Have You or Someone You Love Sustained a Catastrophic Injury?
Should you or someone you love suffer a catastrophic injury in or near the Charlotte area because another person was negligent – or if this happens in the future – retain legal help at once by contacting and scheduling a consultation with a Charlotte personal injury lawyer.
Catastrophic injuries can occur unexpectedly and abruptly to almost anyone. Unlike the more common, typical injuries that usually heal in a short time, catastrophic injuries may be the cause of a complete and permanent disability that requires lifelong treatment and care.
The cost of a catastrophic injury is staggering, so if another party is liable for your injury, your compensation should be considerable. You must be represented by a Charlotte catastrophic injury attorney who will fight aggressively for the maximum available compensation amount.
What Injuries Are Defined as Catastrophic?
Catastrophic injuries include burn injuries, severe traumatic brain injuries, injuries that require amputation, fractures, serious spinal cord injuries, nerve damage, and blindness. Catastrophic injuries are sustained in a wide variety of ways that include:
- traffic collisions
- on-the-job accidents
- swimming pool accidents and sports collisions
- the use of dangerous or defective consumer items
- tripping and falling or slipping and falling
A catastrophic injury can be the result of almost any kind of accident. When such an injury isn’t directly life-threatening, it may cause the loss of an organ or limb, disfigurement, paralysis, or blindness.
What Do Catastrophic Injury Victims Require?
If you suffer a catastrophic injury that will require continuing medical care and multiple surgeries, your medical expenses may include:
- hospitalizations and physical therapy
- home or institutional nursing care
- an assortment of prescription medicines
- counseling
- medical equipment (a portable oxygen concentrator or wheelchair, for example)
- transportation costs
Who is Liable for Catastrophic Injuries?
Hinging on the circumstances of your catastrophic injury, one or more of the following parties might be assigned liability for your injury:
- an intoxicated or negligent motorist
- a property owner who has neglected to fix a hazardous condition on his or her premises
- the manufacturer of a dangerous or defective consumer product
- any person or party whose recklessness or negligence results in your catastrophic injury
What Will a Lawyer Do on Your Behalf?
If you are catastrophically injured because another person was negligent, you’ll need a lawyer who knows how to win the maximum amount of compensation. If multiple parties share the fault for your injury, your lawyer will determine all potential sources of compensation.
Your attorney will investigate what happened, determine how your injury occurred, and develop a strategy to recover your compensation. In North Carolina cases arising from catastrophic injuries, the “plaintiff” (that is, the injury victim) and the plaintiff’s attorney must prove:
- The allegedly negligent party – the defendant – owed the plaintiff a “duty of care.”
- The defendant behaved negligently, thus breaching the duty of care.
- The catastrophic injury suffered by the plaintiff resulted from the defendant’s negligence.
Avoid speaking to the defendant’s auto insurance company. Don’t sign any paperwork from an insurance company before consulting your attorney, and don’t take the first settlement offer. Let your attorney do the negotiating. Your attorney will negotiate for a just and appropriate settlement amount.
What if Your Case Can’t Be Settled?
Catastrophic injury claims are usually resolved out-of-court, although if the defendant denies responsibility for your accident and injury, or if a reasonable settlement amount is not offered in the out-of-court negotiations, your Charlotte personal injury lawyer will take your catastrophic injury claim to court.
At a personal injury trial, your lawyer may call an expert witness – an accident reconstruction authority or a medical expert, for example – to provide statements or testimony that support your claim.
Your lawyer will tell a jury why the defendant owed you a duty of care and how the defendant breached that duty, causing your injury. Your lawyer then will ask the jurors to order the defendant or the defendant’s insurance provider to pay your compensation.
What Compensation Can Be Recovered?
Catastrophic injury victims aren’t able to work. At the same time, they’re incurring substantial long-term medical expenses. When years of medical treatment and lifelong care are required, these victims must recover the maximum compensation amount that is available.
Under North Carolina law, if someone else negligently injures you, you are entitled as a catastrophic injury victim to compensation for lost wages and projected future lost wages, current and projected future medical expenses, personal pain, suffering, and related damages.
What Else Should Catastrophic Injury Victims Know?
North Carolina’s statute of limitations for filing personal injury claims is three years from the date you were injured, or for latent injuries, three years from the date the injury was discovered. Do not wait three years to schedule a consultation with a Charlotte catastrophic injury attorney.
Instead, schedule that legal consultation as soon as you’ve been examined and treated by a medical professional. Your attorney should see any evidence before it’s lost, contaminated, or altered, and your attorney also should speak to the witnesses before their memories fade.
But if you are unable to work and your medical debts are mounting, how can you pay a personal injury lawyer? You don’t have to let finances prevent you from seeking justice. You pay no attorney’s fee to a personal injury attorney until you receive the compensation you deserve.
Take Your Catastrophic Injury Claim to O’Malley Tunstall
If you’re the injured victim of someone else’s negligence, now or in the future, let O’Malley Tunstall represent you. With decades of personal injury experience, we are award-winning injury lawyers who represent the injured and disabled in Charlotte and across Eastern North Carolina.
If you’re injured because others were negligent – a negligent driver or property owner, or a business or government agency – a catastrophic injury attorney at O’Malley Tunstall will fight effectively and forcefully for the justice you need and the compensation you are entitled to.
Learn more or begin the personal injury process now and call O’Malley Tunstall at 919-277-0150 to arrange for a no-cost, in-depth case evaluation. At O’Malley Tunstall, we are ready to handle your catastrophic injury claim and advocate aggressively on your behalf.