No Win, No FeeAn injury to the elbow can stop you from enjoying a lot of your normal activities. A broken elbow can be extremely painful and result in months of rehabilitation while tennis elbow, bursitis and other elbow injuries can prevent you from working. If you’ve sustained an elbow injury because of someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to compensation. Our guide on elbow injury compensation claims will look at the types of scenarios that could lead to such a claim.
If you’d like free legal advice about claiming compensation for an elbow injury, please speak to a member of our team. We’ll review your claim and explain your options during a no-obligation telephone consultation. If the grounds for your claim seem strong enough, one of our personal injury lawyers may offer to represent you. If they do, your claim will be managed on a No Win, No Fee basis so your financial risk will be reduced massively.
Please call 0800 652 1345 to discuss your options or read on to learn more about elbow injury claims before speaking to us.
Types of elbow injuries you could claim compensation for
We won’t provide details about every possible elbow injury that you could claim compensation for here but some of the most common include:
- Elbow Bursitis. Usually, the bursa (a fluid-filled sac at the back of the elbow) has a small amount of liquid in it to cushion any minor knocks to the elbow. Elbow or olecranon bursitis is the medical term used when the bursa is inflamed or irritated. Elbow bursitis can be caused by trauma during accidents but it can also occur if you rest your elbow on a hard surface for prolonged periods. Plumbers, gardeners, computer operators and mechanics, therefore, have an increased risk of bursitis.
- Elbow dislocation. Elbow dislocation occurs when the bones that make up the elbow joint are forced out of position. This injury is often caused by slipping on wet floors or similar accidents causing a direct blow to the elbow.
- Elbow fractures. According to the NHS, tendons, nerves, muscles and ligaments can all be damaged if you fracture your elbow. This means that even a straightforward elbow fracture can make it very difficult to function properly. A broken elbow can take up to 6 weeks to heal but you may continue to suffer elbow pain for some time after.
- Tennis Elbow. This can be a very painful injury caused by damage to the tendons in the elbow. Tennis elbow is often caused by repetitive wrist and arm motions over prolonged periods. As well as pain when moving the elbow, tennis elbow can cause pain in the forearm or wrist.
- Radial head fracture. A radial head fracture occurs when the head of the radius bone in the forearm is broken. This elbow injury is often caused by a fall onto an outstretched hand.
If your elbow injury isn’t on our list, don’t worry. We could still help you to start an elbow injury compensation claim so please call and let us know what happened and we’ll review your options.
Can I claim compensation for an elbow injury?
If you ask a personal injury solicitor on our panel to help you with claiming compensation for an elbow injury, they’ll have to, first of all, review the case with you before agreeing to help. During this assessment, they’ll be looking to see whether:
- The defendant (the party you are claiming against) owed you a duty of care; and
- You suffered an elbow injury; and
- It can be shown that your injury was caused by the defendant’s negligence.
In many cases, the defendant’s representatives will deny liability for your injured elbow from the outset. It will therefore be down to you to prove otherwise. We believe your chances of doing so will improve if you work with a solicitor from our panel so please get in touch to learn more about how we can help.
Common accidents that cause elbow injuries
Some examples of the types of accidents or incidents that may lead to elbow injury compensation claims include:
- Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs).
- Public place accidents.
- Slips, trips and falls.
- Sporting injuries.
You could also make a medical negligence claim if your doctor failed to diagnose your elbow injury properly and that has caused additional pain and suffering.
Whatever type of negligence caused you to sustain an elbow injury, please call our team for free advice about your options.
Common symptoms of an elbow injury
The types of problems caused by an elbow injury will vary depending on the nature of the injury. However, some common symptoms that could lead to elbow injury compensation claims include:
- Pain and stiffness.
- Popping or cracking noises when moving the elbow.
- Redness and tenderness.
- A restricted range of movement.
- Swelling or warmth.
- The elbow or arm looking deformed or out of shape.
To ensure your elbow injury is diagnosed or treated correctly, you should always seek professional medical advice.
Workplace elbow injury claims
While you’re at work, you can expect your employer to try and keep you safe and injury free. This is their legal duty of care as set out by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and other pieces of legislation. This means employers should:
- Provide proper health and safety training to all staff.
- Allow adequate rest breaks.
- Conduct regular risk assessments.
- Consider alternative ways of working to reduce the risk of RSI.
- Ensure all equipment is fit for purpose and safe to use.
If you’ve sustained an elbow injury in a work accident because your employer didn’t take preventative measures to protect you, we could help you to claim compensation for your suffering.
How much compensation for an elbow injury?
Calculating how much compensation for an elbow injury claimants are entitled to claim generally varies on a case-by-case basis according to the severity of the injury, along with other factors. There are two specific types of compensation awarded by the courts which are known as general damages and special damages.
General damages
This element of compensation relates to pain and suffering as a result of the elbow injury received. In general terms, the compensation guidelines are currently as follows:
- Severe elbow injuries – £47,810 – £66,920 compensation.
- Less severe elbow injuries – £19,100 – £39,070 compensation.
- Moderate or minor elbow injuries – up to £15,370 compensation.
While general damages address the immediate pain and suffering of the victim, the subject of special damages is very different.
Special damages
This takes into account additional factors such as costs incurred and future costs expected because of the elbow injury. The following issues are taken into consideration:
- Loss of earnings.
- Cost of medical treatment.
- Cost of future medical treatment.
- Potential future loss of earnings.
- Additional travel expenses.
- Medical equipment required.
- Adaptions to the home.
- Loss of amenity.
It might also be possible to claim compensation for negligence where an incident has exacerbated an existing problem with your elbow.
Providing proof for elbow injury compensation claims
If you make a personal injury claim for an elbow injury, the case will usually be handled by an insurance company representing the defendant. They’ll want clear proof to show how your elbow was injured, why their client was to blame and how your injury has affected you.
This could include:
- Medical records. First and foremost, your solicitor will ask to be sent copies of any medical notes and x-rays from the hospital or GP surgery that treated you.
- Photos. If you took pictures at the accident scene, they could be a good way of explaining how the accident occurred. Photographs of any visible elbow injury could be useful too.
- Witness statements. To help clarify how the accident happened, your solicitor may ask anyone else present at the time to explain what they saw.
- Accident reports. Legally, most companies need to keep a record of all accidents on their premises and some also have to report accidents to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Your solicitor will obtain copies of these reports to find out more about the cause of the accident.
- Video recordings. If your accident was recorded on a dashcam, security camera or body-worn camera, you could ask for a copy of the footage. This will need to happen quickly, though, as data is not usually stored for more than a month or so.
If you’ve secured any proof already, please let your advisor know when you call. Your solicitor will try to secure anything further information needed if your elbow injury claim is taken on.
Will I need a medical assessment for my elbow injury?
The part of your compensation claim that covers your injuries is based on their severity. As such, your personal injury claim may have to be supported by an independent medical assessment. This is not something you need to be concerned about though.
Your solicitor where possible will set up an appointment with a medical specialist. They’ll examine your elbow and talk with you to learn how you’ve been affected. Following your meeting, they’ll produce a report to explain your prognosis and this will form the basis of your compensation claim.
No Win, No Fee elbow injury claims
We strongly believe that having a specialist personal injury solicitor on your side will make an elbow injury claim easier and could improve the chances of winning the claim. To help reduce the financial risk of hiring a solicitor, ours offer a No Win, No Fee service for every claim they take on.
No Win, No Fee agreements usually make everything a little less stressful because you’ll know that:
- There are no upfront legal fees to pay.
- You won’t pay legal fees if your solicitor loses the elbow injury claim.
- If the claim is won, your solicitor will deduct their success fee from your compensation payment.
The contract you’ll sign if you agree to proceed is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). When using a CFA, the maximum success fee you’ll pay is 25 per cent of the damages you receive for your elbow injury.
Once the paperwork has been signed, your solicitor will get to work right away. They’ll collect any information and proof needed to show what happened and collect medical reports. After that, they’ll work on your behalf in negotiations with the defendant’s lawyers.
Your solicitor will use their legal skills to try and make sure you are compensated fully.
Can I claim compensation on behalf of my child?
If your child has injured their elbow in a playground, at school or after being knocked off their bike, for example, you might decide to claim compensation on their behalf. This is something our solicitors can support by helping you to apply as their litigation friend.
The process allows parents or responsible adults to deal with the claims process for their child if they’ve hurt their elbow through no fault of their own. If the claim is successful, any compensation will be held in a court trust account until the child’s 18th birthday but the litigation friend can request funds are released when needed.
Elbow injury claim time limits
Time limits for personal injury claims are dictated by the Limitation Act 1980 in the UK. For elbow injury compensation claims, there is a 3-year time limit that starts:
- On the date your elbow was injured in an accident; or
- The date your elbow injury was diagnosed (e.g. for elbow RSI injuries).
You can begin the claim any time within the 3 years but it’s often easier to find proof to support your case if you begin the process sooner rather than later.
For child elbow injury claims, there is a 3-year time limit as well but it doesn’t start until their 18th birthday. Before then, a responsible adult can start a claim on the child’s behalf at any point.
Start an elbow injury compensation claim today
If you’ve injured your elbow in an accident that was not your fault, speak to us on 0800 652 1345 to find out if you could receive a compensation payout. There’s no obligation to make a claim but we’ll provide free advice and answer any questions you may have.
If your claim is suitable and accepted by one of our solicitors, you’ll benefit from their No Win, No Fee service. As a result, you will only have to pay legal fees if the claim is successful.
You can also use our free live chat service if you need to know anything more about elbow injury claims or arrange your free consultation here.
