Spinal cord injuries are relatively rare, but anyone affected by one can suffer serious financial loss and emotional devastation. At Hart Law, our firm is dedicated to helping clients seek financial compensation for a South Carolina spinal cord injury. The state allows victims to sue or make a claim against the person responsible for the accident.
Speak with a South Carolina spinal cord injury lawyer. Our firm has the skills needed to negotiate a favorable settlement or win a case in court.
Why Spinal Cord Injuries Are Disruptive
According to the National Institutes of Health, most spinal cord injuries are caused by falls and motor vehicle accidents. These are traumatic events which can shatter the protective vertebrae and cause direct compression on the cord.
Most spinal cord injuries cause some measure of disability. A victim might experience impaired movement or sensation below the site of trauma:
- Incomplete injuries. A victim retains some movement or sensation below the injury site. The cord is possibly only damaged, but neurological signals can still pass up and down the cord.
- Complete injuries. A person experiences a total loss of movement/sensation, often because of compression or damage. In extreme cases, the cord is cut into pieces.
Spinal cord injuries are enormously expensive to treat. Some patients will spend over a million dollars in treatment for only the first year.
Differences Between Economic and Non-Economic Damages
A South Carolina personal injury claim seeks both economic and non-economic damages. There are differences between two:
- Economic damages. These are losses with a definite dollar value. They include the cost of your medical care, including prescriptions, wheelchair, and rehabilitation. Lost wages and property damage are also economic damages.
- Non-economic damages. These are losses without a market value. They include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, depression, and emotional distress. You cannot go online and see how much one day of pain is worth. Instead, it is a subjective determination.
Personal injury law allows accident victims to seek both economic and non-economic damages for spinal cord injury claims in South Carolina. However, the non-economic losses are harder to prove and calculate. An insurer might suspect you are exaggerating your disability or impaired sensation, and it’s hard to prove otherwise. They might also not value your suffering.
Your choice of attorney makes a big difference in terms of maximizing the amount you receive. At Hart Law, we can demand the most compensation available for both economic and non-economic damages.
How to Value Your Claim: Economic Damages
Many clients are curious about how much they can receive for a South Carolina spinal cord injury. We recommend holding onto all bills and receipts related to the accident.
You can calculate economic losses by adding up the amount spent on:
- Ambulances
- Doctor’s visits
- Surgery and time in the hospital
- Rehabilitation
- Physical therapy
- Crutches or braces
- Repairs for damaged property
You should also include how much income you have lost because you cannot work.
With spinal cord injuries, you might also have future economic loss, such as loss of earning capacity or continuing medical care. A lawyer can help you estimate these future losses.
Understanding Non-Economic Damages in South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Claims
It gets trickier to estimate the value of non-economic damages. There is no receipt or market value for pain. Instead, if your case ended up at trial, then a jury would use their experience to put a dollar value on the immobility, distress, and suffering a person endures due to a spinal cord injury.
Some lawyers recommend using a multiplier. They will first calculate a client’s economic losses, which they multiply by 1-5. It works like this:
- Economic losses: $100,000
- Multiplier: 1-5
- Non-economic losses: $100,000 to $500,000
The multiplier approach is easy to understand but might not be relevant to your case. Instead, the defendant might only offer a certain amount based on what they have paid for similar injuries. This is one reason to contact an attorney. We can research previous settlements for spinal cord injuries.
Someone who is permanently paralyzed from the neck down can feel “chained” in their body. Even if they don’t feel pain, this type of suffering deserves substantial compensation.
Non-economic damages could potentially make up a large part of any settlement. Because these injuries are so disruptive, many people suffer from:
- Loss of intimacy
- Social withdrawal or isolation
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
Of course, money cannot make up for paralysis. But money is what a court can force a defendant to pay. They can’t get your old body back, so forcing the defendant to pay you money is the best alternative.
Limitations on Financial Compensation for a Spinal Cord Injury
An accident victim might not receive full compensation for certain reasons:
- Comparative fault. If you contributed to your accident, then your compensation is cut by your share of fault. This would mean someone who is 40% to blame will likely receive 40% less in damages. If you are more than 50%, then you will receive nothing in South Carolina.
- Limited resources. A defendant might not have $500,000 to pay a settlement, even if that is the full value of your claim. For example, a driver might have only South Carolina’s minimum liability coverage, which will pay $25,000 to one injured victim. That type of payout won’t nearly cover the cost of medical treatment for a serious spinal injury.
- Missed deadlines. A victim needs to file a lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations, which is only 3 years in South Carolina. (South Carolina Annotated Code § 15-3-530.) If they miss the deadline, they lose a strong bargaining chip in negotiations and can end up with no money.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
Chris Hart is a dedicated fighter for injured victims. His team will outwork and outthink the other side, demanding fair compensation and respect for all clients. Contact our office at (803) 771-7701 to schedule a meeting to discuss your spinal cord injury and the road to possible financial compensation.