After you or a family member suffers a catastrophic injury, surviving the critical initial phase will take everything you have. When your medical status stabilizes, you will need all of your time and attention to learn how to cope with your “new normal.” This is no time for you to have to battle the party responsible for turning your life upside down. This is why having a catastrophic injury lawyer is important.
Unfortunately, time is of the essence in these situations. Just when you need to be taking care of yourself and your family, the clock is ticking on deadlines. Regardless of who the defendant is, you have a limited amount of time to take legal action. After a careful review of the case, a lawyer can tell you more about the timeframe you have.
How a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Can Protect Your Right to Compensation
So that you can focus on your well-being and your family, a catastrophic injury attorney can take care of these things:
- Investigate the accident
- Preserve vital evidence
- Find witnesses
- Hire expert witnesses
- Calculate the monetary value of your catastrophic injury claim
- Prepare a demand letter and send it to the defendant’s insurance company
- Explore the possibility of additional defendants who might bear liability for the accident
- Negotiate directly with the insurance company on your behalf so that you can focus on your health and well-being
- File a lawsuit if necessary to protect your right to compensation
Depending on your situation, you might need additional legal services that a catastrophic injury lawyer can handle on your behalf.
The Importance of Meeting Legal Deadlines to File a Lawsuit in Texas
Texas has laws that limit the amount of time an individual has to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for harm caused by someone else’s negligence. The statute of limitations for personal injury or wrongful death, in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003, is two years.
Two years can pass quickly when dealing with the daily medical treatments, therapy, and personal care tasks after a catastrophic injury or while working through the grief of losing a close loved one. The American Bar Association (ABA) says that if you do not file a lawsuit by the deadline, you can forever lose the right to seek compensation for your loss.
What Is a Catastrophic Injury?
The definitions can vary a little, but these are serious injuries that can generally require medical treatments for the rest of your life. Some definitions focus on the type of injury, while others focus on how the injuries impact your life.
Types of Catastrophic Injuries
Doctors often consider severe brain, spinal cord, or back injuries as catastrophic injuries. In addition, the medical community often includes skull fractures and broken vertebrae as catastrophic, depending on the prognosis for the individual patient. Also, an injury that causes or results in paralysis or amputation could be a catastrophic injury. Burns that are severe or cover a large portion of the body’s surface can be in this category as well.
How Catastrophic Injuries Can Impact a Person’s Life
Many victims of catastrophic injuries are no longer able to live independently because they need daily assistance with medical care and personal tasks like grooming, dressing, and toileting. One common theme after a person suffers such a devastating injury is that they will be unable to support themselves through gainful employment, at least to the extent they could before the injury.
What Can Cause a Catastrophic Injury?
Given the right circumstances, a catastrophic injury could happen during a wide range of situations. Some of the more common causes of catastrophic injuries can include:
- Motor vehicle accidents, including car, truck, and motorcycle collisions
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Injuries that take place on the job
- Construction accidents
- Falls, including slip and fall accidents and falls from a height
- Engaging in sports or recreation
Other forms of traumatic events can also cause catastrophic injuries.
Types of Damages Recoverable After a Catastrophic Injury
The kind of losses that a person suffers after a catastrophic injury will depend on the unique facts of the individual’s situation. Some of the common damages include:
- Initial medical expenses
- Ongoing medical treatments
- Rehabilitation services
- Long-term care
- Equipment for mobility and other purposes
- Lost income
- Decreased earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Other intangible losses
Your situation might include additional types of losses.
What to Do If Your Loved One Did Not Survive Their Catastrophic Injuries
In addition to helping you or your family member after suffering a catastrophic injury, we can also help if your close relative did not survive a catastrophic injury. For example, we might be able to go after additional compensation for the legal beneficiaries in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Speak to a Catastrophic Injury Attorney to Learn More Today
You can Call in the Strong Arm of Loncar Lyon Jenkins to fight for the compensation you deserve for your losses after a catastrophic injury. We are happy to offer a free initial consultation at no obligation. If you cannot come to us, we can come to you. Contact us today to get started.
