£140,000 Compensation Payout For Loss of Toes – Case Study & Guide To Amputated Toe Compensation Amounts

Loss of toes on one foot compensation

Loss of toes on one-foot compensation

Have you sustained an injury that wasn’t your fault? This guide to personal injury claims aims to help you make a loss of toes compensation claim, explaining everything from establishing third-party liability to valuing your case.

If you’d like any further advice or would be interested in learning how personal injury lawyers could help you, please get in touch with us today:

  • Call us on 0800 408 7825
  • Write to us using a contact form
  • Chat to us using the chat window below

Select a Section

  1. A Guide To Calculating Loss Of Toes Compensation Claim
  2. What Are Toe Amputations?
  3. Effects Of Loss Of All Toes On Finances
  4. Common Amputation Accidents
  5. Care Claims For Negligent Incidents
  6. Calculate Compensation Claims For Amputees
  7. Case Study: £140,000 Compensation For Loss Of Toes On One Foot
  8. Estimates For Free
  9. No Win No Fee Claims
  10. Find Top Personal Injury Solicitors Today
  11. Talk With Us
  12. Further Links

A Guide To Calculating Loss Of Toes Compensation Claim

We begin this guide by presenting different reasons for toe amputations and list some examples of common accidents responsible.

Next, we explain what a duty of care is and how you could establish liability if your injury was caused by a breach of this duty.

We then outline the personal injury claims process, using our example case study of ‘Mr Price’, which is an example case study.

Finally, we provide our tips on how to make a successful claim, with emphasis on how a personal injury solicitor could significantly increase your chances of winning the compensation you deserve. To learn about how personal injury lawyers could help you, please contact one of our advisors today.

What Are Toe Amputations?

Toe amputations may be required for reasons such as poor circulation, serious infection, localised tumours or a traumatic injury. This procedure is used as a last resort, with no other option but to remove the problematic area before it causes complications.

In surgery, an incision is made in the skin and blood vessels are tied to prevent bleeding. The toe is then removed by separating the bone from the foot, after which, muscle and skin are pulled-over the area and sewn in place.

Post-op, pain medication will be administered and your leg will have to remain elevated to ease swelling. A physical therapy plan will be implemented soon after surgery to regain function. However, recovery could take as long as 3 months, with a residual effect on mobility likely.

Effects Of Loss Of All Toes On Finances

Suffering an accident that results in the loss of toes can have a detrimental impact on your quality of life. However, an accident that wasn’t your fault should never affect your financial situation. Therefore, if you end up out of pocket as a result of your injury, you could be entitled to make a loss of toes compensation claim if it can be proven that those who had a responsibility to your health were deemed liable for your accident.

Whether you’ve experienced a loss of earnings or found yourself paying for injury-related expenses like medical fees and care costs, special damages aim to account for these losses as part of your personal injury claim. To learn more about the types of spends you could recover, please continue reading or contact one of our specialist advisors today.

Common Amputation Accidents

If a third-party was responsible for your injury, you could hold them liable by making a loss of toes compensation claim against them. In order to do so, your situation must meet the following criteria:

Were you owed a duty of care by a third-party? Here are some bodies commonly owing a duty of care:

Was this body in breach of their duty of care to you? Here are some examples of negligence that could cause injury:

  • Employers not supplying the right training to an employee
  • Wet floors in supermarkets due to cleaning with no warning signs
  • Another road user making a dangerous manoeuvre

Was your injury a result of this breach? Here are some examples of how you could be injured:

  • With slips, trips and falls accounting for a third of all major workplace injuries, you could suffer a fall if your employer did not carry out routine inspections.
  • You could suffer a slip on a wet shop floor if the retailer didn’t display appropriate hazard signage.
  • With over 157,630 people injured in road traffic accidents (RTAs) on Britain’s roads in 2019, you could be injured in a collision if a dangerous driver made a dangerous manoeuvre.

Care Claim For Negligent Accidents

After undergoing toe amputation surgery, you’re advised to keep the affected area elevated and bed-rest is encouraged in the early stages of recovery. Therefore, it’s common to require some level of day-to-day assistance with your limited mobility.

Whether you’ve had family and friends help you or you’ve paid for a professional carer, the assistance you received could be factored into your loss of toes compensation claim.

Professional care costs are recovered using invoices raised by the provider, so it’s important to keep a paper trail of any charges you incurred as evidence. Gracious care from family and friends is more complicated to value.

The cost of care could also be compensated if your injury prevented you from giving usual care to someone else. For example, if you were unable to care for an elderly relative or provide the same level of childcare. For more information on care claims, please speak to one of our specialist advisors today.

Calculate Compensation Claims For Amputees

By undergoing a medical assessment with an independent expert, you could allow your solicitor to evidence your claim and value your case.

For the practitioner to produce a report assessing the impact your injury appears to have had on your life, they’ll physically examine you and ask you a series of questions. In doing so, they’ll attempt to corroborate the information you provided on how you sustained your injury.

Your solicitor will ensure the appointment they arrange you is as convenient as possible. Our panel of solicitors have an extensive network of medical professionals and years of experience handling claims, please speak to one of our advisors today to see how we could help you.

General Damages

In a personal injury claim, general damages are awarded to compensate physical and psychological harm, such as the trauma of your injury and the treatment you endured.

Special Damages

In addition, special damages are awarded to restore the claimant back to the financial position they had before sustaining their injury. Covering injury-related expenses that have caused financial shortfall or could do so in future, special damages could cover:

  • Loss of earnings or effect on future income
  • Repair or replacement costs for damaged property
  • Medical bills for things like prescriptions and specialist treatment
  • Any care you received as a result of your injury

Case Study: £140,000 Compensation For Loss Of Toes On One Foot

In our example case study, Mr Price was a 62-year-old warehouse operative on shift when his employer asked him to carry out a one-off job. Although he had received no training in operating a forklift, Mr Price was instructed to load and drive one across the warehouse. As he was unaware of the safe practices required, Mr Price overloaded the forklift, causing it to eventually lose balance and tip-over into a wall of stock.

Upon impact, the footwell of the forklift was crushed, subsequently trapping Mr Price’s foot. After he was freed by emergency services, Mr Price was rushed to A&E, where he was informed that some of his toes had been effectively severed by the force endured in his accident. As a result, Mr Price required immediate surgery to safely amputate the affected toes and attempt to salvage the rest.

After his surgery, Mr Price was administered with supportive dressing and an open-toed medical boot to be worn for 4 weeks. Due to his age and the severity of his operation, Mr Price was required to stay in hospital for 7 days, after which he continued his recovery period at home. As part of his rehabilitation programme, gradual weight-bearing was encouraged according to pain. However, Mr Price was largely incapacitated as a result of his injury, which had a residual effect on his mobility.

Though he could get around on crutches, Mr Price had to remain on bed rest for the first few weeks of his recovery to ensure his leg was elevated, requiring assistance. Due to the limited mobility that Mr Price’s injury left him with, he was unable to return to work and was forced to retire 4 years earlier than he’d planned. He also suffered from phantom limb pain, which despite a constant supply of pain medication, left him severely debilitated.

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Mr Price’s employer owed him a duty of care. However, his employer breached this duty when he requested Mr Price to operate a forklift without training. As he knew his employer’s negligence resulted in his injury, Mr Price decided to make a loss of toes compensation claim against him. To ensure he gave his claim the best chances of success, Mr Price acquired a No Win No Fee personal injury lawyer to handle his case.

Due to Mr Price’s condition, he was unable to take any steps to evidence his case at the scene of the accident. However, as Mr Price’s co-workers took photographs of the scene and provided witness statements, a strong set of evidence was established. In addition, Mr Price logged the incident in his workplace accident book after he had sought medical attention. To support his claim, Mr Price’s solicitor acquired CCTV footage of the incident and obtained an independent medical report.

Mr Price’s employer initially disputed liability, attempting to place the blame on Mr Price himself for operating the forklift without training. However, Mr Price’s solicitor undermined this argument by exposing the lack of care that his employer had shown to workers. This forced Mr Price’s employer to admit liability and a settlement was reached.

In general damages, Mr Price received £50,000 for his loss of toes. This figure considered the traumatic manner in which Mr Price lost his toes and the severity of the impact subsequently had on his life. Additionally, Mr Price was awarded around £90,000 in special damages, accounting for financial losses he experienced as a result of his injury. For a break-down of Mr Price’s special damages payout, please see the table below:

Edit
Type of Special Damages: Includes: Value:
Travel Expenses To and from medical appointments As Mr Price’s injury left him unable to drive, he recovered £220 in travel expenses.
Medications/Prescriptions Prescriptions, treatment, walking aids, etc. Mr Price received £160 for prescription pain medication, £40 for crutches
Adaption To Property For injuries that cause loss of functions (i.e. disabilities) Mr Price’s injury left him with limited mobility, particularly for the first few weeks after surgery where his amputation had to remain elevated. Costs recovered for adaptations to his home included £50 for grab rails, £30 for a shower seat and £1,500 for a stairlift.
Additional Care Professional care, gracious care, childcare, domiciliary care etc. In his early recovery period, Mr Price had visits from a professional carer twice daily to help with his mobility. He recovered £700 for invoices raised. Once he was able to be more self-sufficient, Mr Price’s wife cared for him, for which he received another £700 for gracious care.
Future Loss Loss of earnings or potential future financial loss For the 4 more years of salary that Mr Price intended to earn, he was awarded £84,000 in loss of income.
Cleaning/Gardening Cleaning, gardening, areas that require consistent attention For help with domestic tasks that Mr Price was unable to complete even after his injury recovered, he was awarded £2,600.

Please note that the case of Mr Price is purely an example that we created based on our experience with personal injury claims. It merely serves to illustrate how accidents happen and how the value of compensation is calculated. 

Estimates For Free

If you’re interested in learning how much you could receive from a loss of toes compensation claim, we advise that personal injury ‘compensation calculators’ may not be the best option. These tools fail to factor the unique features of individual cases into their final estimate, often resulting in inaccurate and generalised figures.

Our team of specialist advisors offer free consultations as a courtesy, and the knowledge and experience of personal injury solicitors can provide you with accurate valuations. To learn more, please get in touch today and see how we could help you.

No Win No Fee Claims

If you’d like to make a loss of toes compensation claim but are worried about the financial risk involved, personal injury solicitors that work on a No Win No Fee basis may give you peace of mind.

In the agreement, you won’t have to pay your fees if the case is not won. Furthermore, there are no upfront costs or hidden fees to pay either.

If the case is won, a ‘success fee’  is taken from your payout to cover your legal costs. But this isn’t any cause for concern either, as the fee is capped by law to ensure you retain the compensation you deserve. To learn more about how we could help you, please get in touch today.

Find Top Personal Injury Solicitors Today

If you want to give your claim the best chances of success, a personal injury solicitor could not only increase the value of your compensation but significantly ease the process of winning it.

In finding the best solicitor for you, we recommend using online reviews to compare the experiences of previous clients. By selecting a law firm near you, you could be hindering your claim. As technology allows solicitors to connect with their clients remotely, the locality of your solicitor doesn’t have to be a priority anymore. Instead, prioritise the quality of their service.

Personal injury lawyers can connect with clients via email correspondence, telephone calls and even face-to-face meetings. With years of experience winning a variety of claims, why not contact one of our advisors so that they can connect you to a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor today.

Talk With Us

If you’d like to make a loss of toes compensation claim, call our advisors today. For more information about our services, please reach out to us today:

  • Call us on 0800 408 7825
  • Write to us using a contact form
  • Chat to us using the chat window below

Further Links

Thank you for reading our guide to personal injury claims. We hope you’ve found the information we provided useful. For additional resources, please see the links below:

Article by LA

Publisher EC.