By Mary Swann. Last Updated 31st August 2023. Sustaining a broken forearm injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault can be extremely frustrating.
Aside from the physical pain, you may be suffering, you may be experiencing trauma and anxiety in the wake of your accident. In addition, you may have to take time off work or pay out of pocket for costs relating to your injury, resulting in financial losses.
However, in making a personal injury claim for a broken forearm, you could receive compensation. This article provides a comprehensive guide to personal injury claims, covering topics including how to value your case and how to find legal help.
If you’d like to learn more about our services or have any questions regarding this article, please contact our advisors today and see how we can help you. Here’s how you can reach one of our advisors:
- Call 0800 408 7825
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Broken forearm compensation
Select a Section
- A Guide To Calculate Compensation For A Broken Forearm
- What Is An Ulna And Radius Fracture?
- Forearm Fractures Causing Financial Losses
- Most Common Accidents Leading To Broken Forearms
- Who Can Add Care Claims?
- Lawyers Who Value Compensation Payouts
- Case Study: £30,000 Payout For A Broken Forearm
- Broken Arm Compensation Amounts
- No Win No Fee For Victims Of Negligence
- Locations Of Top Personal Injury Solicitors
- Make A Personal Injury Claim
- Additional Guidance
A Guide To Calculate Compensation For A Broken Forearm
To help illustrate how to make a claim for a broken forearm, this article will cover the process chronologically. Firstly, we’ll discuss common accidents responsible for this type of injury and outline symptoms to identify one. We’ll then focus on the impacts that a broken forearm could have and explain how you can be compensated for your suffering through a personal injury claim.
To help demonstrate how a claim for a broken forearm may progress, we’ve created an example case study of Mrs Anderson using our experience valuing claims. Here, we’ve provided a breakdown of the various expenses she was able to claim back after her accident, as well as the compensation she received for her injury.
Throughout this article, we emphasise how key a solicitor can be in helping to secure the compensation you deserve. To see how personal injury lawyers could help your claim for a broken forearm, please get in touch today.
What Is An Ulna And Radius Fracture?
A broken forearm, also known as an ulna and radius fracture, is a forearm injury ranging from a crack to a break. Symptoms include pain and swelling, and the bone may even appear misaligned or protruding from the skin in severe cases. Generally, a broken forearm requires an urgent visit to A&E, where an x-ray will be performed to assess the extent of the break.
If bones are misplaced, a practitioner may attempt to realign them, with severe cases requiring surgery. A splint or cast is usually administered to prevent any further misalignment, often accompanied by a sling for support. Most broken forearm cases take around 6 weeks to heal, with painkillers often prescribed to assist rehabilitation exercises.
Forearm Fractures Causing Financial Loss
As a result of your broken forearm injury, you may need to take time off work or pay out of pocket for costs associated with your injury, resulting in financial losses. However, did you know that these expenses could be recovered as part of your personal injury claim? Whereas general damages account for the physical and psychological pain caused by your broken forearm, special damages can be claimed in addition to account for costs incurred like medical fees and travel expenses to and from appointments. Please continue reading for more information on special damages or speak to one of our advisors today.
Most Common Accidents Leading To Broken Forearms
If a third-party was responsible for you sustaining a broken forearm, you could be able to claim compensation by holding them liable. However, you must be able to prove they owed you a duty of care at the time. Furthermore, you must be able to prove that they were in breach of this duty in order to establish your claim. Here are some examples of bodies commonly owing a duty of care if you’re wondering whether you could establish liability:
- Employers owe a duty of care to ensure the safety of their employees in the workplace under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. You could be entitled to compensation if your broken forearm was the result of your employer breaching their duty of care.
- If you slipped on a leak that your employer had been ignoring, you could be entitled to claim for a broken forearm.
2. Those in control of public places owe a duty of care to ensure the safety of visitors on their premises under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. According to public liability, those in control of shops, restaurants, salons and other such public places could be held liable if you’re injured as a result of their negligence.
- For example, if you tripped due to a poorly maintained pavement and sustained a broken forearm, you could potentially be entitled to make a public liability claim against the council (providing that the hazard was at least 1 inch in depth).
3. Road users owe a duty of care to each other under the Highway Code. In 2019, over 157,630 people were injured on Britain’s roads. A road traffic accident (also referred to as an RTA) describes any collision involving a vehicle or other road user.
- For example, if an RTA caused by a dangerous driver resulted in you sustaining a broken forearm, you could be entitled to claim against their insurance.
Who Can Add Care Claims?
After sustaining a broken forearm, it’s common to be unable to complete day-to-day tasks without help from others. Whether you had help from your family and friends (gracious care) or you had professional assistance from a carer, you could be entitled to claim for these costs.
Compensation for gracious care is valued using the average time that was spent caring for you is used in accordance with the average rate charged by a local professional. For professional care, you can recover any costs incurred using invoices raised. Therefore, it’s crucial that you retain a paper trail of any expenses incurred to evidence your claim.
Alternatively, if your broken forearm injury prevented you from providing any usual care, you could also be compensated for this. To learn more about care claims, please contact one of our advisors today or continue reading for information on other types of expenses you could recover.
Lawyers Who Value Compensation Payouts
If you acquire the help of a personal injury lawyer, they’ll arrange for you to be medically assessed by an independent specialist to help value your claim. At your appointment, expect to undergo a physical examination and receive a series of questions about your accident. The resulting report will provide evidence, based on the practitioner’s expert opinion, about how you sustained your injury and the impact it’s had on your life. This could help corroborate details that you provided your solicitor with on the circumstances of how you sustained your injury.
Therefore, we advise you to attend if you want to give your claim the best chances of success. Our panel of personal injury solicitors always works to ensure our clients’ appointments are as convenient to them as possible, relying on our panel of exstensive network of medical professionals. To learn more about our services, please speak to one of our friendly advisors today.
General Damages
In making a personal injury claim for a broken forearm, there are two types of damage that can be compensated for; general and special damages. General damages can be claimed for the suffering you experienced as a result of your injuries, such as the pain of your broken forearm and the effect it’s had on you.
Special Damages Compensation For A Broken Arm In The UK
As part of your settlement for a personal injury, you may also receive special damages. This compensates for the financial losses incurred as a result of your fractured forearm.
Examples of monetary losses you could be compensated for include:
- Medical expenses, such as prescription and physical therapy costs.
- Loss of earnings for any time you needed off work to recover.
- Travel expenses if you can’t drive due to your broken forearm.
- Costs related to home help. For example, if you required a cleaner while your arm was in a plaster cast or a splint.
To claim special damages, you should submit evidence of your expenses, such as receipts and invoices.
Contact our advisors to discuss how much compensation for a broken arm in the UK you could get.
Case Study: £30,000 Payout For A Broken Forearm
While shopping at her local supermarket, Mrs Anderson was struck by a nearby shelf collapsing above her that was in a poor state of repair. The incident caused Mrs Anderson immediate pain and swelling in her forearm, which was hit by falling stock. Upon visiting A&E, Mrs Anderson discovered she had sustained a broken forearm after receiving an x-ray. The fracture was quite severe, so a doctor had to realign her bone before placing it in a cast with a sling. This meant that for the following 6 weeks, Mrs Anderson was unable to use her arm, preventing her from driving, working and even completing day-to-day tasks. Mrs Anderson had a friend she was with at the time of the incident photograph the scene and collect witnesses’ contact details. Even though this gave Mrs Anderson a strong foundation of evidence to support her case, she acquired a personal injury solicitor to ensure her claim had the best chances of success.
Once she passed this information over to her solicitor, they then began building her case. Mrs Anderson’s solicitor obtained CCTV footage of the incident from the retailer, collected witness statements using the contact details that Mrs Anderson provided, and arranged a medical assessment with an independent expert.
Despite the retailer initially disputing Mrs Anderson’s claim of negligence, they eventually settled given the extent of evidence provided against them. For her broken forearm, Mrs Anderson was awarded £16,300 in general damages, accounting for the pain of her injury and the recovery period she had to subsequently endure.
Mrs Anderson was also awarded around £13,700 in special damages as part of her claim for a broken forearm. This sum aimed to restore the financial standing that Mrs Anderson had prior to her injury, accounting for travel expenses to medical appointments, prescription fees, care costs, loss of earnings and other such injury-related expenses presented in the table below:
| Type of Special Damages: | Includes: | How Much? |
|---|---|---|
| Travel Expenses | To and from appointments/treatment | The broken forearm prevented her from driving, she was awarded £85 for travel expenses. |
| Medications/Prescriptions | Prescriptions, treatment, physiotherapy, walking aids, etc. | For the cost of her prescription painkillers, She recovered £75. |
| Additional Care | Professional care at home, from family, childcare, etc | The broken forearm meant she was unable to care for her elderly mother as she normally did on a daily basis. She recovered £1,260 in domiciliary care costs to cover her 6 week recovery period. |
| Future Loss | Loss of Earnings, future loss of earnings, potential future care | The broken forearm prevented her from working for a total of 6 weeks. In loss of earnings, she was awarded £1,980. |
| Cleaning/Gardening: | Cleaning, gardening, areas that require consistent attention | The broken forearm left her unable to complete domestic tasks like cooking and cleaning, she was awarded £300 for professional services. |
The case of Mrs Anderson is purely an example. It is based on our past experiences of handling and valuing claims and serves to illustrate how accidents can happen and how they are valued.
Broken Arm Compensation Amounts
You may be wondering how much compensation you could receive in a successful claim for a broken arm injury.
Legal professionals consider many factors when determining broken bone compensation amounts. The severity of your injury, the time it takes for you to recover, and any related loss of amenity could all affect your final payout. These factors are considered when determining the general damages aspect of a claim; general damages addresses the pain and suffering caused by your injury.
However, arm injury claims could also include special damages. If you suffered financial losses because of your broken arm, this could be compensated for under special damages.
Solicitors use compensation brackets from the 2022 edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to assist them in valuing general damages. The table below uses amounts from this publication. However, broken bone compensation amounts are determined on a case-by-case basis since every case is unique in severity and impact.
| Injury and Severity | JCG Bracket |
|---|---|
| Other Arm Injuries (a) | £96,160 to £130,930 |
| Other Arm Injuries (b) | £39,170 to £59,860 |
| Other Arm Injuries (c) | £19,200 to £39,170 |
| Other Arm Injuries (d) | £6,610 to £19,200 |
| Elbow Injuries (a) | £39,170 to £54,830 |
| Elbow Injuries (b) | £15,650 to £32,010 |
| Elbow Injuries (c) | Up to £12,590 |
| Wrist (b) | £24,500 to £39,170 |
| Wrist (c) | £12,590 to £24,500 |
| Wrist (d) | £6,080 to £10,350 |
As discussed, you could also potentially be eligible to claim special damages. This covers any financial losses or costs that can be directly attributed to your accident. For example, if you have needed to pay for private physiotherapy, you could potentially claim this cost back.
Get in touch today to find out more about what could be included in your claim.
No Win No Fee For Victims Of Negligence
If you’re worried about extortionate solicitors’ fees, particularly if you’ve suffered financially as a result of your injury, then a No Win No Fee agreement could help. Solicitors working on a No Win No Fee agreement don’t take payment unless they win your case. In addition, there aren’t any hidden fees to anticipate either, so you can rest assured that you’re not having to pay out of pocket to no avail.
If they win your case for you, then you’ll pay them a small ‘success fee’ to cover their legal costs, but this has a legal cap on the amount charged to ensure you get the compensation you deserve. Our panel of personal injury solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re looking to claim for a broken forearm. For a consultation on your situation, please speak to one of our specialist advisors free of charge today.
Locations Of Top Personal Injury Solicitors
As previously mentioned, a personal injury solicitor can significantly increase your claim’s chances of success and boost your compensation settlement. However, rather than going to your local high street to look for a law firm near you, you could use online reviews to see if you could get better service elsewhere. Technology allowing solicitors to connect with clients remotely, it doesn’t matter where your personal injury lawyer is based. Instead, look at online reviews to help narrow your search for legal help. Personal recommendations and detailed experiences of past clients allows you to have a unique insight into the services available, helping inform your decision on what’s best for you. If you’d like to hear about the services we provide, please reach out to one of our friendly advisors today.
Make A Personal Injury Claim
Our specialist advisors offer free consultations that you can trust, so if you’re interested in learning how much compensation you could be entitled to, please don’t hesitate to get in touch:
- Call 0800 408 7825
- Use the live online chat feature on your screen
Additional Guidance
We hope you’ve found our guide to personal injury claims useful. Here are some additional resources that may also be of help: