Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuits: What Your Attorney Can Do
Spinal cord injury lawsuits are much more complex than many other personal injury cases due to the increased severity of the injuries. Continue reading to learn about how these types of cases operate, and consider a Nashville personal injury attorney from Mitch Grissim & Associates if you or someone you know needs legal assistance.
Spinal Cord Injuries and Their Causes
Your spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that runs down through your backbone and is responsible for voluntary and involuntary muscle movements. Injuries to your spinal cord are very serious and result in partial or total loss of motor control and bodily functions including your breathing, body temperature regulation, sexual functions and bladder control. Victims of spinal cord injuries may also be left paraplegic or quadriplegic, paralyzed from the waist down or from the neck down, respectively.
Some of the most common causes of spinal cord injuries include accidents involving car accidents, falls, violent acts like stabbing or gunshot wounds, sports injuries and even mishaps during medical procedures.
Grounds for a Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit
Like most personal injury lawsuits, spinal cord injury cases arise from negligence or a defective product. Negligence is based on the theory that you are entitled to a certain standard of care, and when someone doesn’t meet that standard and causes harm to someone, they are considered negligent. For example, if a driver hits you while you are riding your motorcycle and you wind up with a spinal cord injury, that driver is the negligent, or at fault, party.
Companies that manufacture, design and sell defective products are also subject to lawsuits if their products cause harm to someone. Examples include faulty airbags or seat belts that could have lessened the degree of your spinal cord injury had they been functioning properly.
Get the Compensation You Deserve
Compensation for your losses associated with your injury are awarded as a monetary figure known as damages. Damages in spinal cord injury cases are generally far greater than those granted to other injury cases since these kind of injuries have a far more negative impact on your life. Damages should adequately cover your medical expenses, including ongoing medical treatment or rehabilitation, any remodeling to your home that is necessary to accommodate you and your injuries and your expenses for assistive devices.
In certain cases, the defendant that you are suing may try to evade compensating you by claiming “assumption of the risk,” comparative negligence or contributory negligence. If your spinal cord injury occurred while you were engaging in a potentially risky event like skydiving or bungee jumping, the defendant might claim that you were aware of the risks when you agreed to participate in the activity and are therefore not subject to compensation.
Comparative negligence involves considering how negligence on part of both parties contributed to the injury. Similarly, contributory negligence is how negligence on the part of the injured person contributed to their own condition. Essentially, the defendant is trying to avoid compensating you for your injuries by claiming that you are largely to blame for your own accident. Situations like this can be tricky, so you should consider hiring a personal injury lawyer to assist you with your court case to ensure you receive appropriate compensation for your losses.
Hire a Nashville Personal Injury Lawyer to Represent You
An experienced Nashville personal injury lawyer from Mitch Grissim & Associates understands the particulars of filing a spinal cord injury lawsuit. Contact us if you or a loved one has been injured in an accident to get the legal representation you deserve.
