Attorneys who handle motor vehicle accidents are often approached by individuals who suffered bone fractures in an accident. It is not uncommon to find that these victims also suffered other injuries in addition to bone fractures. The type of impact that can result in a bone fracture can also result in other serious, even life-threatening injuries. This article analyzes two case reports of motor vehicle accidents which resulted in fracture injuries.
This motor vehicle accident occurred as a male pedestrian was out walking his dog alongside a road that did not have a sidewalk. Multiple injuries resulted from the accident including an ankle fracture as well as a rupture of the spleen. His spleen rupture caused very heavy bleeding internally and as a result the 57 year old male victim had to begin undergoing dialysis. It is anticipated that the victim will require dialysis for the rest of his life unless he is able to obtain a kidney transplant, for which he is a candidate. The law firm that represented the victim in this case was able to report that it was able to obtain a $2.5 million settlement for the victim.
This motor vehicle accident happened in an intersection. A vehicle that improperly entered the intersection slammed into the passenger side of another vehicle that was properly in the intersection. Seating in the front passenger seat of the vehicle that was struck was a 44 year old woman. The accident left her with several fractured ribs, a fractured clavicle, a fractured pelvis, a lacerated bladder, and closed-head trauma. The cost of her medical treatment for accident related injuries came to approximately $85,000. The accident left her unable to return to her job where she had work in the capacity of an administrative assistant making $18,700 a year. Given her life expectancy, this means she had $600,000 in loss of earning capacity. The law firm that handled the case reported that
they were able to obtain for the victim a settlement of $1.1 million (on top of which they also secured $36,000 from the personal injury protection portion of the motor vehicle insurance policy).
The victim in one of the cases above was a pedestrian and in the other case the victim was a passenger. But both of the motor vehicle accident cases discussed above involved multiple serious injuries to the victims - injuries which left them with permanent problems. Both victims required extensive medical treatment and incurred significant medical expenses. At least one of the victims will probably continue to require medical treatment for the rest of his life. One of the victims suffered a loss of earning capacity.
Conclusion:
Sometimes insurance companies act as though there are simple formulas for calculating the settlement value of case where each type of injury is worth a specific amount; times spent in medical treatment is worth so much per day, per week, per month; a permanent partial disability has a specific value depending on the part of the body involved and the percentage of partial disability. So, you take all the injuries, calculate the value of each, sum all the values together, then add the cost for medical or related treatment, and any lost wages or loss of income the insurance company adjuster believes is related directly to the injuries from the accident, and you have the settlement value for the case.
Unfortunately, it is never that easy. Attorneys experienced at handling cases involving catastrophic injuries understand that there are many factors, even some which go beyond the injuries themselves, which need to be considered in determining whether to accept a settlement offer or take the case to trial. It is then up to the attorney to prepare the case sufficiently so that the insurance company adjuster will understand the risk the insurance company faces if under calculates the value of the case and takes it to trial.
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