While some people are not fortunate enough to survive a serious accident, one of the worst injuries is paralysis. There are four main types: monoplegia, paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia. Some cases are permanent, while others may improve– either slightly or fully– with intense physical therapy. If this has happened to you or a loved one, contact us at Angel Reyes & Associates for guidance and advocacy.
Paralysis Can Permanently Change Your Life
The victim’s life is changed forever in the blink of an eye, often through no fault of their own. The resulting physical and emotional trauma cannot be understated. An experienced paralysis lawyer knows that this brings up several questions:
- How will I get by on a day-to-day basis?
- Who will take care of me?
- Will I be able to keep or find employment?
- How will this impact my family financially?
- Will my relationships with my loved ones suffer?
What Causes Paralysis?
According to a 2013 study conducted by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, nearly 1 out of every 50 people, roughly 5.4 million, live with paralysis in the United States. It often results from either spinal cord injuries or traumatic brain injury. There are many potential causes that an experienced Dallas personal injury lawyer has seen, and involve traumatic accidents such as the following:
- A slip and fall
- Construction accidents
- Pedestrian, bus, truck, or car accidents
- Amputations or lost limbs
- Bruises or contusions on the brain
- Airplane or helicopter accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Medical malpractice
What You Need to do to Recover Financial Compensation
To receive financial compensation, you will need to prove that your injury was someone else’s fault. Notably, Texas law has a 51 Percent Bar Rule. It says that you can recover damages for an accident as long as you were not more than 50 percent responsible for it. Your final financial reward will then be reduced in proportion to your fault. For example, you may have been speeding when a drunk driver ran a red light and collided with your car, resulting in your paralysis. If it is determined that you were 40 percent at fault, and your damages total $1 million, you will end up with $600,000.
To prove someone else’s negligence caused your paralysis, you will need to demonstrate the following:
- That person owed you a duty of care: Perhaps it is your boss at a construction site, a property manager at a grocery store, or another driver on the road.
- The duty of care was breached: This boils down to whether or not the defendant acted unreasonably. Examples of unreasonable behavior would be failing to secure a heavy object that falls on top of you, allowing a dangerous condition to develop and then remain on-site for hours, and causing you to fall or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- The breach is what caused your accident: Just because someone acted negligently does not necessarily mean that they caused your accident. For example, a drunk driver is legally stopped behind your car at a red light, gets rear-ended, and crashes into your vehicle. The fact that that driver was drunk would not have had anything to do with why your accident occurred.
- You suffered damages due to this accident: As long as the other three elements are met, you will not have any trouble meeting this last element if you are paralyzed in an accident.
How can a Dallas Paralysis Injury Lawyer Help Me?
By hiring an experienced Dallas paralysis injury attorney, you can focus on tending to your physical and emotional well-being while your lawyer fights for justice on your behalf. Due to their severity, these injuries often yield significant amounts of financial compensation for the victim. Defendants will do everything possible to subvert this. Hiring the right attorney improves your chances of recovering the maximum amount of monetary compensation. Your counsel will know how to investigate and build your case, how to negotiate any potential settlement offers on your behalf, and how to win at trial if that becomes necessary.
Contact Us for a Free Consultation
At Angel Reyes & Associates, our attorneys have been representing Texans for over 30 years. We put our clients first and have achieved a 98 percent client success rate as a result. If you or a loved one have been paralyzed, call our paralysis law firm at Angel Reyes & Associates 24/7 to book your zero-cost consultation. We do not charge any legal fees unless you win your case.
