Broken Arrow Catastrophic Injury Lawyers

A serious accident can happen in an instant. Whether it’s a workplace injury, a car accident, or even a stumble down a slippery staircase, your life can be upended by a catastrophic injury. You might suddenly find yourself unable to work, with chronic pain and a mountain of unpaid bills.

If you can prove that someone else was responsible for your accident, they would have a legal obligation to compensate you. However, the insurance company may be putting up roadblocks to keep you from getting the full settlement to which you are entitled. That’s where an experienced personal injury attorney can be invaluable. Don’t worry — the legal team at Nix Patterson will fight for you when you have suffered a catastrophic injury in an accident.

What Is Considered a Catastrophic Injury?

A catastrophic injury is considered to be an extremely serious condition that you would suffer as a result of an accident. These injuries are ones that you generally would not recover from within a short amount of time. You would need an extensive amount of medical care, and you can expect permanent disruptions to your life.

Catastrophic injuries can include:

• Traumatic brain injuries. A jolt to the brain can cause an injury that can cost you crucial functions, including speech, movement, and concentration.
• Spinal cord injuries. An injury to the spinal cord can keep the brain from being able to send messages to the rest of the body and can result in complete or partial paralysis.
• Burns. Heat or fire from an injury can cause severe third-degree burns that could require multiple skin grafts and the potential for a severe infection.
• Amputations. Trauma to a body part can cause doctors to decide to amputate it, either immediately or in the days after an accident, when it becomes infected.
• Internal Injuries. The trauma from an accident can cause serious organ damage that can impair their functioning.
• Severe deformities. Scarring or other effects on your appearance can change the course of your life and impact your ability to earn a living

The extent of a catastrophic injury may become apparent in the days after the accident. At that point, you and your family will come to the realization that you will be facing a new reality for perhaps the rest of your life.

Types of Catastrophic Injury Claims We Commonly See

A catastrophic injury does not have to come from a large-scale mass tort that injures scores of people. You can suffer a catastrophic injury in an accident that involves one other person.

Types of catastrophic cases we handle include:

• Car accidents. The trauma or violent motion of a car accident can cause severe injury
• Toxic torts. Being exposed to hazardous chemicals can lead to an immediate injury or serious illness over the long term
• Oilfield accidents. Being around heavy machinery and volatile chemicals and substances can lead to an explosion or other serious accident
• Premises liability accidents. You can be injured on the property of another in various ways, including hitting your head or injuring your spinal cord in a fall
• Truck accidents. Trucks are far larger and heavier than passenger vehicles, and the force unleashed in the accident can cause lasting physical harm to the occupants of the car involved in the accident.
• Defective products. Hazardous and dangerous products can lead to serious accidents or injuries that can cause lasting deformities or effects.

No matter what type of accident has caused you a catastrophic injury, you need help from an experienced attorney as you embark on the legal process. The person or company responsible for the accident could be liable to pay you a large amount of money.

Common Causes of Catastrophic Injuries

An accident can cause a catastrophic injury in a number of ways, including:

• A sudden and violent movement can cause your brain to slam into your skull
• Your head can make contact with a hard object with a large amount of force
• A blow to the head or neck can break vertebrae, which compress or damage the spinal cord
• The heat or fire caused by an accident or explosion can result in a severe burn
• A crush injury, or serious damage to the veins or nerves, can lead to the amputation of a limb, when doctors are not able to save it
• Contact with a hard surface can cause organ damage or internal bleeding

No matter what happens, the impact of a catastrophic injury will be severe. You would likely need extensive medical care in the short term, along with long-term rehabilitation and therapy. Your life would likely never be the same again. Even if you make a near-full recovery, it will take you quite a bit of time to reach that point after surgical procedures and an intensive rehabilitation process.

How To Obtain Compensation in a Catastrophic Injury Case

You would need to engage in a difficult legal process to eventually obtain compensation for the catastrophic injuries that you have suffered. Before you are able to receive any money for your injuries, you would have to prove that someone else is to blame for your injuries.

The first step that you would take towards financial compensation is to contact an experienced attorney to represent you in your case. Do not ever try to handle the legal process on your own because you will not get a good result – you could do far better financially when you hire a lawyer for your case. You are in no condition to deal with the insurance company, nor do you have the knowledge to do so.

Your lawyer would then investigate your accident. First, they may help you determine who you may be able to sue for your injuries. You could get even more money when there is a corporate defendant who has a large insurance policy. There may even be more than one defendant whom you can sue. You should file claims against everyone who may have played a role in your injuries.

Then, your attorney would compile the case that you need to show that someone else should be legally responsible for your injuries. To carry your own burden of proof, you need evidence that shows that someone else failed to act reasonably under the circumstances and it caused your injuries. This is what is known as proving negligence, and it would put you in a position to discuss the actual amount of compensation that you would receive.

Common Damages in Catastrophic Injury Cases

Based on their grave nature, catastrophic injury damages can be significant. The exact amount of money you may get depends on both the severity of your injuries and how much money is available to pay for your damages. If the defendant does not have enough insurance coverage to pay for your harm, they can be personally liable to pay you with their own assets.

Your catastrophic injury damages may include:

• Medical bills and expenses. The defendant must pay for both your past and future medical bills, including reimbursing the insurance company for the money that they have already paid for your care
• Lost wages. You can be paid for all the money that you could have earned from working but were not able to on account of your injuries. This total factors in what you could have earned based on your future career path.
• Pain and suffering. The defendant must compensate you for the effects that you are feeling from your physical injuries. These effects can range from the physical pain that you are experiencing to the anxiety and depression that you may be feeling.
• Emotional distress. The accident itself, or the immediate aftermath, may cause you post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health issues.

Your catastrophic injury damages include what you have suffered in the past and what you will undergo in the future. It may be difficult to know what the future may hold for you, but it is a challenge that you must meet to receive the full amount of damages that you are due.

It is crucial that you know the value of your catastrophic injury claim before you file it. Every dollar is money that you will need, so you have zero margin for error. However, when your case may be worth such a large amount of money, it may be hard to know exactly how much money you may deserve. This is exactly where an experienced catastrophic injury lawyer comes into the picture.

Your lawyer will closely analyze your situation to learn the value of your claim. They could work with various expert witnesses to understand what your life will be like in the future when living with your injuries, and they could consult with experts about how much you could have made from your job and what care you may need in the future. Just like liability, you have the burden of proof to demonstrate your damages before you can be paid. The insurance company is going to demand backing evidence for your damages, and so will a jury.

Texas Comparative Negligence For Catastrophic Injuries

Texas law may still allow you to recover some financial compensation, even if you were partially to blame for the accident that injured you. Texas uses the law of modified comparative negligence. This law states that you cannot receive any compensation if you were more than 50% to blame for the accident. If you bear some blame but less than half of it, you can still receive compensation. However, the amount of your check would be reduced by the percentage of blame that you bear for the accident.

Insurance companies have a powerful motivation to try to blame you for the accident, in some form or fashion, because they know how much a catastrophic injury claim is worth. When you have suffered a serious injury, you cannot afford to lose even a part of this compensation because you need this money to cover the expenses associated with your injuries.

Thus, your lawyer would need to defend you from any allegations made against you, such as:

• You were speeding when another driver struck you when running a red light
• You were not looking where you were going when you slipped on a dangerous condition on the floor
• You were crossing in the middle of the street, but you were hit by a drunk driver
• You were using defective machinery but not necessarily using it in the proper way

Your lawyer may need to present evidence of what you were doing when you have been accused of wrongdoing yourself. If the insurance company persists in blaming you, your lawyer can take your case to a jury, who would decide the responsibility for the accident.

How Your Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Is Paid

The fact that you are not able to work and you are dealing with large medical bills means that you may not have any extra money for anything. These are not factors that should get in the way of you obtaining the legal help you need to fight for you to receive full and fair financial compensation for your injuries, though.

In catastrophic injury cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars are not rounding errors. It is money you need for your expenses, and a lawyer will fight for all of it. Your lawyer does not ask you for any money upfront, and you do not need to pay legal bills while your case is pending. Instead, your lawyer is only paid if and when you win your case. Then, their money would be taken out of the proceeds of your settlement or jury award.

Contact a Broken Arrow Catastrophic Injury Lawyer at Nix Patterson Today

If you or a loved one has been injured in a serious accident, you may be entitled to significant financial compensation. One of the first things that you need to do is contact an experienced attorney or have a family member do so on your behalf.

The experienced personal injury attorneys at Nix Patterson are committed to delivering the best possible results, taking on the insurance companies while providing compassionate service for our clients. To schedule a free initial consultation with one of our attorneys, you can message us through our website, or you can call us today at 512-328-5333.