There are different outcomes of spinal cord injuries, from minor to catastrophic. Headaches, tingling in your hands and feet, and dizziness can compromise your quality of life and mobility. Paralysis is the worst outcome and can range from partial to complete. If your spinal cord is injured in an accident someone else caused, an insurer may push you to settle quickly, but that offer may have nothing to do with how much money you need to get better or support you if you are paralyzed.
Our detail-oriented catastrophic injury attorneys know the approach an insurer will take. Under Florida tort reform laws, you cannot be more than 50 percent responsible in order to collect compensation. You need a Cocoa Beach spinal cord injury lawyer to look after your interests as soon as you are physically stable to make the call.
Your brain communicates with the body by sending messages along the spinal cord, letting limbs and systems know what to do. When the cord is bruised, those messages don’t get through until the bruising subsides. If the damage is worse, such as being severed, paralysis occurs below the site of the injury, which is called the neurological level of the injury.
Doctors assess completeness, which refers to whether the injury has left the patient completely without feeling or movement below the site, or is incomplete because there is still some feeling and ability to move.
Although any paralysis is life-altering, your attorney must also consider what your future holds. If you can no longer work, or if you require a lifetime of medical care, that should be factored into what an insurance settlement or damages award looks like. Insurers look at data that divulges what other spinal cord injury patients have been awarded so they can rationalize what they offer you. But a tetraplegia patient is going to need far more compensation than a monoplegia patient, although they are both spinal cord injury patients.
Our Cocoa Beach attorneys’ mission is to ensure you do not run out of money and can live in dignity, no matter how severe your spinal cord injury. You will require more than the cost of immediate medical care, and we consider everything. If someone caused your injury, you are entitled to the wages you lose over your lifetime from not being able to perform your job, and life-time medical care.
You are also entitled to compensation for your emotional distress, knowing you will have to relearn how to do things, and that you may be losing conjugal relations with your spouse and possibly the ability to run along the beach at Alan Shepard Park with your children. If you need help with daily care, you should receive that, too. Retrofitting your home and van to be wheelchair accessible are also important needs. Our Cocoa Beach spinal cord injury attorneys never stop advocating for our clients. We want the best for them, and for you.
Spinal cord injury plaintiffs must prove negligence before a jury will award damages. Negligence occurs when the defendant has a duty to act like a reasonable person but fails, breaching the duty. The breach must cause the accident that injures the plaintiff. For example, a motorist breaches the duty to drive safely if they drive under the influence. If an accident is the direct cause of another motorist’s spinal cord injury, negligence is established.
Insurance companies know which personal injury lawyers do not want to go to court and will accept lukewarm settlements on behalf of their clients. They know us, too. Calling our firm as soon as possible after an accident someone else caused means we can begin work to get you compensated now. Florida shortened the time you have to file an injury case from four years to two, so time is of the essence.
You have facts and feelings to share with us, and we are here to listen. We can discuss the trajectory of your case and keep you informed about our approach to getting you the money we believe you are owed. Our Cocoa Beach spinal cord injury lawyers are experienced and successful at getting substantial settlements and damages awards.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
