If you’ve been the victim of an accident in the workplace, in public or on the roads, you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim if your suffering was caused through a breach in the duty of care owed to you. If your injury was the result of negligence on the part of someone else, our advisors are on hand to help you discuss your options. Our panel of personal injury solicitors cover the whole country and handle thousands of cases like this every year, winning the maximum damages for their clients. They can show you exactly what is needed to launch a successful claim for wrist injury compensation today.
A sprained wrist is a debilitating and painful injury that could impact you in many different ways. We discuss an example case study to illustrate the process and look at how you can correctly establish negligence for your injuries. We look at how to collect evidence to maximise your possible compensation payout and then find exactly the right No Win No Fee solicitor to guide your case to a successful outcome.
Throughout this article, we provide all the relevant links to websites that can help inform your decision to make a claim. If at any point throughout this article you have a question, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0800 408 7825 where we’ll be happy to help.
Select A Section
- What Is A Wrist Injury?
- Wrist Injury Financial Problems
- Common Accidents Causing Wrist Injuries
- Wrist Injury Care Claims
- Compensation Estimates For Wrist Injuries
- Case Study: £22,000 For A Wrist Injury
- Wrist Injury Compensation Estimates
- No Win No Fee Terms And Conditions
- Top Personal Injury Solicitors For Your Case
- Call Us
- Further Resources
What Is A Wrist Injury?
The wrist is a fragile group of carpal bones, ligaments, and muscles that are essential for all manual dexterity. An injury here, whilst not life-threatening, can be very painful and involve a protracted heal-time with a potential increased risk of later on-set arthritis. The NHS website gives some useful details about wrist fractures and their treatment which you can read here.
Any unnatural twisting or impact with the wrist can result in a sprain and the government offers a useful website about avoiding common slips or falls for future reference. If you damaged your wrist in one of the three general locations mentioned above, it’s useful to understand who had legal responsibilities to show you a duty of care.
- The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 outlines a swathe of legal requirements to employers that ensure you are as safe as possible at work or anywhere regarded as work premises. It protects you using machinery and fittings, or interacting with the public.
- Local authorities or private companies that operate public spaces also have a similar duty of care under The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 This covers a wide array of public places and includes parks and outside areas.
- The Highway Code clearly asks that road-users all show each other a duty of care and drive with the highest standard of due diligence, whatever the age or experience level of the driver. This law also includes cyclists and pedestrians. The Highway Code also asks that drivers should anticipate that other road users may not show that requisite level of care and to be alert to that.
Wrist Injury Financial Issues
Any lost time from work due to your injury could impact you financially, from child-care to household bills to being unable to perform basic tasks and requiring help. Depending on the severity of your wrist injury you may find money-worries have quickly become an additional burden to your situation.
When launching a claim for wrist injury compensation, your No Win No Fee lawyer will seek two heads of damages on your behalf; general damages which can be awarded as per guidelines issued by the Judicial College for injury compensation, and special damages.
Special damages are designed to restore your finances after any additional expenses you incurred as a result of your accident. Special damages cast a ‘wider net’ than general and can include the following:
- Any loss of earnings from missed work
- Loss of income from future earnings or missed opportunities
- Travel costs to and from hospital or specialist appointments
- Medical equipment or painkillers
- Carer costs that resulted from needing help
There may be other costs that your personal injury lawyer can recognise and include in your claim. Speak to our friendly team today to discuss the specifics of what happened and how it’s affecting you. We can help put all the facts together and launch a successful wrist injury compensation claim today.
Common Accidents Causing Wrist Injuries
Sadly, given the wrong set of circumstances, an accident can happen anywhere and you may be tempted to write off what happened to you as ‘wrong place, wrong time’. This may not be the case, however.
Government statistics show just how common accidents in the workplace can be. Whether you’re at work, out shopping, in the car or simply walking along the street, the duty of care should be in place to protect you.
The following potential scenarios could cause a wrist injury;
- Tripping on broken pavements and reaching out to break your fall
- The same, on any wet or slippery surfaces
- Being knocked from your bicycle on the roads
- Colliding with another vehicle in your car
- Faulty doors or areas that need manual operation
- Heavy impact of any kind
The list could go on as the wrist is an integral part of how we manipulate our environment and any hazard or malfunctioning object can easily damage it.
If you’re considering a wrist injury compensation claim ask yourself the ‘but for’ question. But for the broken door, the reckless driver or the slippery floor in work, would my wrist injury of happened? If the answer is no, you may have solid grounds for a claim.
Wrist Injury Care Claims
Although you can use your other hand, if the injury was sustained on your dominant side, basic tasks may take longer and be much harder. You may need help.
The courts consider care help given by family and friends to be something called ‘gracious care’ and it’s not usually performed with an expectation of financial reward. If you cannot rely on the help of family or friends as you heal, it may be necessary to pay for the services of a carer. These costs can be very high with the NHS estimating them to be between £650 – £1,600 per week.
Your skilled No Win No Fee lawyer can show you exactly how to properly record these expenses and present them in court as part of your special damages claim. With invoices and receipts, it can be possible to claim these very high costs back from the defendant. Without a good record of receipts and bills, it’s virtually impossible.
Compensation Estimates For Wrist Injuries
A medical assessment is an essential part of your claim for wrist injury compensation. Whilst this might feel daunting, the medical expert is impartial. Their findings help prove your injuries were sustained as a result of the accident and not a previous, or long-standing medical condition. This is vital to help your case win. It can also be a relief to discuss your prognosis with a doctor in a constructive way.
As we touched on briefly above, the two types of damages to be taken into consideration are:
- General damages – guidelines given by the Judicial College for specific injuries.
- Special damages – which would attempt to incorporate as many of the out-of-pocket expenses you have suffered as a consequence of your injuries. A proper assessment of these costs, with evidence to support them, can drastically increase your potential payout.
Case Study: £22,000 For A Wrist Injury
Miss. Taylor was a secretary in a busy office, was in good health, and had never had an injury before. She took care as she went about her daily business and the office in which she worked was usually very safe.
As she was walking towards the kitchen to have her lunch she did not notice the files that had been left on the floor by a colleague her foot got caught and she put her hand out to break her fall. The impact was sufficient to cause a sprained wrist. Miss. Taylor went straight to the hospital as she was in very severe pain where a doctor diagnosed severe soft tissue damage to her wrist.
Whilst recuperating, Miss Taylor ran the scenario through her mind again and again. She was upset and angry that such a preventable thing had resulted in her painful accident and she began to consider her options to sue her employer for breach of care.
When she consulted with a No Win No Fee lawyer it became clear that she had grounds to launch a claim. As the majority of her work included typing using the computer she could not fulfil her daily tasks and had to take 3 months away from work. The case was settled out of court at £22,000 in special damages and general damages. As Miss. Taylor lived alone she needed to hire a professional carer and also a cleaner and gardener.
Miss Taylor’s case is purely an example, but it does illustrate what can be possible when you consult with a personal injury lawyer. Some of the details of her case would have been lost using an online calculator and her settlement amount could have been much less.
Wrist Injury Compensation Estimates
An approximate break down of Miss Taylor’s damages would look as follows:
| General damages | Special damages |
|---|---|
| Injury – £11,500 | Miss Taylor was away from work for 12 weeks 5,250 |
| The services of a paid carer £2,000 | |
| Physiotherapy treatments – £1,000 | |
| Travel costs to and from hospital – £250 | |
| Cost of; Cleaner Gardener Dog walker – £2,000 |
It’s clear to see how the two heads of damages can greatly improve your chances of a larger payout. Speak to our team today in person to see how we could value your wrist injury compensation claim.
No Win No Fee Terms And Conditions
No Win No Fee claims or CFA’s (Conditional Fee Agreements) have numerous advantages to them. Many people worry about the cost of hiring a solicitor, so the immediate advantage to a claim like this is that you pay no up-front costs or any costs as the case is on-going.
If your case is not successful (and most solicitors will only take the case on if there’s a good chance of it winning) then there will be nothing to pay your solicitors at all. If it wins, a small ‘success fee’ is taken by your solicitor, but don’t worry, it’s capped by law to keep it as fair as possible and deliver the bulk of the money to you.
Top Personal Injury Solicitors For Your Case
You may not be sure what to look for in a good No Win No Fee lawyer. Once you’ve decided to make a claim for wrist injury compensation, where do you find a good solicitor? We must add that it is not a legal requirement to have a solicitor represent your case but it could largely increase your chances of having a successful case. It’s not crucially important that the company you choose is local to you anymore, but internet searches can seem to generate an overwhelming selection to choose from.
Reading reviews can be a great place to start, but we also recommend that you ask a few precise questions to help you in your selection. How much does the company value your claim? Do they have a good track record for success? How is client communication? Is it clear? How quickly did it take for a typical case like yours to be settled? All these points can be helpful in your choice.
Alternatively, we would be happy to help with the process for you. We can provide free legal advice of no obligation and can introduce you to No Win No Fee solicitors who can expertly handle your case. Speak to our friendly team today for more information.
Call Us
We hope that this guide has helped you in your decision to make a compensation claim for wrist injury compensation, or any other type of no-fault accident you may have experienced. You can get in touch by:
- discussing your case 24/7 with our friendly ‘live support’ service
- call us on 0800 408 7825
- or drop us a line at publicinterestlawyers.co.uk
Further Resources
Read more on how to claim for an accident while out shopping
For further advice about claims against public operators, click here
For further information about NHS carer costs, read here
For information about accident hot spots, please read here
For further reading on The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957
Further reading on The Health and Safety At Work etc Act 1974, please see here.
Article by EA
Publisher EC.