When you are involved in a car accident the bigger question comes to mind is who will pay for your personal and property damages.
If you suffer from injured shoulder as result of a car accident, we will tell you how much money you can get from the accident claim.
Injured shoulder in car or truck accident how much money you will get through insurance claim or what is the maximum compensation one can receive from broken shoulder as result of car or truck accident.
Accidents and accident related damages cause both personal and financial losses. The trauma of accident lasts for many months. As an expert in personal and accident injury claims, I often receive questions from truck drivers, how much money one will get from shoulder injury as result of a truck accident. League City injury attorneys will be discussing it in details using some notable accident cases and compensation history awarded by the court.
Shoulder Structure and Accident Damages
Let’s know your shoulder in more details or anatomy of our shoulder structure. Your shoulder has below main 3 parts. Your shoulder consists of mix of muscles and tendons that surrounds the bones.
Shoulder structure consist of 4 main bones.
- Humerus which is your upper arm bone
- Scapula or shoulder blade
- Clavicle which the collarbone
- Glenoid which is the socket joining arm bones to shoulder blade
Common injuries reported in car or truck accidents:
- Painfully tender, stiff shoulder that hurts more at night and may interrupt sleeping
- Tingling, numbness, weakness, or swelling in shoulder
- Shoulder pain in a specific spot that may worsen with exertion
- Difficulty moving arm in any direction without pain
- Sudden, intense pain in shoulder area
- Pale, blue or otherwise discolored shoulder area
Not Only Broken Shoulders Eligible For Accident Claims
When it comes to submitting accident related insurance claim, it doesn’t mean you must be suffering from broken shoulder bones or fractured shoulder to be eligible for a claim. Many a times the injuries are invisible. There also exactly opposite fact that the person may be suffering from a preexisting shoulder injuries.
Your shoulder consists of many moving parts that includes your shoulder muscles, cartilage and tendons that are useful in moving the arm, lifting heavy weights and conducting your work or job functions without pain. Injured shoulder in car accident claims process vary from state to state.
For League City residents, there is a silver lining. If you have a pre-existing shoulder pain or shoulder issue, the accident will likely make it more worse. Luckily League City accident law protects you from your existing pain or medical conditions.
Aggravation of Preexisting Condition or Disability is designed to serve the exact same purpose. In summery, if you are suffering from aggravation of a pre-existing medical condition or prior injury, you are entitled to be compensated for that additional harm. This statement holds true incase of car or truck accident and also applies to workplace injury claims. As a result of pre-existing medical conditions, the law treat you as fragile plaintiff who is more susceptible to injury than the average person would be.
Always consult with your attorney to understand the laws applicable to injured shoulder in car or truck accidents.
Examples of Pre-existing Shoulder Conditions
What are typical pre-existing shoulder conditions that will be considered as part of car or personal injury claim:
- Previous fractures
- Tendinitis or Bursitis (tendon inflammation)
- Pre-existing tear of tendons
- Arthritis
Injured Shoulder Is Result Of Someone’s Negligence
In every accident lawsuit, there is one most important fact to prove in the court – your injuries are a result of someone’s negligence. And that someone is financially sound enough to pay for your damages. Same rules apply to injured shoulder in car accidents.
These two factors are what your injury lawyer will be checking when assessing merits of your case. In the car accident scenario, the insurance company is responsible to pay for your damages. But here is the catch, what of the other car driver doesn’t carry insurance. While it’s a palpable offense to drive without insurance, but his failure of carrying sufficient car insurance shifts the needle to your insurance company. The law officer will deal with the driver in separate lawsuit, but his lawsuit won’t pay you anything.
When it comes to adjudicating insurance claim, your insurance company will be responsible to pay upto the maximum coverage amount less deductibles, if any. Any expenses or claim amount beyond insurance coverage will unfortunately be your responsibility. Hence it is important that you carry sufficient insurance to safeguard your interest and interest of other parties travelling with you (mostly your family).
When it comes to truck accidents, statistical data paints very grim picture. approximately 23 percent of truck accidents result in injury.
Process Of Adjudicating Broken Shoulder Claims
Generally speaking any insurance claims in tune of tens of thousands of dollars will be closely scrutinized by insurance company. Expect your insurance company to hire a doctor to examine the nature of your injury. The doctor may decide that your existing injury (or any pre-existing conditions) were not worsen or impacted as result of car accident (or truck accident). If you are experiencing a tear of tendon, the doctor’s analysis may come up as the accident didn’t cause the tear. Rather the tear is result of your age or wear and tear as a result of your advancing age.
There have been several cases where the Orthopedic doctor appointed by insurance company reported that the shoulder dislocation wasn’t result of truck accident or car accident. Your shoulder instability is result of other unknown causes related to your age or work conditions but definitely not result of a car accident.
Remember, the insurance company needs a technical cause to outright deny your claim. This is where an experienced injury and accident lawyer help is mandatory. Based on these examples, you now know how important it is to hire a qualified accident attorney than falling pray to insurance company tactics.
How Much Money Plaintiff Receives From Accident Related Shoulder Injuries
When it comes to deciding the award money or compensation, it depends on the type of shoulder injury as direct result of accident. Each injury as a different awarded money to the plaintiff. Your financial compensation will be divided into 2 buckets, one for the pain incurred and second for the suffering or losses as result of car accident.
Case of $27,000 Settlement
In one case a woman driver has been awarded $27,000 for the shoulder injuries. Most notable thing in this case was the woman was consistent about her shoulder pain. The paramedics arrived at the spot, the police office or highway patrol who reported at the accident site have noted woman’s complain about the shoulder pain.
If you read this story correctly, it also tells you that the shoulder pain were reported immediately on the day of accident. It makes a difference between person specifically complaining about shoulder pain versus someone reporting (or adding to the claim) 4 months after accident. This case was settled by insurance company USAA in favor of the woman awarding her close to $30K in settlement.
Bike Rider Received $51,750 Primarily For His Shoulder Injuries
In another notable case, a bike driver received a whopping $51,000 from his accident related shoulder injuries. The case of result of a truck accident collided with a bike rider. In this case too, the person reported severe pain in the shoulder, neck and lower back. His statement to the police officer, paramedics and hospital staff was consistently the same.
As a result, it became a straight forward case of shoulder injury settlement.
Note : Cases with huge settlement payouts have all been handled by injury lawyers and accident attorneys. There are rare incidents where person handling own case without attorney’s help have received huge payout.
Also Must Watch Reckless Truck Driver Accident Caught On Camera
A reckless truck driver was caught in camera where his action could have seriously injured a man. The man wearing just his inner wear can be seen dangling to the truck with one hand in the quest to save own life. Houston freeways are too dangerous.
