of fault and damages and present them to start the negotiation. For example, if you sustained a broken bone, your lawyer will gather evidence to show how the injuries have negatively impacted your life.

If you suffer a broken hip, a Los Angeles hip fracture lawyer will present not just your medical bills but also evidence of how this serious injury is deleteriously affecting the important areas of your life.

The other party’s insurance company or attorney may work hard to devalue your claim, but a skilled attorney will be prepared to set the record straight and fight for what you deserve.

Speak With a Broken Bone Lawyer

If you or a loved one suffered a serious fracture or broken bone in an accident and believe someone else was at fault, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact Salamati Law to find out more about your rights. Consultations are free and confidential, and there is never a fee unless we secure compensation for you.

Is It Worth It to Sue Over a Small Fracture?

Yes, if your bone fracture injury was caused by the negligent actions or inactions of another party, it is worth

Yes, if your bone fracture injury was caused by the negligent actions or inactions of another party, it is worth it to sue for compensation to cover your full losses. No matter how minor a broken bone or bone fracture may seem to be initially, these injuries can require consistent, long-term medical treatment and cause the victim to incur further losses, such as missed wages and loss of quality of life. Medical costs to treat broken bones can quickly add up to tens of thousands of dollars, and an individual who suffers even a small fracture might need unpaid time away from work and incur expenses for therapy and rehabilitation.

Medical attention and proper treatment are necessary for all bone fractures, regardless of how small the fracture might seem to be, to prevent serious infections, to confirm that the broken bone is aligned properly, and to prevent permanent deformity.

The serious injury lawyers at Salamati Law in Los Angeles are here to discuss the circumstances of your case and clearly communicate all of your options for legal recourse. Not every injury is compensable through a personal injury lawsuit, but only when you have discussed your case with an attorney experienced in this field of law will you know for sure if you have the right to sue and what the likelihood of success will be. We invite you to schedule a free consultation at your convenience.

How a Small Fracture Can Become a Big Problem

If left untreated, a small bone fracture can heal with improper alignment, which can lead to chronic pain, joint and limb dysfunction, and osteoarthritis. Repairs or resections of maligned bones require major surgery that will require weeks or months of recovery time.

A fracture site is naturally weaker, and a bone with a small hairline break is susceptible to more serious fractures. A small fracture in a spinal or neck bone can pose a risk of paralysis.

An accident victim who accepts a low insurance settlement for a small bone fracture without considering the long-term ramifications of the injury will almost certainly forfeit the opportunity to recover the full measure of damages that they are entitled to receive.

How Individual or Unique Circumstances Can Complicate Small Fractures

The compensation that an accident victim can recover for minor bone fractures will always depend, in part, on the victim’s unique circumstances. Consider, for example:

• A small fracture will have a more adverse effect on a growing child or a teen than on an adult if the fracture has any impact on bone growth plates
• A senior adult with brittle bones will likely experience greater pain and suffering and slower recovery from a small bone fracture
• A manual laborer will lose more wages if the bone fracture prevents him or her from using their hands or standing for long periods of time.  

How Small Bone Fractures in Lower Extremities Can Lead to Large Damages Awards

Broken leg, knee, ankle, and foot bones can be very limiting, even if they are not major breaks. If an ankle bone fracture requires surgery, the average cost of that surgery in Los Angeles is between $16,000 and $44,000.

Talk to a knowledgeable and experienced Los Angeles ankle fracture attorney to understand the full scope of your potential damages when you suffer a lower extremity bone break in an accident.

Call Salamati Law

The personal injury attorneys in the Los Angeles offices of Salamati Law understand the economic and non-economic costs associated with bone fractures, and we fight tirelessly to recover the largest possible damages awards for our clients.

Call our offices at any time for straightforward advice on your options to sue for losses and injuries associated with a small bone fracture.

How Much Time Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Los Angeles?

Time restrictions apply when it comes to filing a personal injury lawsuit in California. If you do not file your

Time restrictions apply when it comes to filing a personal injury lawsuit in California. If you do not file your claim within the allotted window of time, you may lose your right to receive substantial money damages to cover the cost of your injuries, including medical bills and lost wages. Don’t leave money on the table by failing to file your claim in a timely manner! Contact seasoned Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Sean Salamati to learn about the deadlines for bringing a claim and to find out how much your case might be worth.

California Statute of Limitations

California has a statute of limitations that governs how long an injured party has to file a personal injury lawsuit. A statute of limitations is a specific span of time, after which no suit can be brought.

If you or a loved one has been injured, impaired, or become ill due to the negligent actions of another party, you may be eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit. The other party can be a person, a company, or a service provider, such as a landlord or doctor. However, the injured party must file a claim within the timespan allowed by the statute of limitations.

The statute of limitations in California for personal injury lawsuits is two years from the date of the accident, or the date when the injured person first knew they were injured. Not all injuries or illnesses manifest right away. It can take years for a person whose workplace contained cancer-causing components, for example, to develop cancer.

What Is Negligence?

In all cases, to be negligent, the party you bring an action against must bear responsibility for either behaving in a safe manner or keeping property or clientele safe. A person, for example, is responsible for operating a car safely and according to California law. A company is responsible for maintaining the reasonable safety of its products and its workers. A landlord must keep her property safe for tenants. A doctor must do no harm to her patients.

The responsible party must have had time to rectify any unsafe conditions. A landlord, for instance, needs time to repair a broken stair. But the time cannot be unreasonable: unsafe conditions need to be fixed promptly. The time should be no longer than required to notice an unsafe condition and have it repaired.

If they do not act in accordance with safety standards, and either know their actions to be unsafe or should have known, they can be held liable for any personal injury that occurs as a result of their negligence.

For other parties to be liable, the injury, impairment, or illness you sustained has to have been caused by the actions. That may seem obvious, but it’s part of the law. In other words, you may have a broken leg caused by slipping on ice. But for your landlord to be responsible, the ice you slipped on has to have been part of his property or directly related to it, such as the sidewalk in front.

If You Need a Personal Injury Attorney in California

If you were injured, impaired, or became ill because of another party’s negligence, reckless behavior or wrongdoing, Sean Salamati will fight for your right to monetary compensation. The Salamati Law Firm has successfully recovered millions of dollars in damages for our clients. Call us today for a free consultation. There is no charge unless we win your case!

Additional References:

1. California Courts. Statute of Limitations. https://www.courts.ca.gov/9618.htm.
2. California Courts. Before You File Your Case. https://www.courts.ca.gov/12414.htm.

Certain injuries, even if not life-threatening, can be relatively disturbing. Whether it is due to a natural protectiveness of the

Certain injuries, even if not life-threatening, can be relatively disturbing. Whether it is due to a natural protectiveness of the eyes, to the cosmetic effects of facial disfigurement, or another reason, many people are more disturbed by the thought of a facial injury than by the thought of another injury of similar severity elsewhere on the body. For those who have suffered a facial fracture, it is important to allow for sufficient healing time or the area could be re-injured. If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence or intentional act, speak with an expert Los Angeles facial fracture attorney at Salamati Law today.

Assessing a facial fracture

Facial fractures are broken bones of the face or the mouth. Common facial fractures are:

• Nasal (nose)
• Orbital (eye)
• Maxillary or mandibular (upper or lower jaw)
• Zygomatic (cheekbone)
• Frontal (forehead)

It is important to be examined if you have any of these injuries because there could also be head or neck injuries that have gone undetected. Antibiotics may also be necessary if there is a chance the fracture could lead to an infection.

Healing time for facial fractures

The length of time it takes for a facial fracture to heal depends on the type and severity of the injury. In general, however, patients are often instructed to wait 6-8 weeks before engaging in physical activities that could cause further facial injuries.

Facial bruising and swelling may be cleared up in only 2-3 weeks. Nerve damage affecting physical sensation may take weeks or months to heal, and in some cases it may only partial heal or there may even be no recovery at all. Early evaluation and treatment can help prevent complications.

Complications can delay facial fracture healing

In some cases, a fracture will need to be set in order to heal properly, also referred to as “reduction”. This is understandably a bit complicated and it can done without surgery (a closed reduction) or in more complicated cases, require surgery (an open reduction) and the use of plates, screws, or other devices to keep the repair in place.

In any case, but especially in cases with complex fractures, there can be complications. When titanium plates or screws are used to set the break, they are meant to be permanently implanted. However, the devices may become infected or unbearably uncomfortable and require a revision surgery to remove or replace. While titanium parts are in place, they could also prevent the patient from having a CT scan or MRI.

Recovering for facial fractures after an accident in Southern California

There are rare cases of facial fractures due to non-traumatic causes, but most facial fractures are due to accidents or violence. In addition to the distress caused by facial disfigurement, patients often need to worry about medical bills, lost wages, and other financial and emotional losses.

California law recognizes the right of those injured by someone else’s negligence to receive the financial compensation necessary to be made whole. If you have been injured in Los Angeles through no fault of your own, speak with the facial fracture lawyers at Salamati Law and get the justice you deserve.

Additional facial fracture resources:

1. Cambridge University Hospitals, Facial fractures, https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/addenbrookes-hospital/services/oral-and-maxillofacial-surgery-and-orthodontics/facial-fractures
2. Cleveland Clinic, Facial Fractures, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/facial-fractures