Personal Injury Attorneys: Getting What You Deserve

Don't Overlook Your Ankle Injury After A Slip-And-Fall Sprain

15 January 2021

Laurie Flores

A property owner has the responsibility to make sure that the area around their property is not slippery and dangerous. If you slip, fall, and sprain your ankle, you might simply assume that this is something you should handle with rest and ice. However, you may be entitled to pain and suffering damages even if you didn't have very expensive medical bills.

After a Slip-and-Fall Injury

Some ankle injuries can be serious and will require medical treatment. For example, pins, bolts, and screws might be necessary for a particularly serious ankle injury. However, even if you do not believe that your sprain will require this level of treatment, you will want to see a doctor as soon as possible anyway. 

Receiving treatment from a medical professional can help establish that you were injured, and you will then be able to seek compensation for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.

Non-Economic Damages

Economic damages are those that can be easily quantified. For example, if you receive a medical bill, you will be entitled to have this bill paid in full by the party responsible for your injuries. 

However, non-economic damages will often be awarded by the courts to make you whole again. While they cannot help you forget the pain and suffering that you have experienced, they can still make sure that you're compensated. 

Calculating Pain and Suffering

After your ankle injury, you will want to write down your experiences so you can make a case for how much pain you have experienced and how this has impacted your life. For example, you may want to write a journal detailing your experiences and also describe your pain on a scale of one to ten.

Also, the extent to which you are suffering from pain can be established by your medical records, and the courts can infer the pain and suffering you experienced based on what one would expect you to suffer due to the nature of your injuries.

Punitive Damages

In addition to non-economic damages, the courts might choose to award punitive damages. These are awarded when the conditions are so extreme that the courts wish to punish the third party for their actions. For example, if the property was not maintained at all and was highly slippery, the courts might wish to punish the other party.

However, you will always want to speak with a personal injury attorney about whether you are better off seeking compensation through the courts or settling out of court. While taking a case to court may lead to punitive damages, it will often be a hard sell when you have minor injuries. Settling might be more worth your time and less expensive than losing a case.

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