Chicago Workers’ Compensation Lawyers & Illinois Injury Lawyers

A ‘Degloving’ Injury Results in $12M in Compensatory Damages for a Worker Injured by a Forklift at a Chicago Trade Show

| Jun 12, 2019 | Workplace Injury |

Working in industrial jobs carries many risks. One of those is the risk of certain severe injuries that one might reasonably expect not to encounter while working in an office job. For example, there is a type of injury called “degloving.” According to the website healthline.com, a degloving is also called an avulsion and is “a type of severe injury that happens when the top layers of your skin and tissue are ripped from the underlying muscle, connective tissue, or bone.” This type of injury may sound grotesque and painful, but it is actually worse than that.

Many degloving injuries are life-threatening events as a result of the extensive amount of blood loss and tissue death that occurs. Even if you survive, you may have a lifetime of terrible pain. You may never be able to do the same jobs or enjoy the same hobbies as before. Your life is changed forever, so when it comes to getting the full compensation you need for the horrible harm you endured, be sure to call upon experienced Chicago injury counsel.

T.N. was a Wisconsin man who suffered this kind of horrible injury while working in Chicago. According to an NBC-2 report, T.N. was a spare parts manager for a machine company that was participating in a trade show taking place at McCormick Place in the near north side when he was hurt. At the end of the show, the manager was working to tear down the employer’s booth when a 29-ton forklift ran over his foot. In the accident, T.N. suffered a degloving injury to his left foot. The injury forced the manager to undergo multiple surgeries as medical teams worked to save the man’s foot.

When you’ve incurred the kind of wide-ranging harm that this worker did, it is vital that you have the right team and put on the right presentation at your injury trial. The law in Illinois allows injured plaintiffs to recover several different types of damages, but you need the right evidence in order to show that you are entitled to each type of damages.

There are economic damages, which are also sometimes called special damages. As that first name implies, these are things that can be quantified through economic means. Your past medical expense damages can be proved through evidence that demonstrates to the jury the economic value of the medical services you have already received. Your future medical expense damages proof will consist of evidence of the treatment and procedures you’ll need going forward, and how much they reasonably will cost.

Lost wages are another type of economic damages. They include the time you already missed from work, and the time you’ll reasonably be expected to miss in the future, and the economic value of what you would have earned during that time. This can also include earning you’ll lose if your injury prevents from returning to your old job or getting anything that pays equally.

Non-economic damages include things that can’t be quantified by economic means… things like pain and suffering. Imagine if you were an avid fisherman, hunter, runner or cyclist who devoted much of your free time to these activities. A degloving injury like the one T.N. suffered might very possibly make continuing to pursue these activities either horribly painful or even medically impossible. When that happens, you need the proper evidence to persuade the jury that your injury has resulted in a massive “loss of enjoyment of life” for you.

T.N. was able to demonstrate many of these varieties of harm, and his trial result in a jury verdict in his favor and a compensatory damages award in excess of $12 million, which was upheld on appeal.

When you are hurt while performing your job, whether the injury is moderate or massive, you deserve to get the full amount the law allows. To get the legal representation you need, reach out to the skilled Chicago workplace injury attorneys at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. Our attorneys have been helping injured people for many years and are ready to handle your case. To set up a free case evaluation, contact us at 312-724-5846 or through our website.

More Blog Posts:

SPOTLIGHT: WORKERS’ COMP REFORM NEEDED TO REDUCE PREMIUM RATES, Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog, Jan. 11, 2019

Illinois Railway Worker Obtains $21M Damages Award for Foot Injury Suffered in Railyard Accident, Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog, Aug. 15, 2017

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