The Average Settlement for Hand and Wrist Pain After a Car Accident

You cannot determine your case’s worth by comparing it to other crashes where victims suffered hand and wrist injuries. This is because each settlement depends on factors that can differ widely from case to case.

To learn how much your case might be worth, you will need to gather evidence of your related expenses, losses, and other damages. You should also discuss your case with a Lafayette car accident lawyer to learn more about non-economic damages, including how much your pain and suffering might be worth.

Hands and Wrists Commonly Suffer Injuries in Collisions

Hands and wrists often endure heavy force in a traffic accident. You may brace yourself for the collision, slam your arm against the interior of a car, get hit by an airbag, or suffer other impacts.

Common causes of hand and wrist pain following a car accident can include the following:

• Fractured wrists
• Broken knuckles
• Broken fingers
• Dislocations, especially to fingers
• Tendon and ligament injuries in the hand or wrist
• Soft tissue injuries, such as a contusion or lacerations from glass or sharp surfaces

If you experience hand or wrist pain after a collision, you should see a doctor promptly to get a diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

Treatment of Wrist and Hand Injuries Following a Louisiana Traffic Accident

The treatment and care for your hand and wrist pain will depend greatly on the type of injury you have and how severe it is. An emergency room doctor or general practitioner may send you to a hand specialist, or you may need to see an orthopedic surgeon.

To diagnose the cause of your pain, the doctor will likely use an X-ray or other medical imaging. This will allow them to see the bones and other supporting tissues and structures and visualize any damage.

In some cases, conservative treatment is all that is needed. This could include immobilization with a splint, ice or heat, elevation, and rest.

This could last a few weeks to a few months, depending on the injury and how quickly you heal. More severe injuries could require one or more surgical repairs, rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and more.

Long-Term Effects of Car Accident Injuries to the Hands and Wrists

In some situations, hand and wrist injuries suffered during car accidents can be disabling. This is especially true when someone loses a hand or the use of their hand or fingers. Even injuries that do not include amputations could sideline a victim for months and cause chronic pain and limitations beyond that.

When your hand and wrist are healing, even in a cast, some everyday activities may be challenging or impossible without help. This could include grooming, eating, driving, and working. A hand or wrist injury can affect almost any type of work, from manual labor to administrative jobs that require typing.

Some people can return to work in a few weeks with reduced hours or altered tasks. However, others may spend months away from their jobs or be tasked to find a new career that allows them to work while managing their lasting injuries.

You Can Seek Damages for Your Accident-Related Losses in Louisiana

The damages recoverable in a traffic accident case in Louisiana depend on the losses the victim experienced and can prove. If you endured medical treatment and rehabilitation for your hand and wrist injuries, missed work as a result, and paid to have your car repaired, the insurance company should compensate you for these damages.

Common recoverable expenses and losses in a traffic accident case involving hand and wrist injuries can include the following:

• Current and future treatment costs
• Adaptive equipment as needed
• Lost income
• Reduced future income if you, a victim, cannot return to work
• Car repairs
• Reduced enjoyment of life
• Pain and suffering damages

If you take your claim to civil court, a judge may award you punitive damages in the face of a liable party’s gross negligence. That said, you cannot include punitive damages in an estimate of your case’s value, nor should you ask for punitive damages upon going to court.

Getting Compensation for Your Louisiana Car Accident Damages

You may want to enlist the help of an injury lawyer to prepare and file an insurance claim. Without an attorney, you must investigate the accident, gather evidence to prove fault, and document your recoverable damages on your own. Because CC 3493.1 gives you only two years to sue the at-fault driver, you will need to do this while undergoing treatment and healing from your injuries.

By working with a legal team that handles these case types regularly, you do not have to worry about navigating the process of building a case, filing a claim, and negotiating a fair settlement. Our legal team will represent you throughout the process and help you seek maximum compensation.

The Pros and Cons of Working With Insurance Companies After a Car Accident

Should you find yourself contending with pressing medical bills after your car accident, you may feel like you don’t have time to wait for the legal process to resolve itself in your favor. Fortunately, there are ways for you to secure financial support for your most pressing car wreck expenses.

You have the right to take up a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance provider. An insurance claim can help you contend with your most pressing expenses. If settlement negotiations fail, you can pursue a personal injury lawsuit at a later date.

That said, there are pros and cons to working with car accident insurance adjusters after a wreck. You can discuss these pros and cons with our personal injury lawyers to determine whether or not the process is worth the effort.

If you have personal injury attorneys on hand when you first move a complaint forward, you have a better chance of ensuring a painless claims process.

Pro: Get the Financial Support You Need to Recover

You deserve financial support when faced with common wrist injuries that come in the wake of a car accident. A motorist who has their state’s minimum liability coverage should have enough provider support to help them contend with their most pressing post-accident expenses. 

Con: Insurance Adjusters May Not Prioritize Your Recovery

In an ideal world, insurance claims adjusters would respect the losses you sustained in a negligence-based car accident. Unfortunately, claims adjusters are extensions of thriving, multi-million dollar corporations. These parties want to protect their employers’ bottom lines, not your well-being.

As such, you may find that your claims adjuster will underestimate your losses during an accident evaluation. Insurance companies may also deny you certain types of damages by claiming that the liable party’s protection plan doesn’t cover the related losses.

Auto accident attorneys can help you contest an insurance company’s attempt to trick you out of the compensation you deserve for your losses. We can appeal denied auto accident insurance claims. We can also take an insurance provider to civil court should the company continue to act in bad faith.

Con: The Process Can Prove Combative and Lengthy

An insurance provider may purposefully draw out your claims process in an effort to get you to waive your right to certain damages. If you bring these bad-faith tactics to our attention, our team can step in, streamline the claims process, and move you along to the next stage of your recovery.

How to Take a Car Accident Injury Claim to Civil Court

Unfortunately, insurance claims can’t always win you the financial support you need to overcome long-term damage to your hand and wrist. If you want to demand comprehensive damages for a finger injury, you may need to bring your losses to a judge’s attention. You can do this by filing a personal injury claim with your local civil court before your statute of limitations expires.

Personal injury claims, including hand and wrist car wreck claims, allow you to hold an at-fault party economically liable for your losses. Should a personal injury attorney win your case, you may require that liable party to pay your medical bills on top of other recovery-based expenses.

That said, you must uphold the state’s burden of proof if you want to demand support for your post-accident medical care. You must use evidence to prove another party’s liability in your case. You equally have an obligation to estimate the value of your case while proving that you’re entitled to certain forms of support.

Use Evidence to Establish Liability

If you want to hold a person, business, or related party liable for the medical costs you sustained after a car accident, you need to bring forward evidence proving that:

• Said party owed you a duty of care at the time of an accident.
• Said party engaged in avoidable negligence.
• Negligence resulted in your economic stress.

You make these points by bringing forward evidence of the liable party’s misconduct. Our attorneys can help you determine what forms of evidence are most relevant to a broken wrist injury or injured hand case, including witness statements, video footage of an accident, and expert input.

You can count on our team to gather that evidence on your behalf before filing your claim with a civil judge.

What to Expect After Filing a Car Accident Claim

Filing your car accident lawsuit is only the first step in your path to fair compensation. What can you expect from Phoenix’s civil courts after you bring your claim forward?

First and foremost, you need to wait for a judge to determine whether or not you have the right to take your case to trial. Should a judge approve your right to civil action, you can work with an accident lawyer to determine whether you want to negotiate for common injury damages. You can alternatively request that a jury weigh in on your right to economic and non-economic damages.

Negotiating for Car Accident Compensation

Many parties find themselves reluctant to pursue legal action against a negligent party because they believe doing so will require them to go to civil court. This is not the case. Whether you find yourself contending with nerve damage, broken bones, or carpal tunnel syndrome, you can bring your losses to a liable party’s attention in private negotiations.

Negotiations tend to have less of an impact on your daily life than a personal injury trial might. You get to dictate when and where they take place. So long as the liable party agrees to meet with you, you can sit down, discuss what types of injuries you’re contending with, and outline your desired compensation.

Negotiations work best when a liable party recognizes some of the harm that they’ve done to you in the wake of a car accident. Should you find yourself contending with a more combative offender, you may have to transition out of negotiations and into a civil trial.

That said, you can count on a Louisiana personal injury attorney to stand at your side throughout the negotiating process. Our team can mediate between you and the liable party to ensure the proceedings move forward as smoothly as possible.

Going to Civil Trial

If an at-fault driver refuses to meet with you to discuss the nature of your accident out of court, then you can request that an attorney transition you into the trial process.

The civil trial process following a car accident can involve the following steps:

• Discovery
• Opening statements
• Examination
• Cross-examination
• Closing statements
• Deliberation and verdict

Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers is Available Now for a Free Consultation

Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers is here for you if you suffered hand and wrist injuries in a Louisiana car crash. We can review the case for free and offer our opinion on how you should proceed.

You can count on our motor vehicle accident lawyers to continually advocate for your right to the most possible accident compensation. We will not press you into a particular course of action but will rather offer representation and legal advice based on the specificities of your case.

Are you ready to get justice for your losses? Contact a personal injury lawyer today. Our team serves clients in Lafayette, Alexandria, Marksville, New Orleans, and the surrounding parishes.