Broken (Fractured) Toe: Accident and Injury Claims in Florida

If someone’s negligence caused your broken (fractured) toe, you may be entitled to compensation.

Summary

14 of the 26 bones in your feet are in your toes.  Your toes, specifically your big toe, help you get around and stay balanced.

Taking a hit to the foot may injure your toes.  Some typical toe problems are:

• Toe joint sprains and dislocations
• Broken toe bones

There are many different treatments for toe injuries.  Sometimes a doctor will recommend special shoes, taping, medicine, rest and in bad injury cases, surgery.

As you get more treatment, your full value of your personal injury case increases for settlement purposes.  All things equal, someone who has surgery to fix a fractured toe bone has a higher full case value than someone who  just rested his toe per the doctor’s orders.

This is because surgery typically results in higher medical bills, lost wages and more pain and suffering.

Broken Toe

A broken toe usually happens when:

• something is dropped on your toe
• you stub you toe
• something rolls over your toe

If an employee of a business drops something on your foot or rolls over your toe, his or her employer may be liable for your injury.  You will generally have an easier time proving fault in this case than in a slip and fall claim.

Most of the time, a doctor can immobilize a broken toe by taping it to the adjacent toe.  However, sometimes you may have a bad fracture, especially in the big toe, which may need a cast or surgery to make sure that it heals correctly.

Most broken toes heal fine, within 4 to 6 weeks or so.  If you have a broken toe that heals fine within 6 weeks, your case is not worth as much.

Sometimes, a broken toe may get infected or may be more susceptible to osteoarthritis in the coming years.

If your fractured toe gets infected, or a doctor says that it is more vulnerable to osteoarthritis in the future, this increases the full value of your personal injury claim for settlement purposes.

You’re toe may be broken if you have discoloration, swelling or pain.

Take Photos

If you have discoloration or pain, take photos of it before it goes away.  Quickly send these photos to the claims adjuster of the insurance company for the liable party.

This will bring your file to the top of the claims representative’s desk and get it attention.

Should you go to a doctor?

If you are unable to wear shoes or walk, or if the discoloration, swelling and pain last over a few days, then you should go to the doctor.

Tip: Do not assume that if are able to walk using the toe, it is not fractured.  You should see a foot and ankle doctor.

If you don’t get medical treatment for your broken toe quickly, you may have big problems.

You should do what is best for your health first.  In addition, it’s better for your case if you go to a doctor soon after the injury.

This is because it shows that you had issues with your toe.  It also lowers the likelihood that the insurance company will argue that something other than the accident caused your toe fracture.

In most Florida car accident cases, you have 14 days to go to the doctor for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) to pay your medical bills.

As I mentioned earlier, complications to your toe fracture can include:

• Infection
• Osteoarthritis

You have a higher risk of infection in the bone if the skin is broken near your injured toe.  If the skin broke, take a photo of it.  Send it to the adjuster.

The worse the infection and the more time it takes the infection to go away, the higher the full value of the case for settlement purposes.

The full value of your case also increases along with how badly the skin is broken.  If you cringe while looking at the photo of the broken skin, so may a jury.

Thus, this increases the full case value for settlement purposes.

My toe fracture settlements

I have settled several cases where my clients had a toe fracture.  Here are a few of them:

My actual case: $30,000 Settlement.  An object fell on my client’s toe in a store in Miami-Dade County.  It fractured the toe.

The bottle was improperly stacked.  She had surgery on the toe.

My actual case: $17,000 Settlement.  A Publix employee ran over my client’s toe using a pallet cart in Miami-Dade County, Florida.  It fractured my client’s toe.

He did not have surgery.

My actual case: $15,000 Settlement.  My client stubbed his toe into the base of a hotel bed in Orlando, Florida.  The sheets hung over the base.

He couldn’t see the base of the bed before he fell.  He fractured his big toe.

He didn’t have surgery.  I was co-counsel on that case.

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