Broken bones cause much more than just pain and suffering. In addition to ongoing pain, especially with a long recovery or a severely broken bone, injured individuals may face a number of other challenges, including the inability to perform self-care or participate in everyday activities. Not only that, if you’ve sustained a bone injury, you may struggle to return to work or care for your home and children.
Did you suffer broken bones in an accident due to someone else’s negligence? If so, you may need legal assistance to receive compensation for your injuries.
Contact Golden State Lawyers today at (408) 279-4222 to seek the help you deserve.
Golden State Lawyers: Helping You Recover Damages After Your Broken Bone Injury
When you suffer broken bones in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, you need an attorney with the experience necessary to fight for you. At Golden State Lawyers, we have a long history of successful claims involving broken bone injuries. Consider the following results:
- We secured $2,400,000 for one client after an automobile accident that involved multiple injuries.
- We secured $45,000,000 for one client after a truck collision that involved multiple injuries.
- We secured $1,500,000 for one client after a diving accident that involved neck injuries.
- We secured $950,000 for one client after an automobile accident that involved an ankle injury.
- We secured $830,000 for one client after an automobile collision with leg injuries.
While broken bones commonly occur in automobile accidents, they can also occur in a variety of other circumstances. Our clients often choose to retain us due to our extensive experience in a wide range of personal injury cases, as well as the compassionate, caring support that we provide throughout the process. Many of our clients find the process of dealing with personal injury claims very daunting. They may struggle to process the ongoing pain and suffering while attempting to understand the legal details of their case. At Golden State Lawyers, however, we work hard to guide our clients through the process, providing them with legal support as well as advice and contacts that can help them recover after their accidents.
The Most Common Causes of Broken Bones and Fractures
Many types of accidents can cause broken bones, including spinal cord damage, broken ribs, broken arms, broken legs, broken hands, and broken feet. All of those injuries cause significant pain and suffering and limit the daily activities of the injured individual. Several common types of accidents, however, increase the likelihood of broken bones. Consider the following accidents:
Automobile Accidents
After an automobile accident, including accidents involving big trucks or motorcycles, survivors may suffer many broken bones. They may struggle to maintain their mobility while on crutches, find themselves confined to a wheelchair, or find themselves struggling to get by with one hand while the other arm is in a cast. If the other motorist caused the accident through reckless driving, failing to adhere to the rules of the road, distracted driving, or driving under the influence, the survivor can often recover substantial damages from the insurance company.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Ideally, following a slip and fall, an individual quickly gets back on his or her feet and moves on with life. Unfortunately, even something as simple as a fall on a wet floor can cause substantial injury, including broken bones. A rider who slips and falls due to the negligence of another party, whether that involves failing to place a wet floor sign to leaving an aisle strewn with debris, may claim financial damages for his or her injuries. Slips and falls may occur on cruise ships, in restaurants and stores, or in any public location where the rider can logically expect a reasonable level of care from the property or business owners.
Workplace Accidents
Workplaces include many opportunities for injury every day. Construction workers, for example, can suffer broken bones from falls, heavy equipment, or improper use of tools. Other workers may work with heavy machinery or suffer broken bones due to debris in the area. In the case of a workplace accident, you will need to work with your company’s workers’ compensation insurance progThe team to seek compensation for your injuries. An experienced attorney can help navigate this often complicated process.
You Suffered Broken Bones. Who Bears Liability?
When you have broken bones, identifying the person who caused your accident matters. Working with a lawyer can help you more effectively identify the individual or entity who bears fault for your accident. Answering the following key questions can help you identify the responsible party, enabling you to seek compensation from the right individual.
Where did your accident occur? If your accident occurred at work, for example, you will need to deal with workers’ compensation to get coverage for your injuries. You will not need to establish fault to secure coverage under workers’ compensation. Rather, if you suffered injury in the normal course of your work duties (and not because you chose to goof off, engage in horseplay, or participate in other activities that violate the terms of your workers’ compensation policy), this coverage will kick in automatically. On the other hand, if your accident occurred in a store or other establishment, you may need to pursue compensation from that organization.
Who violated a duty of care owed to you at the time of your accident? When you consider the idea of a duty of care, you might imagine a nursing home or hospital, where the nurses, doctors, and other individuals bear responsibility for caring for their patients. In these circumstances, if they permit a slip and fall accident, especially in a patient with a known fall risk, those doctors and nurses have violated their duty of care. If you suffered injuries due to someone else’s negligence, however, you need to assess that violation of a duty of care no matter where your injury occurred. For example:
- All drivers owe a duty of care to other drivers on the road. Drivers must exercise care, follow the rules of the road, and try to avoid injuring other drivers, pedestrians, or cyclists.
- In a store or restaurant, you may reasonably expect the facility to maintain its floors and facilities. If you slip and fall due to rotting floors, the facility has likely violated its duty of care owed to you.
- In a public place, you may assume that hazards will come with clear warnings. A freshly mopped floor without a wet floor sign, for example, could qualify as a violation of a facility’s duty of care.
After an Accident with Broken Bones, What Damages Can You Claim?
Every accident has its own unique characteristics: how it occurred, the severity of the involved injuries, and how much those injuries limit the injured individual as he or she attempts to go about daily life. After an accident with broken bones, however, most injured individuals include the following common damages in their claim:
- Medical expenses, including any medical equipment needed to help with ongoing mobility issues
- Compensation for your pain and suffering
- Lost wages due to an inability to work related to your injury
- Compensation for lost earning potential if your broken bones cause permanent disability that prevents you from returning to work in your former capacity
Do Insurance Companies Make Fair Offers for Broken Bone Injuries?
In a perfect world, the insurance company responsible for paying for your injuries would make an offer shortly after your accident that encompassed all of your needs, from your medical bills to your lost wages. The company would monitor your recovery and adjust the payment as needed to accommodate the length of your recovery. Unfortunately, it rarely works that way.
Instead, many insurance companies try to get out of paying compensation for your injuries. These defendant insurance companies may:
- Dispute the severity of your injuries
- Attempt to prove that you caused your own injuries through personal negligence, including horseplay, ignoring safety precautions, or fighting
- Attempt to prove that your injuries occurred at another location or another time than you claim
Often, insurance companies limit their financial liability by offering a low settlement offer immediately after an accident. Many individuals accept these low initial offers without realizing the full cost of their injuries, including future and ongoing medical expenses.
Retaining a Lawyer for a Broken Bone Injury: Is It Worth It?
Don’t become a statistic: one of the thousands of people each year who accept low settlement offers or otherwise miss out on funds that they need as they recover from broken bones. During your recovery, you will have medical bills that you must pay, not to mention lost time at work for visits to the doctor, surgeries, physical therapy appointments, and an inability to work due to your injuries. In many cases, insurance companies may not freely offer the funds that you need to get through this difficult time.
At Golden State Lawyers, we can help. Often, our attorneys can help recover substantially more funds than you would recover on your own. To make it easier, we often accept clients on a contingent fee basis, which means that we only receive attorney’s fees if we successfully secure compensation for our clients.
Don’t Wait for Legal Help—Contact Golden State Lawyers Now
If you have suffered broken bones due to someone else’s negligence, don’t wait to get the legal help you need. Call Golden State Lawyers today at (408) 279-4222, or contact us online, to schedule your free consultation with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys.