3 Common Slip and Fall Head Injuries with Average Settlement Amounts

Explore the claim value of common head injuries from slip and fall accidents. You deserve compensation for damages caused by negligent property owners.

Slip and fall injuries often happen because a negligent property owner or renter fails to fix a dangerous situation.

If a head injury is suspected after a fall, call 911 for an ambulance. Don’t move the victim unless you need to, and refrain from moving their neck. Have the victim lie down and keep their head and shoulders elevated until the ambulance arrives.

Diagram of the human brain

Head trauma can cause injuries ranging from minor contusions, to broken bones, or even life-threatening brain injuries.

Even when an injury is not intentional, the at-fault party must compensate the victim for the physical and emotional damages from a head injury.

The value of your case depends on the severity of your injury, its treatment, and how the injury will impact the rest of your life.

Though the vast majority of claims settle out of court, severe, high-dollar injuries are more likely to proceed to litigation.

1. Skull Fractures

Skull fractures are caused by a severe impact to the head, as can happen in sports, car accidents, and slip and fall accidents. A fall victim with a skull fracture often has additional head and brain injuries arising from the fall.

There are four types of skull fractures:

  • Simple – a crack in the bone without damage to the skin
  • Linear – a thin line break without splintering, depression, or distortion of bone
  • Depressed – a break or crushed portion of the skull with depression of the bone toward the brain
  • Compound – involves damage to the skin and splintering of the skull bone

A fall victim with a skull fracture may only appear to have a bump on the head. Symptoms of skull and brain injury may be immediately apparent or develop over a period of hours (or even days) after a fall.

Skull fracture symptoms may include:

  • Bleeding from the head wound, ears, nose, or around the eyes
  • Clear or bloody drainage from the ears or nose
  • Pupils unreactive to light or unequal in size
  • Confusion, slurred speech, drowsiness
  • Headache
  • Seizures
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Nausea and vomiting

Settlement Value of Skull Fractures

Diagnosis and treatment of a simple skull fracture usually involves a trip to the emergency room or urgent care center, X-rays and possibly a CT scan, and one or two follow-up visits with a neurologist. This can put medical costs at $3,000 to $5,000. Assuming another $2,000 for lost wages, that’s a total of $6,000 in economic damages.

Add 1.5 times that ($9,000) for pain and suffering for a total claim value of $15,000. A compromised settlement will fall between $9,000 to $12,000, depending on the circumstances of your slip and fall accident.

Skull fractures involving more serious injuries, such as damaged brain tissue and blood clots, are high-dollar claims. These must be valued on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the victim’s injuries, age, and potential loss of capacity for future earnings.

2. Intracranial Hematomas

Intracranial means inside the head. Intracranial hematomas are blood pools or clots that form on or in the brain after a blow to the head.

When blood is seeping into or around the brain, symptoms may take weeks to develop, as the blood pools and forms clots that put pressure on the brain.

Symptoms of hematomas may include:

  • Worsening headaches
  • Vomiting
  • Drowsiness and progressive loss of consciousness
  • Dizziness
  • Confusion and slurred speech
  • Unequal pupil size
  • Paralysis on the opposite side of the body from the head injury

Settlements for Serious Intracranial Hematomas

The average cost for successfully treating significant intracranial brain bleeds is $119,000. Adding lost wages and out-of-pocket expenses could easily add another $25,000, totaling $144,000.

Using a multiplier of three times the economic damages to account for pain and suffering ($432,000) provides an estimated claim value of  $576,000. A reasonable compromised settlement range is between $450,000 to $500,000.

3. Traumatic Brain Injuries

The effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can range from mild to disastrous and life-altering. On the milder end, the patient might experience a few days of headaches and dizziness. More severe symptoms include coma, seizures, loss of body control, and behavioral changes.

Symptoms may show immediately after a fall, or develop over hours or days after the head injury occurs.

Symptoms of a mild TBI might include:

  • Headache
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Fatigue or drowsiness
  • Sensitivity to light or sound
  • Feeling dazed, confused or disoriented

Moderate to severe TBI symptoms can also include:

  • Loss of consciousness from minutes to hours
  • Coma
  • Convulsions or seizures
  • Dilation of one or both pupils
  • Fluid draining from the nose or ears
  • Inability to wake up from sleep
  • Weakness or numbness in fingers and toes
  • Agitation, combativeness, or profound confusion
  • Slurred speech

You don’t need to have the most extreme symptoms for a slip and fall head injury to profoundly affect your life. Concussions (mild TBI) can have lasting effects on brain function and concentration. This can affect your ability to work in certain professions or focus on daily tasks.

Repeated concussions can also cause repetitive head injury syndrome. This results in serious memory problems and dementia-like symptoms even years after the injury.

Compensation for Severe Brain Injuries

Catastrophic injury cases such as wrongful death, paralysis, or permanent brain damage may get a jury verdict in the millions of dollars.

A recent example is the case of  Angela Willauer, who suffered a serious concussion and memory loss after a slip and fall in an icy parking lot. Willauer’s attorney settled her injury case for $2.15 million with the Town of Greenwich after a long court battle.

Proving Your Head Injury Claim

MRI resultsSlip and fall cases are premises liability claims. This means that your claim is against the owner or controller of the property where you were injured.

Regardless of whether you negotiate with an insurance adjuster or go to court, you need to gather compelling evidence to support your slip and fall claim.

First, gather your treatment records. You’ll need medical bills and other documents showing your prognosis. This includes the results of tests and procedures showing the precise nature of your injury. Records showing the necessity for surgery, rehabilitation, or other treatment are also important.

Gather evidence about the accident itself. Pictures, videos, or other evidence of the hazardous condition that caused your injury are important for both an insurance company and a court.

When talking with doctors, remember to discuss any prior head injuries you may have had and how those could be affecting you now. While a property owner is not responsible for past injuries, they are responsible if past injuries make your current injury worse.

The Eggshell Skull Rule

The property owner is only responsible for the injury you suffered because of their negligence. But if your health is poor, and the head injury causes you more damage than it would most people, the property owner is still responsible for that increased damage.

This legal doctrine is known as the Eggshell Skull Rule or the “eggshell plaintiff” rule.

If an injured victim is more fragile than the average person, they might suffer more severe harm in a fall. The fact that the person was more fragile or had pre-existing conditions does not relieve the at-fault party of liability for the more severe injuries.

Head injuries should always be taken seriously. If you or a loved one has suffered a slip and fall head injury, first ensure safety and health, including getting appropriate medical attention. Then, contact a qualified personal injury attorney in your state for a free consultation and case evaluation.