Seriously injured? Read here for more info on our 100% compensation agreements
Ankle injuries are both common and sometimes rather serious. When it comes to making a claim for personal injury compensation, you can claim for the pain and suffering caused, as well as the inconvenience and financial expenses and losses as well.
As such, ankle injuries need to take in to account not just the pain, but the fact they can cause mobility issues which in turn restrict a lot of things you can do. So read on for what we look at and how we value ankle injury compensation claims.
What you can claim for
Normally a claim is formed in to two parts – General Damages, for the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused, and Special Damages for financial expenses and losses caused as a result of the injury.
We will value the General Damages based on the victim seeing an expert to have a medical report that details the extent of the suffering. The report should outline things like the levels of pain, mobility issues and how this restricted the victim at work, socially, and domestically. The report can also look at justifying losses and expenses you want to claim for as well.
Special Damages are for things like lost earnings from time off work, medical expenses, travel expenses, and care and assistance claims. These can end up being quite high for ankle injuries as mobility issues will often mean needing time off work, being taken by someone to and from appointments if you can’t drive due to the injury, and relying on the help of others in general. I’ve been there – I was on crutches for three months following a leg injury and I needed a lot of help with all sorts from friends and family.
A care and assistance claim from friends and family helping you can be at an hourly rate of around £7 per hour. If you need help everyday for almost everything due to the injury, and this lasts for three months like mine did, you can see how this can end up pushing the value of your claim up quite substantially. That’s a lot of hours of care we can maybe claim for!
You need an expert personal injury lawyer representing you to ensure that you get the best possible payout and make sure no stone is left unturned when it comes to what you are entitled to claim for.
Treatment
You will probably need physiotherapy – especially if you have to go through a period of non-weight bearing. Believe me when I tell you that muscle tissue is lost at such an alarming rate – physio is often a requirement in order to rebuild the strength of not just the ankle but the rest of the leg as well. This may be needed for several weeks or months, and we can sort it all out for you on a private basis and recover the costs directly from the other side.
Valuations
Well, ankle injuries can range from soft tissue damage to ligament damage, or to breaks and dislocations in the joint. Generally speaking, the more you suffer, the more we get for you. If you’re luckily enough to escape with some painful soft tissue damage lasting less than a year, payouts can be in the £3,000 range for the injury alone. But where there may be further damage that may lead to future aches and weaknesses, but with the injury still being relatively minor in nature, you can get awards reaching up to the £10,000 mark.
Turning to the serious stuff, here are some general guidelines for serious ankle injury payouts:
- Fractures and ligament tears leaving you with scarring and metal implants – up to £19,000
- More serious fractures and ligament injuries (like ruptures) needing pins and plates being inserted, and ongoing disability with potentially the need to wear special footwear with an impact on employment – up to around £35,000
More serious injuries can of course attract higher awards – as I said earlier, the more you suffer, the more we get for you.
Remember – we can offer 100% compensation agreements for many types of claims so we could potentially save you thousands of pounds that other lawyers may take from your payout.
