Soft tissue injury claims are valued by the victims’ total 1) bills 2) pain 3) lost income and 4) disability. These case summaries illustrate how that plays out in court and settlement.
$455,000 Settlement; Cook County, Illinois Soft Tissue Injury Claim
This work accident dispute involved a pair of workers. One of them was 23 and the other was 49 years old. They were putting up a traffic sign in Northbrook, Illinois. At some point, they both came in contact with a live power wire. The shock of that interaction caused them great injury including soft tissue damage, burns, disfigurement, nerve loss, and other harms. The young man almost $200,000 in medical bills and lost income. The older worker had approximately $50,000 in these damages. These two men and the wife of the older gentleman sued ComEd and the managing companies. Their complaints alleged that their negligence (including supervision) led to their economic and non-economic harms. Taking a look at their chances in court, neither defendant decided that they wanted to try the case. They settled with the plaintiffs over this work accident. The younger man obtained $400,000 and the couple recovered $55,000 for this work accident.
$310,000 Settlement; Cook County, Illinois Soft Tissue Injury Claim
This legal controversy emerged from a relatively simple incident. A worker (male, 33 years old) was bringing some drywall to a job site. The drywall clipped a light fixture. That fixture fell down onto the man and caused him injury. He sustained a herniation and soft-tissue damage around his shoulder. He sued the electrical company and another contractor for negligence. They both appeared, and filed replies but did not intend to press their points to a jury. Eventually, they started settlement negotiations. The man was able to obtain $310,000 fro the two-$295,000 from the electrical company and $15,000 from the contractor. That was to cover his damages for this work accident including immediate pain, long-term suffering, medical bills, and lost income.
$2,875,000 Settlement; Madison County, Illinois Soft Tissue Injury Claim
The man who filed this case worked for IDOT. He was just 26. His managers told him to clean up some corrosion underneath a bridge. To do that, he needed to go into a Snooper basket. However, the persons operating it did not know how to control it properly. This led to an accident. He suffered spinal injuries, soft-tissue damage, infections, renal failure, and other problems. Combined, he had almost $500,000 in medical bills and lost paychecks because of the accident. Plus, he could not go back to his old job again due to disability. He sued the company managing the project. Knowing upfront that they were responsible, the defendant soon turned the conversation to settlement. The plaintiff received $2.875 million in compensation for the work accident but also had to secure a lien waiver.
How Much are Work Accident Bone Fracture Cases Worth?
Bone fracture claims from work accidents generally fall around the average or below average compared to other types. This is because they often do not present significant long-term damage. Yet, as you can see from the following summaries, that is not always the case.
$6,900,000 Settlement; DuPage County, Illinois Bone Fracture Claim
Here, a small thing overlooked led to substantial injury and damage. A carpenter (age 31) was working at a construction site. Apparently, another contractor had improperly replaced the barricade on the top of the building. When the carpenter leaned against that barricade it came undone and he fell off the building. The man’s injuries were extraordinary. For instance, one of his lungs collapsed. He also broke his tibia, ulna, and elbow. The man suffered great immediate pain but also immense long-term damage. He could never return to his job again either. To make up for this, he sued the companies responsible and their insurers. Once the nature of company’s error in replacing the barricade came out, fault was obvious and trial was unnecessary. The man obtained $6.9 million from the defendants combined. This was to cover his past and future medical bills; lost wages; pain; future suffering; disability; and other related harms from his work accident.
$2,075,000 Settlement; Cook County, Illinois Broken Bone Claim
The plaintiff in this work accident matter was just thirty-one. He had been hired by a general contractor to work in a basement of a recently built house. When he was doing that, a beam came loose and fell on him. He broke several bones in his spine. This led to long-term and excessive pain as well as disability. He cannot work in that job anymore. He sued the companies involved for negligent supervision, management, and other errors. The incident caused him about $400,000 in medical expenses and he predicted around $1.5 million in lost wages. He offered those numbers to support his case for damages as well as the pain, handicap, and other harms that necessarily following from the work accident. While the defendants disagreed with some of his points, they could not argue that they were not at fault. Therefore, the real issue was money-how much he was owed. Collectively, they paid him a combined sum of $2,075,000.