Any injury sustained in a San Diego accident can be stressful and overwhelming. However, certain injuries tend to be more serious than others. Catastrophic injuries – those resulting in disability and affecting your ability to resume life as normal – are perhaps the most devastating of all.
Have you or someone you love recently suffered a catastrophic injury? Is another person responsible for causing your life-changing accident and injury? You may want to consider filing a personal injury lawsuit against that person to recover damages. Contact Injury Trial Lawyers, APC to find out how we can help you maximize the settlement or award you receive.
What is a Catastrophic Injury?
Catastrophic injury is a phrase used to describe certain debilitating injuries affecting the neck, spinal cord, and/or brain. These injuries are classified as “catastrophic” because they often result in permanent disability, paralysis, and in some cases, death.
The gravity of these injuries prevents victims from resuming the normal day-to-day activities they regularly participated in prior to their accident. Accident victims who suffer from a catastrophic injury are often unable to return to work and, as a result, cannot care for themselves or their families as they once did.
Types of Catastrophic Injuries
An injury can be classified as “catastrophic” if it causes the victim to suffer a disability and intimately changes the way they are required to carry on their day-to-day life. Many different San Diego accident injuries can be classified as catastrophic, including:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Thoracic Injury
- Quadriplegia
- Paraplegia
- Severe burns, and
- Amputation.
At Injury Trial Lawyers, APC, our San Diego personal injury attorneys are prepared to help you recover compensation for your catastrophic injury. Contact us today to schedule a free case evaluation.
Consequences of a Catastrophic Injury
Catastrophic is defined to mean a “momentous tragic event” or a “violent and sudden change.” Since these catastrophic injuries are so severe, victims and their families tend to face overwhelming and crippling financial consequences.
Victims suffering from a catastrophic injury tend to require aggressive medical care, which can include multiple surgeries, consultations with specialists, and painful rehabilitation efforts. Since catastrophic injuries often cause permanent disability, victims not only lose the ability to work, but can also struggle to perform basic tasks such as bathing, cooking, eating, and using the restroom. As a result, lifelong nursing assistance is not an uncommon consequence of a catastrophic injury.
When you consider the extent to which a catastrophic injury victim’s life is changed, the costs related to such an injury should come as no surprise. According to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the cost of a paralyzing catastrophic injury can cost a victim as much as $1 million in the first year of recovery, alone. In each subsequent year, victims may face annual costs ranging between $42,000 and $180,000. These estimates do not even include calculations for lost wages, benefits, or productivity.
Damages Available to San Diego Catastrophic Injury Victims
There is no denying it: catastrophic injuries can result in devastating physical, emotional, and financial harm. In California, you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover damages from the person responsible for your accident and injury. The money you get from this lawsuit can be instrumental in your recovery.
Most San Diego catastrophic injury victims will be able to recover both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages: Economic damages are paid to compensate you for the verifiable financial costs of your accident and injury, including:
- Hospitalization
- Corrective surgery
- Medication
- Rehabilitation
- Specialist consultations
- Nursing care and assistance
- Lost income and wages, and
- Disability, both temporary and permanent.
Your award of economic damages will be limited to your actual past, present, and projected future costs.
Non-Economic Damages: Non-economic damages are paid to compensate for subjective and hard-to-value injuries you suffer because of an accident, including:
- Chronic pain
- Suffering
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Emotional distress
- Embarrassment
- Disfigurement
- Loss of consortium (sexual relations), and
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
Since these injuries are hard to value in terms of dollars and cents, an award of non-economic damages can vary significantly from one case to another. There are only limited circumstances in which an award of non-economic damages will be limited.
When Can I File a Catastrophic Injury Claim?
You have the right to file a lawsuit for damages if another person was negligent and is responsible for your catastrophic injury. However, California limits the amount of time you have to file a claim.
The statute of limitations for personal injury matters, including those involving a catastrophic injury, is two years from the date of your accident. If you don’t file your lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires you will not be able to get the money you need and deserve.
Exceptions to the Statute of Limitations
There are certain times when the statute of limitations can be extended:
- You did not discover your injury right away
- You cannot locate the defendant
- You were a minor at the time of your accident.
If any of these circumstances apply you may be able to file a claim after the traditional statute of limitations has expired.
At the same time, there may also be times when your case will be subject to an accelerated statute of limitations. For example, claims against the government must be filed within 180 days of your accident.
You can make sure that your claim is filed on time by contacting an experienced San Diego personal injury attorney as soon as you can after your accident. Call our San Diego catastrophic injury attorney for immediate help.
San Diego Catastrophic Injury Attorney
Have you or someone you love been involved in a San Diego accident? Are you struggling to cope with a catastrophic injury? If so, contact Injury Trial Lawyers, APC for help. Our San Diego catastrophic injury attorney know that a catastrophic injury will affect every aspect of your life. If someone else is to blame, we will fight to make sure that you are fairly compensated for your life-changing injury.
Our attorneys have over 14 years of experience handling complex personal injury matters in San Diego. During this time, we have successfully recovered millions in compensation for our injured clients. The money you recover from your lawsuit can help to make a very difficult time in your life a little bit more manageable. Call us today to schedule a free consultation and learn more.