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North Carolina Catastrophic Injuries Attorney
What is the Legal Definition of a Catastrophic Injury?
Catastrophic injury is an injury that is severe, and that causes lasting and sometimes permanent symptoms, and that causes significant financial loss to the victim and their family. Examples include severe fractures requiring surgery with installation of orthopedic hardware, internal injuries requiring surgical repair, amputation injuries, and traumatic brain injuries. In these circumstances, it is important to have an attorney with extensive medical experience. Because this is the only type of case our firm handles, we have worked with the best surgeons and doctors throughout North Carolina, and we know exactly how to build and present your medical evidence to ensure that your story is heard, and that you collect full payment for all medical needs, home modification needs, lost wages, future lost earning capacity, and generous additional cash payment for physical pain, emotional suffering, scarring and disfigurement, and lost quality of life.
When personal injury lawyers present a catastrophic injury claim to a judge or jury, we must show that the consequences of our client’s injury was the medical cause of lost wages, and for future income loss. At trial, we have the legal burden to provide medical testimony to confirm that injury-related disability permanently prevents our client from performing “gainful employment”, i.e., employment that provides wages that enable the client to live comfortably. This is how we collect now for a lifetime of lost earnings. To collect FULL payment for future medical needs and future pain and suffering, we must secure and present medical testimony confirming that the injury will have long-term, serious physical and/or mental effects on a client. For example, our Winston-Salem attorneys will carefully gather and provide detailed evidence showing a client may require constant and expensive medical assistance, future surgeries, medications, home care and supervision or rehabilitation for the rest of their life. We also employ experts, including doctors and vocational rehabilitation specialists, to prove the true nature and extent of all injuries and loss of functional capacity, and to show how injury-related physical impairment will impact future health, cause future pain and symptoms, impede ability to enjoy hobbies and physical activity, and negatively impact overall quality-of-life. Simply put, we focus on building powerful medical evidence and then stand by our threat to win a jury trial. This leverage typically motivates the highest possible settlement offers. Most serious injury cases settle without court involvement. However, you should never settle unless the settlement offers reflect what we would win after a very successful trial in YOUR home county.
Catastrophic injury law states that before a catastrophic injury victim can collect money damages through a personal injury case, evidence must confirm that a seriously debilitating injury was the direct result of an intentional or negligent act of another. In catastrophic injury cases, we stand ready to begin working for our client immediately after the collision. We work on a contingency fee basis, so our client pays nothing up front to get us started. In serious injury cases, we investigate the collision immediately and identify all drivers, companies and insurance carriers who share legal responsibility for the accident. We also work to show that our client was entirely innocent. This is critical because, in North Carolina, if an accident victim is just slightly at fault for causing her own accident/injuries, she has no claims and no payment rights. In high-value, catastrophic injury cases, victims should always work immediately to investigate the crash, gather and guard valuable evidence, and build a winning case. These efforts command respect from insurance companies and defense attorneys, and the effort to protect crash evidence protects your right to FULL compensation. Because there are enormous financial implications involved in catastrophic injury claims, you should speak with several lawyers and choose a law firm with a solid and proven record of achieving optimal results in catastrophic injury cases.
At Nagle & Associates in Winston-Salem, you will find understanding, hard-working catastrophic injury attorneys who have helped many people secure the rightful compensation they deserve. We are here to assist our clients in every way possible to restore their quality of life and prevent them from suffering financial stress due to their medical bills and inability to work. We are here to support you and your family from the time the catastrophic injury upset your life until the day you receive the compensation rightfully belonging to you. Our advice, guidance and involvement is one phone call away.
Examples of Catastrophic Injuries
Catastrophic injuries cause a severe and lasting impact on the lives of people experiencing them as well as their loved ones. Nagle & Associates in Winston-Salem have collected compensation for the following types of catastrophic injuries:
- Spinal cord damage causing partial or full paralysis (paraplegia, quadriplegia)
- Third and fourth degree burns
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Amputations/severed limbs
- Multiple bone fractures
- Eye injuries resulting in partial loss of vision or blindness
- Shoulder/foot/back/ neck injuries causing physical disability
- Organ damage/loss of organs
Call our Winston-Salem law firm today at (336) 723-4500 to speak to a catastrophic injuries attorney who will fight for your best interests, your rights and restoring your quality of life.
Have You or a Loved One Suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in Winston-Salem NC? Call Nagle & Associates Today for Immediate Legal Assistance
A catastrophic injury attorney has in-depth knowledge about legal strategies and medical documentation needed to win traumatic brain injury lawsuits. Clinical terms such as anterograde amnesia, retrograde amnesia, diffuse/focal injury and brain contusions all reference specific manifestations and conditions involving severe brain injuries. Winston-Salem attorneys at Nagle & Associates understand and utilize descriptive clinical terms involving TBIs or other catastrophic injuries to thoroughly prove their case in court.
Compensation for Traumatic Brain Injuries
TBIs cause cognitive, emotional and physical deficits that may not emerge immediately after the injury. Depending on the type of TBI a victim suffers, they may not experience the full consequences of the injury for weeks or months after the accident. This is why hiring a Winston-Salem catastrophic injury attorney who can show future health issues are inevitable is essential for obtaining the maximum amount of compensation available by law.
Suffering a traumatic brain injury as the result of a motor vehicle accident often requires the following:
- Round-the-clock nursing care
- Residential rehabilitation facility care
- Speech, physical and occupational therapy
- State or federal government financial assistance to pay for prescription medications, specialized medical equipment and other devices necessary for sustaining physiological functions
- Ongoing mental health counseling
A catastrophic injury attorney utilizes the results of CT and MRI scans, neurological reports, neuropsychological testing, and other medical tools to help prove a TBI is compensable and detrimentally impactful to their clients’ lives. Neuropsychological examinations are used in catastrophic injury cases where a TBI has caused dramatic personality changes and/or cognitive deficits involving executive thinking abilities. This type of testing is the best way to quantify the extent of cognitive impairment resulting from a brain injury. In some cases, TBI victims may seem physically healthy but their cognitive health has been permanently debilitated by a severe brain injury. Thus, securing accurate diagnostics and test results may be the only way to prove the true extent of the victim’s injury and impairment.
Compensation for Accidental Amputations
Losing a limb in an auto accident is one of the most devastating injuries we see at Nagle & Associates. Treatment for accidental amputations acquire enormous medical, rehabilitative and home nursing expenses. People who lose their arm or leg due to another’s person’s negligence will inevitably deal with health problems in the future and struggle to learn how to use prosthetic limbs. In addition, some people suffering amputations may develop severe psychological issues requiring long-term mental health counseling.
How much money you receive is determined by seriousness of the amputation. For example, losing two or more limbs will dramatically increase your compensation amount. Level of pain and suffering, your age and how much the accidental amputation will impact your earning ability and overall quality-of-life is also taken into consideration by insurance companies in settlement negotiations, and by judges and juries at trial.
Compensation is available for Salem-Winston residents suffering loss of limb in a work or auto accident and for conditions accompanying the loss of a limb, such as
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Recurring infections
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Phantom limb pain and discomfort
- Scar tissue pain
- Additional surgeries
- Purchase and life-long maintenance of prosthetic devices
Hiring a catastrophic injuries attorney as soon as possible following a devastating accident is critical to obtaining maximum compensation to pay for medical bills, hospitalization, prescription medications and physical therapy. Insurance companies often try to persuade accident victims using several, underhand tactics in an attempt to get vulnerable victims to settle for pennies out of court. An aggressive, experienced Winston-Salem injury attorney representing you throughout the legal process of obtaining compensation for your catastrophic injury is essential to avoid being taken advantage of by unscrupulous insurance adjusters.
Contact a NC Catastrophic Injury Attorney in Winston-Salem Today
Nagle & Associates have been representing victims of serious roadway accidents for over 20 years. We serve clients statewide, and we offer a reduced legal fee of 25% (most firms charge 1/3), you pay nothing unless and until we collect money for you, and handling motor vehicle accident cases is all we do. If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury, call 336-723-4500 for immediate help in obtaining compensation for your medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and other consequences resulting from another person’s reckless behavior. Contact us today.