Service Tag: traumatic injuries

Many of our clients suffer from injuries, whether orthopedic, spinal or brain-related which are likely to last for decades or perhaps for the rest of their lives. We routinely retain life care experts to offer opinions on the needs that our client will have for future care to address their medical needs deep into the future, and we have decades of experience presenting these issues to juries to support a substantial future damages award. Most of our life care experts are nurses or rehabilitation experts that have decades of training in medical care, home care and medical devices, including home and auto modifications. With our trial experience we make sure juries understand that future damages, both economic and non-economic, are substantial damages that can and should be awarded to our clients.

We have decades of experience in handling PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) cases ranging from assault and battery and rape cases to psychological trauma suffered by accident victims and by-stander victims who witness injuries and death. These injuries are unfortunately not given the proper weight that they deserve in litigation and trial by corporations and insurance companies and we make sure we retain the proper experts to evaluate, treat and testify convincingly to a jury as to the effects of PTSD and emotional injuries to support our claim for substantial damages.

We see a host of serious orthopedic injuries that ranges from a broken foot to a hip replacement to a knee replacement. We have a stable of decorated experts who served on Olympic committees and professional sports teams as consultants and team doctors to evaluate, treat and serve as expert witnesses in our cases. We are wise to the defense’s common approach and argument that such injuries while caused by the accident were pre-existing through arthritic changes that would have likely occurred even without the accident, as well as there was no such mechanism of injury in the accident. Such defense attacks are tired and ineffective when met with experienced trial lawyers and experts that are prepared to demonstrate the manner in which the accident specifically caused the injuries resulting in substantial awards.

In most of the accident cases we handle, our clients typically suffer neck or back spinal injuries ranging from complete paralysis to disk and facet injury in the spine. We utilize the best neurosurgeons, radiologists and pain management experts to evaluate, these injuries who can offer expert opinions on the severity at trial. In a world where every defense lawyer contends that any level of spinal injury is degenerative or pre-existed the accident, we aggressively litigate and offer evidence on the traumatic nature of the injuries through expert opinion, diagnostic tools, and medical illustration and animation. Our experience and knowledge of the jury instructions allows us to build a case around the defense arguments of degenerative conditions that wins every time and results in substantial monetary awards.

Traumatic Brain Injuries known as a “TBI” are a very specialized area of injury litigation. Ranging from what is commonly known and referred to as a “concussion” to a moderate brain injury to a severe brain injury and coma all require specialized diagnostic brain imaging tools, neuropsychological and psychiatric testing and neurological evaluation that can only be found with lawyers that have handled these cases for decades and stayed abreast of the recent developments in the field. We certainly understand and appreciate the distinction of a person that has suffered a brain injury at some level but cannot readily be observed like a fracture or other more objective injuries, yet it impacts their daily life in an unspeakable and profound way.

One may think that just any lawyer can handle a routine auto accident case particularly one that is minor or that has relatively minor damage. However, the concept that people always receive minor injuries in minor accidents is a misnomer. We have special litigation and trial skills and experts to prove to juries that victims of minor car accidents can, in fact, sustain more serious injuries or death in these minor accidents. Through the use of damage matching analysis, computer-driven crush analysis, and vehicle dynamics programs, we can demonstrate that even the most minor crash can cause more serious injuries or death. In focusing on the scientific variable of Delta V or change in speed, we can demonstrate to juries that even minor accidents can result in larger impacts on the human body than one would expect or imagine. Often times a minor accident initially causes what is believed to be minor injuries which later develop into more serious problems, but we have the medical experts to combat claims by insurance companies that the injuries were not produced by the accident or were somehow caused by natural degenerative processes. As trial lawyers, we routinely see these claims by insurance companies but they backfire and juries award substantial damages. If you are in a minor accident but feel your injuries are more significant, please do not hesitate to call upon us to handle these kinds of cases.

Fall from height cases requires special knowledge and training because there are laws which regulate heights people can safely work at in California. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of four feet in general industry workplaces, five feet in shipyards, six feet in the construction industry, eight feet in longshoring operations and 10 feet in scaffolding work. These cases require extensive knowledge and understanding of OSHA regulations and regulatory experts. These accidents are generally very serious and require seasoned counsel to handle. As an example, we recently obtained a $3,500,000 verdict for our client in a warehouse accident where he fell from a ladder over 20 feet and sustained spinal injuries due to the negligence of the warehouse.