This page provides information about face and head injury claims arising from slip and fall accidents in Wisconsin, including common injury types, scarring and disfigurement, reconstructive surgery costs, and how an experienced personal injury attorney can help you recover full compensation.
Everyone’s heard the old expression about someone or something falling “flat on his face.” It sounds funny, but if you’ve ever fallen on your face or your head, it’s no joke. Head and face injuries from falls are not only painful, they often result in broken teeth, broken noses and even serious brain trauma. Worse yet are the cases where someone slips on a wet step, falls backward and suffers a fatal head injury.
If you or someone you love have suffered a face or head injury in a Milwaukee slip and fall accident and believe it was the result of poorly maintained steps or walkways, you may have grounds for a personal injury lawsuit to recover your medical costs and lost time from work. If you have the misfortune of being a surviving family member of someone who died as a result of a slip and fall accident, you can sue for much more.
Your best course of action is to first get the medical attention you need for your injuries. Afterward, speak with an experienced head injury and concussion lawyer about whether you have a case to sue. Our Wisconsin slip and fall attorneys offer a free initial legal consultation to answer any questions you have and assess the strength of your case. Schedule yours today.
When a person falls and strikes their face or head against a hard surface, the resulting injuries can range from superficial cuts and bruises to complex fractures requiring surgical repair. The face and skull are structurally intricate, and the force generated even by a simple fall on a wet sidewalk or icy step can be enough to fracture bone, damage nerves, and cause permanent disfigurement. Understanding the specific injuries involved is important, because the nature and severity of each injury directly affects the value of your personal injury claim.
A fractured jaw, or mandible fracture, is one of the most disruptive injuries a person can suffer after a fall. The jaw is the largest and strongest bone in the face, but a direct impact against pavement, concrete, or flooring can crack or shatter it entirely. Victims typically experience severe pain, difficulty opening the mouth, misalignment of the teeth, and swelling that makes eating or speaking nearly impossible. Treatment often requires wiring the jaw shut for weeks, surgical fixation with plates and screws, or both. Recovery is prolonged, and many patients require follow-up dental and orthodontic care long after the bone itself has healed. Lost wages during recovery, along with the cost of ongoing medical visits, add up quickly and form a significant part of the damages in a jaw fracture claim.
A broken nose is among the most common facial injuries resulting from a forward fall. Even a moderate impact can fracture the thin nasal bones, causing immediate swelling, bruising around the eyes, and bleeding. While some nasal fractures heal without surgery, others result in a deviated septum that obstructs breathing and requires a surgical procedure called a septoplasty to correct. In cases where the external appearance of the nose is visibly altered, rhinoplasty may be medically necessary rather than elective.
The orbit is the bony socket that surrounds and protects the eye. When the face strikes a hard surface, the thin bones forming the floor or walls of the orbit can fracture, sometimes trapping the muscles that control eye movement. This is known as a blowout fracture, and it can cause double vision, sunken appearance of the eye, numbness in the cheek, and in serious cases, permanent vision impairment. The combination of medical complexity, potential for lasting vision effects, and visible facial change makes orbital fractures among the more serious facial injury claims arising from slip and fall accidents.
Falls that drive the face or chin into a hard surface frequently result in broken, cracked, or knocked-out teeth. Even when teeth are not fully lost, the impact can damage roots, fracture enamel below the gumline, or injure the jaw joint in ways that are not immediately apparent. Dental injuries from a fall are fully compensable as part of a personal injury claim, including the cost of crowns, implants, root canals, bridges, and any future dental work made necessary by the original trauma.
When a fall causes lacerations, abrasions, or burns to the face or neck, the resulting scars are visible to the world every day. Permanent scarring and disfigurement are recognized categories of harm in Wisconsin personal injury law, and they can substantially increase the value of a claim beyond what medical bills and lost wages alone would reflect.
Wisconsin law allows injured persons to seek general damages, sometimes called non-economic damages, for the pain, suffering, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life that accompany permanent disfigurement. Courts and juries take facial scarring seriously because the face is uniquely tied to a person’s identity, self-image, and ability to interact socially and professionally. A visible scar on the face is not the same as a scar on a part of the body that clothing covers, and the law reflects that distinction.
The value of a facial scarring claim depends on several factors, including the size, location, and permanence of the scar, the age and occupation of the injured person, the number and cost of treatments attempted or recommended, and the degree to which the scarring affects daily life. A young person who works in a client-facing profession and is left with a prominent scar across the cheek or chin will typically have a stronger claim for disfigurement damages than someone whose scar is minor and fades significantly over time.
Treatments such as laser therapy, dermabrasion, steroid injections, and scar revision surgery are all compensable expenses when they are medically recommended. Even when a scar cannot be fully eliminated, the cost of treatments that reduce its appearance is recoverable. It is important to work with an attorney who understands how to document and present disfigurement claims effectively, because insurance adjusters routinely undervalue these injuries when negotiating directly with unrepresented claimants.
Many face and head injuries from slip and fall accidents require not just initial emergency treatment but ongoing and future medical care. Reconstructive surgery is often necessary to repair fractures, restore function, and address the cosmetic consequences of a serious fall. When a treating physician recommends future procedures, those anticipated costs are compensable as part of your personal injury claim, even if the surgery has not yet taken place at the time of settlement or trial.
Personal Injury Attorney
When people choose their Wisconsin personal injury lawyer based on the endorsement of a football player or actor, they risk choosing an attorney who has never won more money in a courtroom. Settlement mills forward your paperwork and take a cut of your damages. Hundreds of times, our law office we have prepared cases like yours beyond the brink of trial. Facing unlimited liability AND an expensive jury trial, insurance companies fess up what your case is worth.
Contact the Milwaukee law firm of Warshafsky Personal Injury Attorneys today. As a Milwaukee personal injury law firm, we represent people all over the state with their recovery from serious injuries.
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In Wisconsin, the statute of limitations for most personal injury claims, including those arising from slip and fall accidents, is three years from the date of the injury. However, there are exceptions that can shorten this window, such as claims against a government entity, which may require written notice within 120 days of the incident. Missing a filing deadline typically bars your claim entirely, so it is important to consult with an attorney as soon as possible after your injury.
Wisconsin follows a modified comparative fault rule. Under this standard, you can still recover damages if you are not more at fault than the other person. An experienced slip and fall attorney can help build the strongest possible case for placing fault on the property owner or occupier.
Recoverable damages typically include past and future medical expenses, lost wages and reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, permanent scarring and disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. In cases involving extreme recklessness or willful disregard for safety, punitive damages may also be available. The specific damages available in your case depend on the facts and the severity of your injuries.
You are legally permitted to handle your own claim, but doing so carries significant risk when face and head injuries are involved. These cases often require expert medical testimony, detailed documentation of future care needs, and skilled negotiation or litigation to counter the tactics of insurance defense teams. Warshafsky attorneys have taken cases like these to the brink of trial hundreds of times, which is precisely what forces insurers to pay what claims are genuinely worth. A free consultation costs you nothing and can give you a clear picture of what your case may be worth.
