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Spinal cord injuries can create far-reaching, permanent consequences in your life, sometimes leading to complications. If you find yourself with a spinal cord injury because of someone else’s negligence, you may also face mounting medical debt in addition to your regular monthly expenses. Schedule a free case evaluation with the experienced Mesa spinal cord injury attorneys of Hastings & Hastings. We provide compassionate legal representation and may be able to help you secure the financial compensation that you need to ease the financial pressure you face. Schedule your free case evaluation now.
Working with Hastings & Hastings after a spinal cord injury can be incredibly advantageous. Here’s why:
Experienced Legal Team: Our team brings together over 90 years of combined experience in legal matters, ensuring that your case is handled by seasoned professionals.
No Upfront Costs: Our policy ensures that you don’t pay us a single dime unless we succeed at securing compensation for you first.
Convenient Locations and Services: With 10 offices spread across Arizona, it’s easy for you to reach us promptly no matter where you reside in the state.
If travel proves difficult due to circumstances such as hospitalization or physical inability to leave your home, we’ll send one of our licensed attorneys directly over to you.
Entrusting your spinal cord injury case with us means choosing dedicated representation committed to obtaining the best possible outcome for you.
A spinal cord injury is caused when the spinal cord is damaged in some way. A complete spinal cord injury causes permanent damage to the spinal cord. Paraplegia and tetraplegia are often results of a complete spinal cord injury.
An incomplete spinal cord injury occurs when only part of the spinal cord is damaged. If this occurs, what the injury itself will amount to in the victim’s life will depend on which part of the spine is injured and how severe the injury is.
Spinal cord injuries can be caused in a number of ways. For the purposes of this page, it’s crucial to note that to receive compensation, your spinal cord injury must be caused because of another person’s negligence. Examples of instances of negligence of another person that may cause you to suffer from a spinal cord injury include:
A common question we are asked as the leading Mesa spinal cord injury lawyers is whether spinal cord injury victims should talk to the insurance company alone. While it would be nice to think that the insurance company will do the right thing, it’s more than likely that they’re looking for ways to reduce or even outright deny your claim. They are, after all, a for-profit corporation (even though it’s the law to have insurance on a vehicle and most employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance).
Talking with the insurance company alone puts you at risk of being tricked into signing away valuable legal rights and even getting tricked into settling for a lot less than your claim is worth. Before you talk with the insurance company, make sure that you have an experienced spinal cord injury attorney on your side to represent what’s in your best interest.
When considering the worth of a spinal cord injury case, various factors come into play:
Extent and Severity of Injury: One of the first considerations is how serious your injury is. Are you partially or wholly paralyzed? Will you potentially regain any functions, or will these losses be permanent? The more severe your injury, the higher your compensation amount is likely to be.
Economic Damages: This can cover anything from medical bills and future health care costs to loss of wages if you’re unable to work due to your injuries. The more losses and expenses you face, the higher your damages are.
Home Modifications: If your home needs modifications like wheelchair ramps, widened doorways, special bathroom equipment etc., those costs may factor in as well.
Emotional Distress: Mental anguish resulting from severe accidents also has value in such lawsuits; psychological trauma and emotional upset arising from drastically altered lifestyles after a spinal cord injury are compensable damages.
Strength of The Evidence: Another major factor that influences the worth of your spinal cord injury case is the strength of your evidence.
Evidence pertinent to your case could include medical records, photos, surveillance footage, witness testimony, expert testimony, and police records, among others. The stronger your evidence is, the more likely you are to recover adequate compensation.
Having an attorney assist you in gathering evidence will significantly strengthen your claim.
Remember that every case is unique; consulting with an experienced attorney will help provide a more accurate value of your specific case.
Arizona follows the rule of pure comparative negligence, which means if you were partly to blame for an accident, it will affect the amount of compensation you receive, but won’t bar you from recovery. Your monetary award will be reduced proportionally to your determined fault.
“The defense of contributory negligence or of assumption of risk is in all cases a question of fact and shall at all times be left to the jury. If the jury applies either defense, the claimant’s action is not barred, but the full damages shall be reduced in proportion to the relative degree of the claimant’s fault which is a proximate cause of the injury or death, if any. There is no right to comparative negligence in favor of any claimant who has intentionally, wilfully or wantonly caused or contributed to the injury or wrongful death.”
Let’s say after evaluating evidence, it’s found that while another party was mainly at fault for causing your injuries, you shared some of the blame – 20%. In such a scenario under Arizona laws of pure comparative negligence, you would be able to recover 80% of the damages instead of the full 100%
It falls under the responsibilities of your attorney to advocate on your behalf. They will put forward convincing arguments that you were not at fault for the accident and aim to reduce any apportioned blame that’s being levied against you as much as possible.
If you or someone you love is the victim of a spinal cord injury because of the negligence of another person, an experienced personal injury attorney in Mesa can help you. You have enough on your plate getting through the day-to-day activities. Hastings & Hastings can handle the insurance company and the legalities that come along with the claim. To learn more about how we can help, schedule your free case review now.