By Marlon Marquardt. Last Updated 12th December 2024. If you are involved in an accident you weren’t responsible for, you could potentially claim compensation for a fractured sternum. You would need to prove that a third party who owed you a duty of care breached it and caused your suffering. We recommend that you know crucial information about the claims process before you file a claim. That’s why this guide is here: to examine the claims process. We include an example case study to illustrate step by step the process of a compensation claim.
Before we begin, we wish to advise you that you could contact us at any point. Our friendly team could put you in touch with our panel of personal injury solicitors. To speak with an advisor today, just call 0800 408 7825, complete the form on our site or use the live chat option below.
Choose A Section
- Case Study: £16,000 Compensation For A Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement
- Accidents Causing Fractured Sternums/Breastbones
- How Much Compensation For A Fractured Sternum?
- No Win No Fee Arrangements For A Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement
- Call Today
- More Help On A Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement
Case Study: £16,000 Compensation For A Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement
Mr Robinson, 45, worked as a painter for a company in his home town. He was employed to paint houses and major buildings for established businesses. One particular afternoon, Mr Robinson was painting a council building. He was on a scaffold tower at the first-floor level. Mr Robinson was preparing to advance to the second level. However, unbeknownst to him, the scaffolding tower he was using hadn’t been safely installed.
As a result, when Mr Robinson turned to speak to a colleague on the ground level, the scaffolding’s first level gave way. This caused him to fall around 10 feet to the ground. Thankfully, Mr Robinson avoided hurting his head, but he did land very hard on his chest. And he felt the pain from his fall almost immediately. He became aware that he found it difficult to breathe.
Mr Robinson was taken to the hospital. A doctor diagnosed him with a fractured sternum. Also a collapsed lung. The injury didn’t require surgery, but he would have to take strong painkillers. Mr Robinson would have to recuperate at home. During this time, he would lose some of his income as a professional painter because his employer didn’t offer Company Sick Pay.
Making a Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement Claim
Mr Robinson began to get flashbacks of the fall. He suddenly became aware that he no longer wanted to go to work for the fear of having to climb a ladder or scaffolding again. His GP referred him for counselling where he was diagnosed with suffering Post-Traumatic-Stress-Syndrome (PTSD)
Mr Robinson spoke with a personal injury lawyer, who confirmed that a breach of duty had occurred. So, he filed a claim and he received £16,000 as a fractured sternum injury settlement. This included £8,710 for general damages (£5000 for the injury and £3,710 for PTSD), with special damages on top.
| Type Of Special Damages | Includes: | How Much? |
|---|---|---|
| Lost Earnings | Costs of being unable to work | £4,500 |
| Medical Costs | Costs of taking strong painkillers during his recovery | £50 |
| Travel Costs | Travel to and from medical and counselling appointments | £280 |
| Care Costs | Family helping him to cook, clean, driving him to and from places | £1500 |
| Professional Costs | Gardener | £120 |
| Lost Holiday Costs | Flights, hotel deposits, attraction deposits. | £890 |
Note: This is a hypothetical situation based on our experiences. The case study acts as an example of the claims process and for calculating a compensation figure for a settlement after an injury.
Accidents Causing Fractured Sternums/Breastbones
To make a claim based on negligence and be awarded compensation for a fractured sternum, you must prove that:
- A duty of care was owed to you by a third party.
- The third-party breached this duty.
- You suffered an injury, such as a sternum fracture, because of this.
Workplace Accidents
Employers are required to apply a duty of care to protect employees’ wellbeing under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. No workplace is completely risk-free. But those accidents that can be avoided should be, yet a fall off a ladder and consequential injury—if caused by lack of training or faulty equipment—could render an employer liable. Remember that you may suffer multiple injuries during an accident at work, aside from just a sternum fracture. And that could open the door to filling a multiple injury claim.
Accidents in a Public Place
Those in control of land, premises or property (including local authorities) have a duty of care to protect the safety of visitors under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. An accident in a public place could be a fall due to unsafe equipment, such as defective playground equipment, or a supermarket that does not clean up a spillage in the required time. Therefore, if you’re injured in a public place because of others’ negligence, you could have the right to make a public injury claim in the aftermath. Fractured sternums could happen due to accidents in public places. Additionally, if it happened to you through no fault of your own, you could seek a fractured sternum injury settlement.
Road Accidents
You could potentially suffer a fractured sternum due to a road traffic accident (RTA). A severe impact experienced in an RTA could have enough force to cause a fracture such as a broken breast bone. This is a possibility with different types of RTAs, whether you’re in a vehicle, hit while cycling or hit as a pedestrian.
If the road user who causes a road traffic accident wasn’t taking the appropriate care, they could be found to have breached the The Highway Code and the duty of care they owed you.
Ask us anytime about scenarios that could result in fractured sternums, and your own experience.
How Much Compensation For A Fractured Sternum?
If you have a successful personal injury claim, your compensation for a fractured sternum could potentially consist of two heads of loss – general and special damages.
General damages are awarded in every successful claim and provide compensation for how your fractured sternum has affected you physically and psychologically. As such, these factors are some that are looked at:
- Loss of amenity.
- If a full recovery can be made, and if so, how long that is expected to take.
- How severe your pain is.
During the claims process, you could be asked to attend an independent medical assessment. Legal professionals can use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) along with the reports from this medical assessment to help them value your general damages.
The JCG published guideline compensation brackets for all sorts of injuries and illnesses.
Guideline Compensation Table
In the table below are some injuries relating to a fractured sternum. The guideline compensation figures for each injury, except for the top figure, have been taken from the JCG.
There is no set average settlement for a fractured sternum because all claims are unique. So, please only use this table as a guide.
| Type of Injury | Severity | Bracket of Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious injuries with special damages | Serious | Up to £500,000+ |
| Chest | Loss of a lung and/or serious heart damage (a) | £122,850 to £183,190 |
| Traumatic injury (b) | £80,240 to £122,850 | |
| Damage to chest (c) | £38,210 to £66,920 | |
| Relatively simple (d) | £15,370 to £21,920 | |
| Collapsed lungs (f) | £2,680 to £6,500 | |
| Fractures of ribs (g) | Up to £4,820 | |
| PTSD | Severe (a) | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Moderately severe (b) | £28,250 to £73,050 |
Special Damages
Special damages are awarded in some successful claims and provide compensation for how your fractured sternum has affected you financially. Some financial losses that could be suffered include:
- Loss of earnings for needing time off work to recover.
- Professional and domestic care costs.
- Travel expenses to and from medical appointments.
- Medical bills, such as prescription costs.
- The costs of cancelled holidays or excursions that can’t be refunded.
In order to recover these costs, you must prove them through receipts, payslips, invoices, and bank statements.
To learn more about how broken breastbone compensation is calculated, please contact us today.
No Win No Fee Agreements For A Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement
There are clear benefits to making a claim through a No Win No Fee solicitor, should you choose to use one. These would include the following points:
- No requirement to pay your personal injury solicitor’s fees at the first point of contact.
- Also, you don’t have to pay solicitor fees before the case is resolved.
- Importantly, if your case is unsuccessful for whatever reason, then you don’t pay your personal injury solicitor’s fees.
- If your case wins, while your personal injury solicitor takes a success fee, it’s capped by law to prevent you from losing significant compensation.
Want to know more about No Win No Fee agreements ahead of making a claim for compensation for a fractured sternum? Get in touch with our specialist team at any time.
Call Today
By speaking with us, you could take the first step towards receiving the fractured sternum injury compensation you deserve.
There are several ways to contact our advisors:
- Call us on 0800 408 7825.
- Use the live chat in the bottom corner of this page.
- Complete our contact form.
Remember that you have no requirement to pursue your claim after contact, and we’re accessible 24/7.
More Help On A Fractured Sternum Injury Settlement
We hope that you have learned a lot from reading our guide about fractured sternum injury claims. However, we recognise that you may still wish to garner further information. Therefore, we have the below six links for you to check out at your pleasure.
Starting with the Public Interest Lawyers website, this page discusses all aspects of the claims process.
We also detail how to claim income losses after a workplace accident.
As well as, guidance about what happens if a third party refuses to admit liability.
Also, the NHS shares information on costochondritis, a potential consequence of a sternum fracture.
In addition, they also outline what symptoms to spot when attempting to identify broken bones.
To conclude, you can also check out the 2020 statistics of accidents at work.
If, after reading this guide, you would like to speak to an advisor regarding claiming fractured sternum compensation, then you can contact Public Interest Lawyers for help. You can get in touch with our advisors on the phone or online by using the contact details featured in this guide. If you have a valid claim, they may be able to help answer questions such as ‘What is a fractured sternum worth?’.
Thank you for considering our guide about potential compensation for a fractured sternum.
Article by AE
Publisher UI
