Raleigh: Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
Our Fee is 25% of Settlement
Raleigh Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
A catastrophic injury changes the arithmetic of a case entirely. The question is no longer what your medical bills add up to today. It’s what the next forty years will cost, and whether the available insurance can cover it. Nagle & Associates is North Carolina’s only law firm that handles exclusively motor vehicle accident cases. We turn away or refer out every other type of personal injury matter, concentrating all of our attention on roadway crash claims. See why Raleigh clients choose our firm. Our Raleigh office at 7780 Brier Creek Pkwy represents severely injured crash victims across Wake County and throughout the Triangle.
Reviews & Testimonials
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What Counts as a Catastrophic Injury
There is no single legal definition, but the cases we handle under this heading typically involve spinal cord injury and paralysis, traumatic brain injury, amputation, severe burns, multiple or complex fractures requiring repeated surgery, or any injury that permanently prevents someone from returning to the work they did before the crash. What these have in common is that the injuries, symptoms, and losses continue long after the medical treatment ends, and in some cases medical care is needed for a lifetime.
Valuing a Lifetime, Not a Stack of Bills
Building a catastrophic injury case means proving future losses with admissible evidence. That can include a life care plan projecting future surgeries, therapy, medication, durable medical equipment, and attendant care; vocational rehabilitation testimony and evidence on lost earning capacity and reduced work life expectancy; and the cost of modifying a home or vehicle for accessibility. North Carolina also allows tax free compensation for permanent injury, scarring and disfigurement, lost quality of life, and future pain and suffering. Insurers routinely argue these injuries are pre-existing or exaggerated. We build detailed medical evidence to shut down that argument.
This is also why we caution clients against settling early. Until treatment has progressed far enough to understand what recovery will actually look like, no one can value the case accurately, and an early offer is almost always an offer to close the file cheaply. Insurance companies know that they owe for medical needs and for future pain and suffering for the remainder of your life, but they hope to settle before you learn this.
Experience at the High End of North Carolina Injury Law
Over roughly 30 years, our law firm has recovered more than $750 million for North Carolina car, truck, motorcycle, and roadway crash victims. Our results include an $11.25 million recovery in a severe injury crash in Pitt County and an $8.3 million fatal crash recovery in Cumberland County. See more of our results.
The firm regularly resolves catastrophic-injury and large-loss cases, including a high number of multi-million-dollar settlements, and is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Cases of this size are defended differently by insurers, and they require a firm that has been there before. Our founder, Carl Nagle, worked for years as a claims adjuster and later as an insurance defense lawyer. He defended negligent truck drivers and large insurance companies in state and federal court, and he now uses that experience only to fight for NC crash victims.
Finding Enough Coverage to Cover the Loss
In catastrophic cases, the at-fault driver’s policy limits are frequently nowhere near the value of the claim. Some of the most important early legal work involves identifying all parties who share responsibility for your accident, and every other insurance policy that might owe for your losses: underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy and on all other separate auto insurance policies held by anyone related to you by blood or marriage who lived at your address on the crash date, homeowners “umbrella” policies and other excess liability policies, and commercial coverage when a work vehicle or commercial truck was involved. In more recent cases, we often find that a driver was on the road as an Uber, Lyft, DoorDash or other rideshare driver. In these cases, we see large policies for drivers who are actively working when a crash occurs. For info about how to access multiple family policies, see our page on uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, and if a commercial vehicle was involved, our Raleigh truck accident page.
Catastrophic Crashes in the Raleigh Area
The crashes that produce these injuries in Wake County tend to happen at speed: I-40 through the RDU corridor, I-440 and I-540, US 1 and US 64, and high-speed arterials like Capital Blvd. Severely injured crash victims in the Raleigh area are frequently transported to trauma care at WakeMed’s Raleigh campus, with some patients later transferred to Duke Medical Center or UNC Hospital for specialized care. Motorcycle riders are heavily overrepresented in this category of injury; see our Raleigh motorcycle accident page. If a crash was fatal, our Raleigh wrongful death attorneys can help.
A Lower Fee on the Largest Cases
Our contingency fee is 25% of settlement rather than the 33.3% most personal injury firms charge. In a catastrophic injury case, that difference will be substantial tax-free money that stays with the family that needs it. For a $1 million settlement, our fee discount would put another $83,333.33 into our client’s pocket. Also, you pay nothing up front and our fee is paid only when we deliver money to you. See a full breakdown of our fees.
How long will a catastrophic injury case take?
Longer than a routine claim, and for good reason. We generally wait until your medical condition has stabilized enough to project future needs before presenting the claim, because settling before then means settling for less than the case is worth. Once records are complete, we typically submit the demand within two weeks and see an initial response within thirty to sixty days. If we face insufficient insurance coverage in a severe injury case, sometimes a faster settlement makes sense. If your health insurance can claim a share of your settlement, it is sometimes best to collect all funds available and settle before the health insurance carrier’s claim erodes your net settlement funds. Every case is different, and we help to navigate timing to maximize the money you collect.
What if the at-fault driver's insurance is not enough?
That is common in these cases. We look for underinsured motorist coverage, umbrella and excess policies, and commercial coverage, and we pursue every party who may share legal responsibility for the crash. Most of our cases do involve collecting from multiple insurance policies.
Will my case have to go to trial?
Most do not. But insurers evaluate cases partly on whether they believe the firm will actually try them. We prepare every catastrophic case as though it will be tried in Wake County (or our client’s home county), and that momentum increases settlement offers.
Can I recover for future medical care I have not received yet?
Yes, with admissible medical evidence supporting it. Future medical needs, future lost earnings, and future pain and suffering are all recoverable in North Carolina when properly proven.
What does it cost to hire your Raleigh office?
Nothing up front, and nothing at all unless and until we recover money for you. Our fee is 25% of settlement and 33.3% for litigated cases. We only need your signature to put us to work immediately. If travel is difficult, we offer free home visits to help get your case started.. You can also read our general North Carolina catastrophic injury information.
Free Consultation, No Fee Unless We Collect
Call (800) 411-1583 or contact our Raleigh office today for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we collect for you.
