7 Signs It’s Time to Hire a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Catastrophic injuries can happen in almost any traumatic incident. You could fracture your neck in a slip and fall accident and suffer a spinal cord injury or lose a hand to a dog attack. After these incidents, you must decide whether to hire a catastrophic injury lawyer. Read on to learn seven signs that tell you when to hire a lawyer for your catastrophic injury claim.

1. You Need Help Assessing the Impact Based on the Severity of the Injury

The value of your claim includes the economic and non-economic damages you could recover. Your economic damages encompass all the financial losses from an injury, such as:

• Past and future medical bills
• Lost income
• Diminished future earnings
• Out-of-pocket expenses

The non-economic damages cover your injuries’ impact on your happiness and quality of life. These damages are meant to account for things like pain and mental anguish.

When you have a catastrophic injury, you should consider hiring a catastrophic injury attorney to ensure all your damages get included in your claim. The lawyer can review your medical and financial records and identify all the eligible losses.

2. You Have a Long-Term or Permanent Disability

Long-term and permanent disabilities affect how you present your claim. Your losses could continue for years. They may even last for your remaining lifetime. Your claim must properly account for the time scope of these losses.

Suppose that you suffered catastrophic damage to your arm, resulting in amputation. Your catastrophic injury lawyer will ensure your claim covers the impact the loss of your arm has had on your ability to earn a living and perform tasks at home.

You may need expert witnesses to identify and analyze your losses, particularly if you are young. Lawyers have existing relationships with many such witnesses, like doctors and accountants. Lawyers know who to use and what the witness needs to analyze to provide useful testimony about your injuries and losses.

3. You Lost Income Due to an Inability to Work

Your ability to work will become a central issue in your claim. Some catastrophic injuries, like quadriplegia, may render you unable to perform any work at all. Other catastrophic injuries, like paraplegia or extensive third-degree burn injuries, might allow you to perform some work.

Your claim should properly account for the income you lost from missing work. But it must also account for the diminishment in your future earning capacity if you need to:

• Change jobs
• Change working conditions, like hours or duties
• Quit working

An injury lawyer can compile a team of lawyers and experts to ensure your claim completely accounts for how your injuries affected your income.

4. You Have High Medical Costs or Require Ongoing Treatment

Your damages can cover future medical expenses, such as treatments you know or reasonably expect you will need based on your injuries. A lawyer can work with your doctor to understand all the treatments you will face and the costs you will pay as a result of your injury.

5. You Face Challenges While Dealing With Insurance Companies

Insurers have a legal duty to handle your case in good faith. But they also have a financial incentive to pay as little as possible for claims. As a result, insurers use tactics like delays and claim denials to frustrate you into settling for less than you deserve.

A catastrophic injury attorney has experience dealing with the insurance claim process. They can respond to claim denials and negotiate with insurers to keep your case moving forward until you either resolve it or know a lawsuit will be required.

6. You Have a Complex Case

Complex litigation often means dealing with multiple parties or claims in multiple jurisdictions. In these situations, you may need a lawyer for both their legal knowledge and the extra support provided by their law firm to manage your case.

7. Legal Time Limitations Are Approaching

All states have statutes of limitations that set a deadline for filing lawsuits. If your time limit is approaching, you should consider hiring a lawyer to make sure you do not lose your claim due to a missed deadline.

The Role of a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Your attorney will typically start catastrophic injury cases with an insurance claim. The claim will contain evidence gathered by the lawyer to explain what happened and how your injuries affected you.

The lawyer will negotiate with a claims adjuster working for the insurer to try to settle your case. If the insurer refuses to settle the case, the lawyer may need to file a lawsuit. In most cases, the lawsuit provides additional leverage to settle. If the insurer still refuses to settle, the lawyer will present your case in court.

FAQs

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions:

What Are Catastrophic Injuries?

Catastrophic injuries have been defined in several ways. For instance, they can be described as injuries:

• To the central nervous system
• That require expensive medical treatment
• That cause permanent disabilities

Some common catastrophic injuries include spinal cord injuries, amputations, brain damage, and extensive third-degree burns.

What if I Am Partly to Blame for My Injury?

A claims adjuster or juror can reduce your damages in proportion to the blame attributed to you. If you are 12% at fault for your injuries, you can only get 88% of your damages.

How Do I Pick a Lawyer for My Catastrophic Injury Case?

You need an attorney with experience. These cases often present complex issues. You want a lawyer who knows which arguments to make and who has a track record of successfully using them.

Call an Experienced Attorney for Your Catastrophic Injury

Catastrophic injuries have the potential to leave you with mountains of medical bills and severe, even permanent, disabilities. An experienced injury lawyer can guide you through the complexities of these cases. Contact The Moore Law Firm to discuss how we can help you or a loved one with a catastrophic injury claim.