According to the National SCI Statistical Center (NSCISC), someone sustains a spinal cord injury every hour of every day. This amounts to almost 17,710 new spinal cord injuries every year in the United States. However, these shocking statistics don’t reveal that these spinal cord injuries often lead to devastating consequences, debilitating pain, astronomical medical expenses, and an inability to work, maintain relationships, and even walk.
If you suffered a catastrophic injury because of another person’s reckless, intentional, or negligent actions, you should consider reaching out to a Spring Hill spinal cord injury attorney and pursue compensation for the full cost of your injuries.
At the LMD Injury Lawyers, Accident Injury Attorneys, we dedicate ourselves to providing aggressive and intelligent representation to our clients, ensuring that we level the playing field against large corporations and insurance companies.
Due to this dedication and hard work, not only has our firm grown considerably in the last 20 years, but we have also helped thousands of clients secure justice and win millions of dollars in compensation through settlement awards and jury verdicts, including the following recent judgments and settlements:
A spinal cord injury (SCI) usually occurs when a sudden blow or cut to the spine damages the spinal cord or the nerves at the end of the spinal canal. These injuries will often lead to a loss of strength, sensation, and function below the injury site. However, we should also point out that the spinal cord does not need to completely tear for a person to suffer these devastating effects. Individuals can still lose sensation and function while having the cord intact or partially intact.
The spinal cord consists of cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral sections. Each of these sections protects different groups of nerves that control the body. As a result, the type of spinal cord injury that results and its severity will depend on the section of the spine that sustains the most damage:
Spinal cord injuries can occur for numerous reasons. Yet, in Spring Hill, these devastating injuries often develop because of the following types of accidents:
If you suffered a spinal cord injury due to another person’s wrongful actions, no matter how the trauma occurred, you should still reach out to an experienced Spring Hill spinal cord injury lawyer, such as those at LMD Injury Lawyers, Accident Injury Attorneys, as soon as possible. These lawyers can review your accident, determine what happened and who caused your injuries, and figure out if you have a viable legal case.
Spinal cord injuries can result in various symptoms depending on the circumstances of the accident. However, in general, some of the more common symptoms associated with spinal cord trauma include:
If you start experiencing any of the following symptoms after an accident, you need to get to a hospital immediately:
If your Spring Hill spinal cord injury accident resulted due to another person’s wrongful actions, you may qualify to recover certain types of damages. In Florida, these damages generally include economic and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages: These damages refer to the measurable losses that result from an accident and include:
Non-Economic Damages: These damages refer to the subjective losses that occur after an accident, which are not easily quantifiable, such as:
In addition, in some instances, a court may also award punitive damages. However, unlike the other damages, which are meant to compensate victims for their losses, punitive damages are more concerned with the defendant’s wrongful actions. As a result, the court only awards these damages to punish the wrongdoer and deter others from committing this act in the future.
To obtain these damages in Florida, a victim’s lawyer must provide clear and convincing evidence showing that the defendant’s gross negligence or intentional misconduct caused the victim’s harm and losses.
Before you can obtain compensation for your spinal cord injuries after an accident, you first need to ensure that you have enough time to file your claim. Each state has a statute of limitations law that specifies how much time an individual has to bring a legal claim following an alleged offense. If these individuals do not bring the claim within that time, they may miss out on their opportunity to collect compensation for their injuries.
In Florida, the statute of limitations to bring an injury claim following a spinal cord injury accident is four years from the accident date. However, because many exceptions exist, and even exceptions to the exceptions, that can impact this filing period, you should not wait too long to reach out to an experienced Spring Hill spinal cord injury attorney. For instance, at LMD Injury Lawyers, Accident Injury Attorneys, our legal team can help you figure out not only how much time you have to file your case, but we can also ensure that your legal motions are prepared correctly and filed before the statute of limitations expires.
Although thinking about what to do after a spinal cord injury accident may seem like the furthest thing on your mind, you need to understand that the actions you take after this type of accident can not only protect your health and safety but your legal rights as well. For these reasons, if you sustain a spinal cord injury in a Spring Hill accident, you should consider the following:
You need to call 911 immediately after a Spring Hill spinal cord injury accident. This is not only the fastest way to let the authorities know that an accident has occurred, but also to alert EMS that you or someone at the scene needs emergency medical help.
Once the authorities arrive, they can perform a preliminary investigation and write down their findings in their police report. If you decide to pursue legal action after your accident, this report can provide your lawyer with valuable information that can help your case.
Even though obtaining and gathering evidence following a spinal cord injury accident is not always possible, you should still discuss this step with your attorney. Collecting pictures and videos of the accident scene can help prove liability. If possible, you should try to take as many videos and photos of the accident as you can, including the weather conditions, your visible injuries, the dangerous condition that may have caused your accident, vehicles that contributed to the accident, and any other evidence that can help show what happened.
If people at the scene saw what happened, try to get their contact information and names. These witness statements can often provide helpful information regarding the accident and what happened, as well as help back up your claim.
However, as you talk to these individuals and others at the scene, make sure you watch what you say. This means you want to avoid making definitive statements about the accident, apologizing for anything that happened, or taking the blame for what occurred. These types of comments can come back and hurt you, impacting the amount of money you can ultimately recover for your injuries.
One thing to understand about spinal cord injuries is that it can take days before symptoms show up. However, the longer you wait to receive medical treatment, the more serious and debilitating the injury can become. For these reasons, you should make an appointment with your doctor as soon as possible after your accident to receive a thorough medical evaluation.
Besides, receiving this medical treatment can also help your legal claim. After you see a doctor, he or she will document everything learned about your injury in the medical report, which can provide you with evidence of a direct connection between the accident in question and your spinal cord injury.
If you suffered a spinal cord injury in a Spring Hill accident, you need experienced legal help on your side. Fortunately, at LMD Injury Lawyers, Accident Injury Attorneys, our skilled spinal cord injury attorneys have years of experience taking on these challenging claims and stand ready to fight for you and your rights.
Once you retain one of our lawyers, we can go over your case in detail, determine if you have a viable claim, and help you figure out what legal actions you can pursue. We can also thoroughly investigate your case, secure the evidence needed to prove fault and damages, and go after the maximum compensation available given your specific circumstances.
If you or a loved one suffered a spinal cord injury in a Spring Hill accident, contact LMD Injury Lawyers, Accident Injury Attorneys today for a free case consultation, and let our knowledgeable and skilled spinal cord injury attorneys show you how we can help.
727-849-5353