Every year a significant number of people suffer serious injuries, including bone fractures, from motor vehicle accidents. Single or multiple fractures occur to the skull, the spine, the ribs, the pelvis, the arms, and the legs. And fractures are often accompanied by other injuries including cuts and internal injuries. In this article we discuss two reported cases where the victims suffered bone fractures.
Case 1:
While walking with his dog alongside a road that had not sidewalk a 57 year old male was struck by a motor vehicle. The male pedestrian ended up with multiple injuries including a fracture to his ankle and a ruptured spleen. The injury to his spleen caused heavy internal bleeding. It led to renal failure and it necessitated that he start on a lifetime use of dialysis. He is a candidate for a kidney transplant. The case was handled by a law firm that reported it was able to obtain a settlement in the amount of $2.5 million for the pedestrian victim.
Case 2:
The victim in this motor vehicle accident was a 44 year old woman who was seated in the passenger side of a motor vehicle that was broadsided on the passenger side while in an intersection by another vehicle that improperly entered the intersection. The female victim suffered multiple fractures including to several ribs, to her clavicle and to her pelvis. Her bladder was lacerated. And she suffered closed-head trauma.
The medical expenses for her treatment amounted to around $85,000. She was unable to return to work. Prior to the accident she had been earning about $18,700 per year as an administrative assistant. Because she could not return to work she had a loss of earning capacity that was about $600,000. The law firm that represented the victim reported that $36,000 was covered under PIP (personal injury protection) coverage of the motor vehicle insurance policy $36,000 and that they were able to obtain a settlement for the victim of $1.1 million.
The two cases above illustrate that motor vehicle accidents involving fractures can also involve other injuries. In these cases the other injuries included closed head injuries and spleen lacerations. The injuries can cause permanent life-changing complications (the need for life-long dialysis, the inability to return to work). Victims can be pedestrians, drivers, or even passengers. And the injuries can force the victim to incur significant expenses for medical treatment, possible including treatment that extends well into the future.
Attorneys consider many factors in evaluating the amount the defendant is willing to pay to settle the case in order to determine whether a settlement is appropriate.
These factors include, for example: (1) the type of injuries (and whether they injuries were pre-existing), (2) the amount of medical expenses (including likely future medical expenses), (3) whether there are any visible, permanent scars, (4) the amount of lost income or loss of earning capacity, (5) whether the victim has been involved in multiple prior accidents or legal claims, (6) the credibility and likeability of the victim, the defendant, and any witnesses, (7) the strength of the liability case against the defendant, (8) the makeup and verdict history of juries in the jurisdiction where the case would go to trial. Here both cases involved serious injuries and both cases resulted in a significant recovery.
