Workers’ compensation elbow injury settlement amounts vary widely based on statutory benefit formulas, impairment ratings, and negotiated terms.
Arizona law does not establish or publish average settlement values, but if you suffer an elbow injury at work, depending on its nature, severity, and duration, your average workers’ compensation settlement value could range from $10,000 to $100,000 or more.
At Matt Fendon Law Group, our workers’ compensation attorneys help injured workers obtain fair compensation for a wide range of work-related injuries, occupational illnesses, and chronic medical conditions.
In this blog post, we focus on common elbow injuries at work and the key factors that insurance companies and workers’ compensation attorneys consider when negotiating settlement payouts.
If you have experienced an elbow injury on the job, please call (800) 229-3880 or use our contact form to speak with an experienced Arizona workers’ compensation attorney in a free consultation.
What Do Workers’ Compensation Insurers Consider in Setting the Value of an Elbow Injury?
Establishing how much compensation you can receive for an elbow injury can be complex.
We cover the most important settlement issues that your workers’ compensation lawyer will need to go over with the insurance company to ensure that your compensation is comprehensive and gives the maximum amount you are entitled to.
What is the Nature and Severity of Your Elbow Injuries?
The extent of your injury is possibly the single most important factor in establishing your elbow injury settlement value.
Specific concerns to address here include:
- Is your elbow injury temporary, or is it a permanent injury?
- To what degree does your injury affect your elbow’s strength, function, and range of motion?
- Is any nerve damage involved?
- Will surgery be required to treat the injury?
Part of establishing the nature and severity of an elbow injury will be to establish what your impairment rating is. Specific impairment-related considerations for elbow injuries include:
- How much loss of flexion or extension you experience
- How much reduction of pronation and supination results from the injury
- Whether you are experiencing chronic pain from the injury
- Whether your injury will lead to visible scars or deformities
Generally, the higher your impairment rating is, the greater your potential settlement value will be.
How Does Your Injury Affect Your Ability to Work?
Depending on the nature of your job and the extent of your injury, and how much you depend on using your elbows to perform your job duties, an elbow injury may limit your ability to work or sideline you completely.
Specifically, your workers’ compensation attorney will need to establish how an elbow injury will affect your ability to grip, lift, push, or pull objects, or to reach and engage in rotational motions. The more your injury limits these functions, the more likely it is that you will be put out of work at least temporarily or even permanently.
What Will Your Treatment Needs Be?
Workers’ compensation pays for all reasonably required medical treatment related to a work injury. The amount of medical treatment you need will have a direct bearing on your medical bills and, by extension, your settlement value.
A minor injury may require treatment as simple as resting the elbow joint and avoiding repetitive motions to give it a chance to fully recover. This is often compensable through temporary wage replacement and coverage of your medical bills.
A more serious elbow injury, however—such as one resulting from a work-related motor vehicle accident—may stem from trauma to the joint that can lead to injured tendons or ligaments, bone fractures or breaks, soft tissue injuries like cartilage damage, and nerve injury. These can require more extensive and in some cases invasive treatments like:
- Multiple surgeries
- Ongoing physical therapy
- Vocational retraining
- Pain management medication
- A brace or other adaptive device
Is Your Employer Contesting Your Workers’ Compensation Claim?
Sometimes an employer might challenge whether your injury was truly work-related, the extent of your injuries, whether you are making a claim for pre-existing injuries, or whether your elbow injuries will cause you to be permanently, as opposed to temporarily, disabled.
When this happens, settlement negotiations can take longer because of the need to address these employer or insurer arguments, which can also have an impact on establishing the final settlement value of your workers’ compensation claim.
Another consideration in this regard is how well your attorney has helped you prepare your claim for settlement.
The strength of the supporting evidence you provide, like your record of medical diagnosis and treatment records, has a bearing on how seriously your employer and its insurer will treat your claim and how much resistance you might encounter.
What Kind of Elbow Injury Compensation Do You Qualify For?
Under Arizona workers’ compensation law, compensation for a work injury depends in part on whether it is “scheduled” or “unscheduled.”
- A scheduled injury uses a statute-based formula under ARS 23-1044(B) that combines your impairment percentage (typically from AMA Guides), your average monthly wage before the injury, and a scheduled number of months. For complete loss (100% impairment), it’s 55% of your wage for the full months. For partial impairments, it’s generally 50% of your wage for proportional months (impairment % × full months), or 75% if you can’t return to your prior job.
- By contrast, compensation for an unscheduled injury does not use the statutory formulation above but is based on your loss of earning capacity instead.
An elbow injury is a scheduled injury under ARS 23-1044(B)(13). For total loss of a major (dominant) arm: 55% of wage for 60 months; minor arm: 50 months—plus temporary total disability benefits. Most elbow injuries are partial, so compensation is proportional (e.g., 20% impairment in major arm: 12 months at 50% or 75% of wage).
Note that in some cases, a scheduled injury can become an unscheduled one, like if you have a prior permanent impairment or if your elbow injury occurs in combination with another scheduled injury. Your workers’ compensation claim attorney can help you know when these considerations may apply.
What Form of Settlement Do You Seek?
You can seek different kinds of settlements for an elbow injury under workers’ compensation. These can be any of a structured settlement, an indemnity-only settlement, or a full and final lump-sum settlement.
Depending on the kind of settlement you pursue, you may be able to keep your medical benefits open if your medical treatment needs change in the future, or closed if you choose a full and final lump-sum settlement.
What is the Quality of Your Legal Representation?
Unless you have a claim against a third party for causing or contributing to your work-related elbow injury, workers’ compensation is ordinarily your sole option to seek recovery after being hurt on the job. This means that you will need to negotiate the best outcome possible with the workers’ compensation insurance company.
Workers’ compensation insurance company representatives have earned a reputation as smart, experienced, and tough negotiators. If they cannot find a reason to deny your claim, they will look for ways to minimize its value in order to keep the insurer’s payout as low as possible.
The strategies that insurance company negotiators use can be subtle, like making you a quick initial settlement offer that is substantially lower than what you can get if you negotiate. They can drag out negotiations, hoping to wear you down mentally and financially, so you accept a low-ball offer.
They can play hardball with you, challenging your supporting evidence and even claiming that you are making a bad-faith or fraudulent claim.
If you try to negotiate on your own, chances are you will be at a distinct disadvantage.
But if you have an attorney from Matt Fendon Law Group on your side, you can help your case for higher compensation because you will have an experienced workers’ compensation claim negotiator working on your behalf.
How Much is Your Elbow Injury Workers’ Compensation Settlement Worth?
Every workers’ compensation claim is unique. When you consider all the factors above, you can see that without a careful analysis of the facts supporting your claim, assessing your possible future medical needs, and carefully preparing your claim for settlement negotiation, it is difficult to say up front exactly how much compensation you might anticipate receiving for elbow injuries.
What we can tell you right away about average settlements, and with certainty, is this much: in workers’ compensation claim settlements, the outcome is not necessarily what you “deserve” but what you negotiate.
From a workers’ compensation insurer’s point of view, what is “fair value” for your elbow injury claim can be very different from your estimation of the same issue. The insurance company owes you no duty of loyalty.
This is why, when seeking a higher settlement value, it is important to have the best possible legal representation working for you when you negotiate an elbow injury settlement in workers’ comp.
At Matt Fendon Law Group, our Arizona workers’ compensation attorneys have decades of combined experience representing workers in settlement negotiations. We know the methods and tactics that insurers use to try to get you to settle for less, and we advocate aggressively to pursue the highest compensation supported by the facts and the law.
If you have experienced an elbow injury at work, please call (800) 229-3880 or use our contact form to speak with an experienced Arizona workers’ compensation lawyer for a free initial consultation.
