Shoulder Injuries

Does your shoulder hurt after a car accident or slip and fall? If so, the trauma from the crash or from falling may have caused you a serious shoulder injury such as a torn rotator cuff or AC joint tear. The Boulder personal injury lawyers at Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, have helped numerous clients with shoulder injuries caused by accidents recover full financial compensation from negligent drivers or property owners and their insurance companies. We are successful because we work with our clients and their medical providers to thoroughly explain to the insurance companies the nature of the shoulder injury and its impact on our clients’ lives. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious shoulder injury after a car, bicycle, pedestrian, or semi-truck, we invite you to call our team of experienced Boulder personal injury attorneys today at 303-543-1000 for a free consultation about your case.

Many people who have seriously hurt one or both shoulders after an accident want to know how much is fair compensation from the at-fault’s insurance company? They wonder – “Am I being lowballed?” At Cook, Bradford & Levy, we look at several factors in developing a range of value for a shoulder injury including:

• Severity of the injury
• what type of treatment was needed
• was surgery required
• how much did the treatment cost
• how long did it take to rehabilitate the shoulder
• is our client’s shoulder back to normal
• will future treatment be required
• how did the injury impact our client’s life
• is there a permanent deficit in shoulder function
• did you have shoulder problems before the accident**
• and other factors

**note – even if you had shoulder problems before an accident, Colorado law permits the recovery of financial compensation for the aggravation of that prior injury

A good Boulder personal injury lawyer understands that every case is unique, and the value of a shoulder injury case depends on the how the above factors apply to a particular client.

For example, if your shoulder injury required only a month or two of physical therapy before your shoulder returned to the same condition as before the accident, your claim will be worth less than someone at the other end of the spectrum. On the far end of the spectrum we might see one or more surgeries, a year or more of rehabilitation, significant time away from work or other activities, and a permanent loss of shoulder function whether such as limited range of motion, weakness, or pain. In Colorado we are typically more active than most states, and a shoulder injury can really impact your ability to participate in things like golf, biking, fishing, tennis, or other similar pursuits. In this latter scenario, our Boulder personal injury attorneys would likely value your case well into the six-figures.

At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, our Boulder accident lawyers have helped numerous clients with shoulder injuries over the years. In the car accident world, we often see people get hurt in rear-end accidents where the forces push our clients forward and the seatbelt seriously impacts their shoulder (left shoulder for the driver, right shoulder for a passenger). In T-bone or side-swipe crashes we see injuries to either shoulder, because the forces are coming laterally, often banging the client into the side of the vehicle. Airbags are also a common culprit of shoulder injuries, including rashes and burns from the explosion and chemicals in the airbag.

In a slip and fall, we often see our clients hurt their shoulders when bracing themselves for the fall. The location of their shoulder injury depends on whether they are falling forward or backward. In slip and fall accidents and car accidents, we have seen injuries ranging from complete shoulder separations to minor sprains.

The most serious types of accident-caused shoulder injuries that we often see are SLAP tears (Superior Labrum Anterior and Posterior), which is when the ligaments in the labrum (tissue lining the shoulder socket) are torn; a full or partial tear of the rotator cuff muscles; and a high-grade acromioclavicular joint (AC joint) sprain where the AC joint actually comes away from the collarbone. More often than not, we see our clients with these injuries require surgery to repair the damage from the accident.

An experienced Boulder personal injury attorney can tell you that the same damages recoverable in most personal injury cases apply after an accident causing a shoulder injury. You may recover your past and future medical bills, lost wages or lost earning capacity (particularly important if your job requires lifting things), out of pocket expenses, emotional damages such as pain and suffering, as well as physical impairment, which is a critical category of damages if you suffered a permanent injury to your shoulder.

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious shoulder injury from a car accident or slip and fall, we invite you to call our team today at 303-543-1000 for a free consultation about how we can help you get fully compensated from the insurance companies. We can come to you, or you can come visit us at our main office in Lafayette, Colorado, or our Denver satellite office.