If you or a family member has suffered a catastrophic injury in a recent accident caused by someone else, you have legal options. You can hold the responsible party accountable for your damages through an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit. Our catastrophic injury lawyer in Atlanta, GA, can help you prove the other party’s liability, determine your full range of damages, and negotiate a fair settlement that addresses your losses to date and continuing healthcare.
During your free case consultation, a member of our legal team can explain how an Atlanta personal injury lawyer from Kaine Law can build your case and fight for the maximum compensation you and your family deserve. Call us today and learn more.
What Types of Injuries Are Deemed Catastrophic?
Generally, catastrophic injuries are especially serious injuries that affect a victim’s spine, brain, limit a bodily function, or impair mobility. Some common catastrophic injuries include the following:
- Spinal cord injuries: These injuries can be especially severe and debilitating. Injuries to the spinal cord can affect a victim’s functioning forever, resulting in chronic, debilitating pain or even paralysis.
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI): Often, a brain injury can leave a victim with long-term or permanent mental, behavioral, and/or physical impairment.
- Abdominal injuries: These internal injuries may not present any obvious external signs and can be difficult to identify without the aid of medical attention, which can prove fatal.
- Amputations: Losing a limb is a devastating loss, affecting a victim’s life in many ways. Many amputees must relearn household and occupational skills, and some suffer tremendous emotional distress and depression.
- Severe burns: Depending on the degree of the burn, victims with a burn injury endure agonizing recoveries, major scarring and disfigurement, and the threat of infection.
These injuries can be common in severe personal injury accidents and incidents, such as the following:
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Dog bites
- Slip and falls
- ATV accidents
- Boating accidents
- Train accidents
- Defective products
- Workplace and construction accidents
These injuries often require emergency medical care from a level one trauma center, such as the services provided by Grady Memorial Hospital. Also, medical treatment typically lasts for years, with doctor’s appointments, surgeries, and extensive rehabilitation and therapy. Even when the patient reaches maximum medical improvement (MMI), they may require ongoing healthcare and domestic services, leaving the victim with astronomical medical debt.
However, Georgia law allows you to seek compensation from the at-fault party.
For a free legal consultation with a catastrophic injury lawyer serving Atlanta, call 404-214-2001
What Damages Are Available in a Georgia Catastrophic Injury Case?
In catastrophic injury cases, the damages incurred can be equally catastrophic in scope. A victim may have serious physical injuries, mental and emotional trauma, and massive financial losses, not to mention the healthcare assistance and daily essentials that may last indefinitely.
Depending on the damages you have suffered, our personal injury attorneys can demand many of these, including the following:
Catastrophic Injury Economic Damages
These damages are your quantifiable financial losses. We can determine a fair value to them through the receipts, bills, invoices, and estimates you collect following your accident. Typically, they include the following items:
- Medical expenses: Including the ambulance ride, emergency room, hospital stays, doctor’s appointments, a physical therapist’s services, medications, medical devices, surgeries, and related costs
- Lost wages: Any income lost while recovering from your injuries, including tips, bonuses, benefits, and part-time or gig work
- Reduced earning capacity: The difference in your past income and your new occupation if your injuries prevent you from returning to your old job or working at all
- Property damage: Repair and replacement costs for your vehicle or personal items damaged and destroyed in the event, such as smartphones and jewelry
Catastrophic Injury Non-Economic Damages
These damages are subjective in that they are unique to each person. They are the reduced quality of life following the accident and may require specialists and doctors to substantiate it. These intangible losses can include such things as:
- Pain and suffering, including any chronic pain
- Emotional distress and mental anguish, including depression, PTSD, and anxiety
- Impairment or disability
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of consortium
Wrongful Death Damages
Catastrophic injuries also have the potential to take the life of a loved one. If you have a case involving loss of life, our lawyers can help you pursue wrongful death damages, such as:
- Final medical bills
- Funeral costs and burial expenses
- Loss of financial support
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of guidance and parental love
For more than two decades, Kaine Law has been helping families obtain fair compensation for the losses they have experienced. Find out how we can help you during a free case consultation.
Atlanta Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Near Me 404-214-2001
How Do You Prove Negligence in a Catastrophic Injury Claim?
For a successful personal injury claim, we must prove who was responsible for your injuries, how the accident occurred, and what losses you have suffered. In personal injury law, negligence is typically shown in four key parts:
- Duty of care: The legal obligation or professional relationship between the at-fault party and the victim
- Breach of duty: The action or inaction of the at-fault party that either violates a law or deviates from an accepted standard of practice
- Causation: The resulting accident from the at-fault party’s breach of duty
- Damages: The victim’s physical injuries, financial losses, and emotional trauma
For example, all drivers must obey traffic laws to ensure public safety (duty of care). A drunk driver (breach of duty) gets in an accident (causation). The victim suffers a broken bone, misses work, and incurs medical bills (damages).
Theoretically, it would seem very straightforward, but in reality, we must prove these four parts with evidence. Evidence can vary based on the type of accident, but it generally includes the following:
- Accident and police reports
- Medical records, including test results and scans
- Photographs of the accident scene
- Video of the events before, during, and after, if available
- Statements from eyewitnesses
- Expert witness testimonials, such as accident reconstruction specialists
- Financial records and pay stubs
- Physical evidence from the accident scene
- Corporate memos, maintenance records, and product information
Our legal team has the resources to gather the evidence necessary for your claim.
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How Can Our Atlanta Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Help You?
There’s a lot that one of the Atlanta catastrophic injury lawyers from our law firm can do for you. Your lawyer can take over your entire case from you, allowing you to focus on other matters, like your recovery. By taking over your entire case, your lawyer will be taking on all of these tasks for you:
- Investigating your case: Your lawyer will look into precisely who is responsible for your accident and who is liable for your damages. The liable party may be an individual, a company, a property owner, or another entity.
- Gathering evidence: In your case, the evidence could be security camera footage, the authorities’ accident report, and/or other kinds of evidence. Your lawyer will also look for corroborating evidence, such as a witness’s written statement.
- Determining the value of your damages: Your non-financial damages, like your pain and suffering, are difficult to evaluate accurately. Your lawyer will do this for you.
- Filing your claim and lawsuit: Your lawyer will follow proper procedures and help you meet the filing deadline for a claim or a potential lawsuit.
- Proving liability: This requires establishing how the other party was negligent. Your lawyer will have to show a duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
- Negotiating your settlement: Negotiations can be complicated, especially if the insurance company or opposing lawyers don’t cooperate in good faith. Your lawyer can threaten to take them to court if a fair settlement cannot be reached.
- Fighting for a fair court verdict: Your lawyer can hire experts, like an accident reconstruction specialist, for their court testimonies. In court, your lawyer will demand your due compensation.
We have decades of experience handling cases like yours and obtaining outstanding results for our clients. Our Atlanta catastrophic injury attorneys fight hard for accident victims and their families, and our founder, Attorney Evan Kaine, has qualified for the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Watch our video on the Top 5 Reasons Why Kaine Law Is Right for You.
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Laws That Affect Injury Cases
Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, you typically have a two-year deadline to file a lawsuit. If you let the statute of limitations on your case expire, it will affect your ability to secure fair compensation for your losses.
Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, Georgia follows a contributory negligence doctrine. If you are found to be greater than 50% at fault, you will be barred from collecting any damages.
Insurance companies are aware of these laws and may try to use them to devalue or deny your claim. We can investigate your accident, gather evidence, and counter their arguments with the facts. But you must contact us as soon as possible so we can get started.
Learn More About Our Catastrophic Injury Lawyers in Atlanta
We can tell you more about our Atlanta catastrophic injury law firm and our attorneys during a free consultation. In your consultation, we’ll go over your (or your loved one’s) case and your options with you, including the option of filing a lawsuit. We’ll also tell you about how you can work with one of our attorneys on a contingency-fee basis. With this arrangement, you won’t pay your attorney unless they obtain compensation for you.
Contact Kaine Law today for your free consultation and case review.
Call or text 404-214-2001 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
