Some unintentional accidents result in minor scrapes and bruises, while others change the victim’s life forever. If you suffered a catastrophic injury due to someone else’s negligence in Rogers, AR, you need the skilled legal advocacy of a Rogers catastrophic injury lawyer.
Horton Personal Injury Lawyers can handle all of the legal aspects of your claim while you focus on your health and recovery. Contact us today to get started with a free case review.
What Is a Catastrophic Injury?
While there is no generally accepted definition of a catastrophic injury in Arkansas, this term generally refers to an injury that has a significant impact on a victim and their quality of life. It may result in permanent damage or a disability that prevents the injured victim from ever working again.
Common Types of Catastrophic Injuries
Catastrophic injuries can take many forms, but some of the most common types of catastrophic injuries we see in our legal practice include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries: Severe brain damage can result in cognitive dysfunction, loss of mobility, an altered personality, and other significant complications.
- Spinal cord injuries: The spinal cord is an integral part of the body that is responsible for sending and carrying messages from the brain to other parts of the body. Damage to the neck or back can result in spinal cord trauma, potentially including partial or complete paralysis.
- Amputations: In some serious accidents, a victim can lose a body part. This can result in loss of function or the need to rely on a prosthetic device.
- Severe burns: Burns are one of the most painful injuries that an accident victim can suffer. Additionally, they can cause permanent scarring and disfigurement that can injure a person’s self-image and stay as a lifelong reminder of the tragic accident. Burns may require continuous and expensive skin graft treatments to repair some of the damage.
- Severe fractures: While some fractures can heal in a few months, others can cause bones to distort the body. Victims who suffer multiple fractures may be unable to regain strength and mobility, resulting in a lifetime of experiencing reduced physical abilities.
- Internal organ damage: Some accidents cause significant damage to the inside of a person’s body, even if the outside doesn’t seem dramatically affected. These injuries can interfere with activities of daily living and may be life-threatening if not treated immediately. Even after being treated, they can cause other medical complications.
These catastrophic injuries often result in exorbitant medical bills and can affect a person’s livelihood. Identifying who is responsible for your injuries is the first step to recovering compensation for them.
Common Causes of Catastrophic Injuries
Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of ways that people in Northwestern Arkansas can be catastrophically injured. Some of the more common ways that people can be catastrophically injured include the following:
- Car accidents: Motor vehicle accidents are a common cause of catastrophic injuries. These incidents often involve high speeds, thousands of pounds of metal, and physical forces that the human body was not designed to withstand. Our auto accident attorneys can gather evidence to prove the other driver was at fault for the accident and is responsible for paying for your damages.
- Semi-truck accidents: A trucking accident can easily cause a catastrophic injury when a vehicle weighing up to 80,000 pounds crashes into a much smaller passenger vehicle. Our attorneys have extensive experience handling legal claims arising from car and truck accidents and can investigate to determine whether the truck driver, trucking company, cargo loader, or another party was responsible for your injuries.
- Motorcycle accidents: Even at slow speeds or near-misses, motorcycle accidents can have devastating consequences. Our aggressive attorneys fight for the compensation you deserve after someone else’s negligence harms you.
- Pedestrian accidents: Pedestrians can suffer broken legs, internal organ damage, road rash, and other serious injuries when negligent motorists hit them. We work hard to secure compensation on behalf of traffic victims.
- Slip and fall accidents: Slips and falls can have devastating effects when they involve heights, contact with protruding objects, or a fall that causes extensive bodily damage. Our attorneys can investigate whether the property owner was aware of dangerous conditions on the property that could lead to these injuries and failed to take reasonable steps to avoid them.
- Premises liability accidents: Premises liability refers to the laws governing property owners’ legal responsibilities to maintain their properties and the consequences when they fail to do so and someone is injured. Our attorneys can gather evidence to prove negligence and seek full and fair compensation on your behalf.
- Dog bites: Some dog bites can result in lasting physical and emotional scars. We work hard to hold the negligent dog owner responsible when an animal attack alters a victim’s future.
- Workplace accidents: Many people are injured on the job while simply working. Construction accidents are common in Northwest Arkansas, as are other on-the-job accidents. We can explain your legal right to pursue compensation after sustaining a serious injury.
Why Should I Choose Horton Personal Injury Lawyers for My Catastrophic Injury Case?
If you’ve been seriously injured, you need to take the time to heal and focus on your recovery. An experienced catastrophic injury attorney from our firm can handle the legal legwork of your case while you do so. Some of the reasons you can trust us to capably handle your personal injury case are our:
- Experience: Our lawyers have decades of combined legal experience in handling personal injury, mass tort, and class action lawsuits. We have successfully represented thousands of clients who have suffered various types of injuries.
- Results: Our local law firm has successfully recovered millions in compensation for our clients. This includes several multi-million-dollar victories, including $21.7 million in a class action lawsuit, $16 million in a wrongful death case involving a truck accident, $1.6 million in a clergy sexual abuse case, and $1.25 million in a motorcycle crash – all right here in the Natural State. We get started by figuring out a plan on how to get the results you need.
- Focus: Our attorneys focus on personal injury cases and other legal matters in which individuals were harmed due to the wrongful conduct of others. This unwavering focus has allowed us to develop an in-depth knowledge of the laws and rules that affect you.
- Approachable demeanor: Our attorneys speak in language that you can understand and work to make the law more approachable to people who don’t have a law degree. If you ever have any questions about the legal process, we are happy to answer them for you.
- Relentless advocacy: Our attorneys often face off against insurance companies that try to deny or devalue our clients’ valid claims. One of our focused practice areas is handling denied insurance claims. We fight to show why your claim should be covered and for the amount it is worth.
Contact us today to speak to a Rogers personal injury lawyer from our firm to learn more about how we can help and why we are the right choice for you. We offer free consultations, so you can learn more about the legal process of seeking compensation for your catastrophic injuries at no cost or obligation from you.
Arkansas Personal Injury Damages in Catastrophic Injury Cases
If you’ve suffered a catastrophic injury in Northwest Arkansas, you may be entitled to various forms of compensation. If the accident occurred at work, you could be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. If the injury caused you to become permanently disabled, you could be entitled to Social Security Disability benefits.
When someone else’s negligence is to blame for your injuries, you may be able to recover compensation by filing a personal injury claim against them. Various insurance policies may be in place to help provide this compensation, such as homeowners’ insurance, auto liability insurance, general liability insurance, or umbrella supplemental protection. An experienced attorney from our firm can file all of your insurance claims and explore all avenues for financial recovery.
Through these legal claims, you can seek compensation for the damages you sustained, which may include:
- Medical expenses: The medical bills alone in catastrophic injury cases can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars. You may have medical expenses from your emergency medical treatment, ambulance charges, hospitalization, diagnostic testing, and surgeries. You may also require ongoing medical care, like rehabilitation and physical therapy.
- Future medical expenses: If your healthcare providers can reasonably anticipate that you will need medical treatments in the future, you can include these projected costs in your personal injury claim.
- Lost wages: You have the right to recover compensation for the income you lost while you were recovering.
- Lost earning capacity: Many catastrophic injuries cause permanent disabilities that prevent the victim from ever working again. By working with a vocational expert, we can estimate the amount of your projected lifetime earnings before the accident and demand compensation for these losses.
- Property damage: If your motor vehicle or other personal property was damaged in the accident, we can seek compensation to repair or replace it.
- Home modifications: If you now have a permanent disability due to the accident, we can seek compensation for the necessary modifications to your home and vehicle to accommodate it, such as for a wheelchair ramp and widened doorways.
- Pain and suffering: Catastrophic injuries can lead to chronic pain, emotional distress, and mental anguish. We can seek fair compensation for your physical and emotional pain and suffering.
- Loss of enjoyment of life: Catastrophic injuries can forever alter your life. You may not be able to work or play with your children. You may feel isolated and distraught over your lack of mobility. Your personal relationships with loved ones may have changed now that you have to depend on them more. You have the right to be compensated for these and other losses you experienced.
Our catastrophic injury lawyers work closely with our clients to determine how the accident affected them and fight for compensation that acknowledges the full extent of their suffering.
Arkansas’ Comparative Negligence Law and How It Can Affect Your Catastrophic Injury Claim
In some catastrophic injury cases, the accident victim may have contributed to the accident. Under Ark. Code § 16-64-122, you can still pursue compensation for your injuries as long as you were not as responsible or more responsible for the accident than the defendant. However, your financial damages are reduced in proportion to your contributory negligence.
Therefore, if you’re found 30% responsible for the accident, your damages are reduced proportionately by 30%. This law is important to understand because it can have a dramatic impact on your financial recovery in catastrophic injury cases, where each percentage can signify the loss of thousands of dollars.
Insurance companies know these rules and try to exploit them to get out of paying fair settlements. If they try to attribute more of the fault to you than is fair, you need to be able to fight back for what you deserve. Our personal injury attorneys can take on this fight and demand the compensation you deserve.
What Is the Time Limit to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Arkansas?
Most personal injury lawsuits in Arkansas must be filed within three years of the accident. If you miss this filing deadline, any subsequent claim you file can be dismissed as untimely. This can cause you to miss out on the chance to recover compensation for your injuries.
Contact Us Today to Arrange Your Free Consultation
If you were seriously injured in an accident that was someone else’s fault, Horton Personal Injury Lawyers can help you demand the compensation you deserve. Contact us today for a free consultation.
