Los Angeles Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

View Our Landmark Spinal Cord Injury Cases

A spinal cord injury is a catastrophic injury in the truest sense. Like the brain, the spinal cord can’t grow back the way other body tissues can. And like the brain, the spinal cord controls essential, basic functions that may be gone forever after an injury. Victims are left with permanent, lifelong disabilities that range from toe and foot movement problems to complete paralysis from the neck down (quadriplegia). It’s no exaggeration to call that loss devastating, physically and emotionally, for victims and their families.

Our spinal cord injury attorneys represent clients in Los Angeles, Orange County, and throughout Southern California.

Because spinal cord injuries, like paralysis, are expensive to treat and sometimes rob the victim of a career, they can also be a great financial burden. Victims will need intensive short-term medical care, and most will need physical therapy and ongoing treatment from a spinal care specialist. Very seriously injured victims may need multiple surgeries, long-term therapy or even around-the-clock care. Even families with good medical insurance may not be able to afford the best possible treatments. If the accident was caused by someone else’s careless or malicious behavior, victims have the right to sue to hold that person or organization responsible for the results.

How Can a Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Help Me?

If you or a loved one has suffered a spinal cord injury and you wish to file a personal injury claim in pursuit of financial compensation, anticipate challenges during the legal process. Insurance companies prioritize their profits over the payouts of their clients. They may use insurance bad faith practices to avoid paying maximum compensation. The best way to protect yourself is by hiring an experienced spinal cord injury attorney.

An attorney can help you in many ways during a spine injury claim, including:

• Investigating the accident that injured you
• Searching for signs of fault and identifying the defendant(s)
• Preserving and collecting evidence to support your claim
• Handling confusing claims paperwork and legal processes
• Filing your injury claim by California’s deadline (two years)
• Determining the potential value of your injury claim
• Using proven and aggressive legal strategies to pursue justice
• Hiring highly qualified experts to strengthen your case
• Litigating your case in court, if necessary

With a lawyer representing you and taking over the claims process, you can focus on rebuilding your life as much as possible. Your lawyer will negotiate with an insurance claims adjuster on your behalf, pursuing the case results that you need for a long-term or permanent injury. This includes future estimated medical costs. Your lawyer will not back down from a fight against an insurance company or at-fault party, even if this means taking your spine injury case to trial.

What Compensation Can I Recover After a Spinal Cord Injury?

Filing a spinal cord injury claim could lead to financial compensation to help you pay for various economic and noneconomic damages related to your injury. Economic damages are the tangible or monetary costs of your injury, while noneconomic damages are the intangible ways in which the accident has impacted you.

Compensable losses may include:

• Medical expenses: the costs of spinal cord injury care, which may include surgeries, hospital stays, rehabilitation, physical therapy, mental health counseling, prescription medications, medical devices, disability accommodations and a live-in nursing aide.
• Lost wages: financial losses incurred from the inability to work from the time of the accident to the date that the claim was filed, such as due to medical treatments or a short-term disability. You may also be eligible for lost future earning capacity if your spine injury is a permanent disability.
• Pain and suffering: the effects the injury has had on you physically and emotionally, including chronic or acute pain, inconvenience, emotional distress, mental anguish, post-traumatic stress disorder, loss of enjoyment or quality of life, and loss of consortium.
• Out-of-pocket costs: any money you or your family had to spend to recover from the accident, including property damage repairs, travel or transportation, court costs, and attorney’s fees.
• Punitive damages: an additional type of compensation that may be available to punish the defendant for especially egregious acts of wrongdoing, such as gross negligence, malice, fraud or oppression.

The available damages in your spinal cord injury case will depend on the situation, such as how the accident and injury have affected you, your specific diagnosis, and the severity of the injury. Your lawyer can work with you to create a comprehensive list of general and special damages to include in your personal injury claim.

What Is the Average Settlement for a Spine Injury Case?

There is no one-size-fits-all settlement value for personal injury claims. Case values depend on many different factors that an insurance company, judge or jury will carefully consider before assigning an award. One factor is injury severity. For example, a catastrophic spine injury that causes permanent paralysis will be worth more than a minor back injury due to the high level of impact it will have on the victim.

A personal injury claim may be able to reimburse a victim for the full lifetime costs of the injury. For this reason, spine injury cases have the potential to be worth millions of dollars due to the severity of the diagnosis. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, the average lifetime cost (health care and living expenses) of a spinal cord injury for a victim age 25 ranges from about $2 million to $5.8 million. Discuss the potential value of your case with an attorney before accepting an insurance settlement.

Resources for Victims of Spinal Cord Injury

• Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation – The Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.
• United Spinal Association –  Spinal cord resource center that aims to answer the who, what, where, when, why, and how of spinal cord injury and diseases.
• Disability Resources – A collection of resources and businesses that help people with disabilities.
• Disability.gov –  The U.S. federal government website for information on disability programs and services nationwide.  Disability.gov connects people with disabilities and their families with a variety of helpful resources.

If you or a loved one have suffered a serious spinal cord injury, your life as you know may change dramatically.  Adjusting to that change may be difficult, especially on your own.  To help, the internet offers a vast collection of resources and other materials that can help with the adjustment and aid in educate you or family members.

Experienced Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers

Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP is one of America’s leading injury and consumer protection law firms. Our partners have won multiple record-setting verdicts and settlements, including a $13.55 million settlement for an Army helicopter maintenance officer who was rendered quadriplegic in the crash of a defective helicopter over Iraq in Beltran v. Chadwick Helmuth. The firm excels at winning lawsuits that present complicated medical and legal issues; partners have taken several national leadership roles in complex pharmaceutical class actions and aviation disaster lawsuits.

Attorneys at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP are leaders in their fields. All of our attorneys are active in professional life and often take leadership roles in professional organizations like the Consumer Attorneys of California and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. Partners Adam Shea, Brian Panish, and Rahul Ravipudi frequently speak to other attorneys about trial procedures and practice. The firm has won more than 150 verdicts and settlements of $1 million or more.

Sample Spinal Cord Injury Verdicts & Settlements

1. Lampe v. Continental General Tire $55,600,000
2. Ledesma v. Patel $9,500,000
3. Doe v. Auto Manufacturer $8,500,000
4. Doe v. Auto Manufacturer $7,000,000
5. Surrency v. Herman Miller $3,300,000

Most Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries can occur in many different accidents and incidents. If a victim’s neck, back or spine sustains a blow, impact, blunt-force trauma or penetrating injury, the victim could suffer serious harm. The spinal cord’s nerves, vertebrae or disks could be injured under various circumstances.

Common examples include:

• Motor vehicle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
• Falls
• Diving and swimming pool accidents
• Sports incidents
• Defective and dangerous products
• Workplace accidents
• Construction accidents
• Heavy machinery incidents
• Medical malpractice
• Birth injuries
• Acts of violence (gunshots, stabbings, etc.)

If one or more parties reasonably should have prevented the accident that caused your spine injury, you may be eligible for financial compensation through an injury claim. The attorneys at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP have experience in all of these types of accident cases, among others. If you do not see your type of accident on this list, we can help you understand your legal rights and options during a personal case consultation.

What Are the Different Types of Spinal Cord Injuries?

The spinal cord is a complex area of the body. It consists of 33 individual bones known as vertebrae that interlock with each other, cushioned with jellylike spinal disks in between. The spinal column also contains pairs of nerves that allow the brain to control the body’s movements. The vertebrae are divided into five major regions. From top to bottom, they are the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, sacrum and coccyx.

In general, a spinal cord injury will affect the body from the point of injury down. This means injuries higher up on the spine generally result in more severe injuries. Injuries to the neck or cervical spine could result in quadriplegia, for example, or paralysis of the trunk of the body and all four limbs. Damage to the thoracic or lumbar spine, on the other hand, may cause paraplegia (paralysis from the waist down).

If a spinal cord injury causes paralysis, it will be classified as a complete or incomplete spine injury. With a complete spine injury, a victim will lose all feeling and ability to control movement. An incomplete spine injury means that some motor or sensory function may be retained. Although a victim of paralysis could potentially regain function or feeling with surgeries, treatments and physical therapy, there is no known way to reliably reverse paralysis.

Specific spinal cord injury diagnoses include vertebral fractures, a severed spine, penetrating spine injuries, muscle strains and sprains, nerve damage, ruptured or herniated disks, spinal concussion, contusion, compression, paraplegia, quadriplegia, anterior cord syndrome, central cord syndrome and Brown-Sequard syndrome. If you or a loved one is diagnosed with any type of spinal cord injury after an accident, discuss your case with our attorneys.

Symptoms of a Spinal Cord Injury

Every spinal cord injury is unique. The symptoms and effects a victim might experience will depend on the type, location and severity of the injury. Spine injuries can come with acute or chronic symptoms. Acute symptoms are immediately noticeable or appear in the first few hours after the injury occurs. Chronic symptoms will stay with the victim for weeks, months or longer.

The symptoms associated with a spine injury may include:

• Numbness or tingling anywhere in the body
• Pain in the back, neck or head
• Weakness or paralysis
• Trouble walking or balancing
• Loss of coordination
• Loss of bowel or bladder control
• Sexual dysfunction
• Trouble breathing

If the neck or back sustains any type of harm in an accident, the victim should seek immediate medical attention. These injuries require emergency medical care to minimize the damage caused to the spinal cord and its surrounding nerves. Even if a victim feels fine initially, the spine injury could have delayed symptoms. Prompt medical care is imperative.

Contact a Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Today

A spinal cord injury may alter the course of your life forever. At Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, our attorneys will help you pick up the pieces and move forward after suffering a spine injury in a preventable accident. We are passionate about bringing wrongdoers to justice. We understand what you need during this difficult time and will represent you in and out of court as our client. Speak to our attorneys today during a free case consultation for more information. Call (310) 477-1700 or contact us online anytime.

California Spine Injury Lawyer Disclaimer: The spinal cord injury or other legal information presented at this site should not be considered formal legal advice, nor the formation of a lawyer or attorney client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. Please note that you are not considered a client until you have signed a retainer agreement and your case has been accepted by us.