Catastrophic Injury Attorney

Suffering a catastrophic injury is one of the worst things you or a loved one can experience. In addition to the physical pain, there are lasting emotional injuries, financial strain, permanent injury, and life-altering changes. Contacting an experienced catastrophic injury attorney as soon as possible after the event is one of the most important things to do when you are facing this situation. Call (888) 291-6445 to speak to Malloy Law, LLC attorneys. They will ensure you or your family member receives the damages owed, as well as navigate around insurance companies and the statute of limitations.

Why You Need a Lawyer After a Catastrophic Injury

A catastrophic injury carries a lifetime of consequences, physically, emotionally, and personally. The costs associated with the necessary medical and nursing care, alterations to a home to allow for wheelchair access, the need for custom prosthetics, and the need for ongoing medical treatment, will range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars within just a few months, and in the millions over a lifetime. You simply cannot risk losing the ability to recover full compensation for damages – and that’s when your personal injury lawyer plays a critical role.

Why Choose Us?

At Malloy Law Offices, LLC, your injury case will be managed by a team of trial catastrophic injury lawyers with extensive experience and success in cases of serious injury. Our firm offers great benefits in these cases, including:

• We provide legal counsel in English, Spanish and Russian to serve a larger number of Bethesda residents.
• We provide professional, trusted, legal representation on a contingency fee basis allowing you access to the legal system and to the ability to achieve justice and full compensation. We charge no legal fees unless we win.
• Our 15 years of experience allows us to understand the process of seeking compensation in cases of catastrophic injury cases.
• We believe that if you are living with the consequences of a catastrophic injury, you have the right to claim what you deserve. We are driven to help our clients recover the maximum possible compensation.
• At Malloy Law Offices, LLC our personal catastrophic injury lawyers place great importance on assisting our clients to reach their goals. Our committed attorneys and staff strive to make a positive difference in our clients’ lives by providing excellent personalized service, strong legal knowledge, and consistent hard work.
• We value the relationships we have with our clients. First and foremost, we believe it is important to forge a close partnership with those we represent. We know how critical it is that they are informed of the progress of the claim or lawsuit, and we do, consistently.

What is a Catastrophic Injury?

Generally, a catastrophic injury is major trauma that was inflicted upon a person. Such trauma could be targeted to the head, neck, chest, or limbs, or over multiple areas of the body. They are usually sudden and unexpected, especially in terms of vehicle or workplace accidents. Public transportation can also be a potential cause of a catastrophic injury, such as train or bus accidents. Catastrophic injuries can even have a negative effect on the central nervous system, making someone more susceptible to illnesses like pneumonia, or pulmonary issues, to name a couple.

Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries can happen in a number of ways. Some of the most common ways include car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, defective products, workplace accidents, medical malpractice, public transportation accidents, and even intentional acts against another person or people.

Some injuries someone can receive include but are not limited to, the following:

• Traumatic brain injury: The impact upon the life of the victim can be significant, including permanent disabilities, both physical and cognitive, coma, or vegetative state.
• Severe burns: Serious burns can affect mobility, permanently affect appearance, and require a long and painful set of treatments, including multiple surgeries, skin grafts, and other costly procedures performed by burn specialists.
• Partial or complete amputation: The loss of a limb will change your life forever. A case of accidental amputation must be approached with great legal skill to ensure all of the consequences suffered by the victim are fairly compensated.
• Broken bones: A minor fracture will heal within about six weeks – but many broken bones lead to long-term damage, risks associated with serious infections that are difficult to resolve, and permanent disabilities.
• Eye injuries: Your vision is a vital sense, and if you lose vision in one or both eyes due to the negligent actions of another party, your life will change forever. The compensation pursued must reflect the extent of the personal and financial losses associated with vision loss, partial or full.
• Facial injuries: Visible facial scars are a tragic outcome of an act of negligence, often a result of a car accident or assault. When a person has been left disfigured, the compensation pursued must take the impact upon the future life experience of the victim, socially, professionally, and emotionally.
• Neck injuries: A serious neck injury can lead to quadriplegia if the spinal cord is severed. If crushed or partially damaged, the long-term consequences are significant and require help from an experienced personal injury lawyer to ensure that every form of compensation is pursued.
• Spinal cord injuries: A spinal cord injury will impact mobility below the area damaged. The higher the injury is on the spinal cord, the more extreme the consequences, leading to quadriplegia or paraplegia, changing the life of the victim forever.
• Paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia: A spinal cord injury can leave a person paralyzed. While treatments have advanced, a full recovery with restored mobility is not currently possible. In these cases, our team at Malloy Law Offices, LLC, will fight to ensure that every form of compensation is recovered.
• Neurological disorders: When the nerves have been damaged, it affects other areas of the body, including organs, mobility, circulation, and the potential of causing emotional disorders and changes in personality.
• Joint and limb injuries: The ankle, shoulder, knee, neck, and hip, when damaged, affect mobility, result in long-term pain and discomfort, along with affecting the ability to enjoy life. A claim or lawsuit filed must reflect the impact upon the future life of the victim.

Damages in Catastrophic Injury Cases

Catastrophic injuries are life-changing. Because of this, and the fact that the person who suffered these injuries will no longer be able to maintain the quality of life they enjoyed prior to their accident. In addition to the pain and suffering, they are entitled to receive damages. A skilled catastrophic injury attorney will know whether or not they have a case, as well as who and what to pursue. Catastrophic injury survivors are eligible to receive both compensatory and punitive damages. An insurance adjuster will utilize a formula to determine the number of damages someone might be able to receive based on the above factors, with a multiplier of between 1.5 and 5 depending on the severity of the injuries. From there, an attorney will be able to determine whether the amount is fair, or if a higher amount needs to be argued. They will also determine whether the case should be settled in or out of court.

Compensatory Damages

Someone who has sustained catastrophic injuries is eligible for compensatory damages. These include economic and non-economic damages. Non-economic damages are the non-tangible things a person experiences. This includes past and future pain and suffering, loss of family, social, and educational experiences, emotional trauma, and loss of quality of life. It should be noted that puts caps on non-economic damages. Currently, the cap on non-economic damages is set at $845,000. Economic damages are quantifiable. They include medical bills, rehabilitation bills, loss of income, loss of pension, and if applicable to the situation, property damage. A highly experienced catastrophic injury lawyer will be able to determine what damages to pursue in a catastrophic injury case.

Punitive Damages

Someone who has sustained catastrophic injuries can also potentially be eligible for punitive damages. These are very rarely awarded and are reserved for when a gross act of negligence, malpractice, or other harm has been perpetrated on an individual. Punitive damages serve to act as both a punishment against the person or entity who caused harm to the plaintiff and a deterrent against individuals or entities who might otherwise act in a similar manner and can be awarded at up to ten times the amount of compensatory damages. It is up to the judge or jury as to whether punitive damages should be pursued in someone’s catastrophic injury case, however.

Importance of a Bethesda Catastrophic Injury Attorney

A catastrophic injury will leave the victim facing a lifetime of challenges. In many cases, a family member will care for the injured person, unable to work. The costs associated with caring for a person with a catastrophic injury typically include:

• Ongoing medical treatments
• Rehabilitation treatments
• Nursing care
• Costs associated with home alterations to allow for wheelchair access
• Costs of medications
• Costs of transportation
• Hospital costs
• Specialist costs, such as neurologists, clinicians, specialized technicians, therapists, etc.
• Costs of medical equipment
• Loss of earning capacity
• Loss of income from work
• Costs of retraining

Contact Malloy Law Offices, LLC Today

If you or someone you love has suffered a catastrophic injury, contact our catastrophic injury attorneys today. They will go over the facts of your case during your free consultation and help you through this difficult process.