Although many injuries can be painful and dramatically change your life for a period of time, some injuries will never fully heal and can make those life changes permanent.
If you or a family member has been seriously injured because of the negligent or reckless actions of another, an experienced personal injury lawyer at Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi will need to seek justice and compensation. Contact our office for a free consultation with a Memphis catastrophic injury lawyer to learn more about how to recover maximum compensation for your damages.
How a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Could Help You
A catastrophic injury can change your life in many different ways. Our goal is to get you as much compensation as we can. However, the sooner you contact us after your accident, the better our chances will be to do that.
All it takes is one phone call. The consultation is free, and we’ll arrange a time and place for you to meet our catastrophic injury lawyers in Memphis. We have a second office located in Germantown, Tennessee.
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What Makes an Injury “Catastrophic”?
Based on the definition used by the American Medical Association (AMA), a catastrophic injury is a severe injury to the spine, spinal cord, or brain, and it may also include skull or spine fractures. These injuries are severe, life-threatening, and debilitating — often for the rest of your life.
Since you’ve lost a portion of your life because of your injury, we are dedicated to getting you the most money possible to help you cope with your injury. We know you’re hurting – physically and emotionally — and we are here to help. Our lawyers’ experience includes handling serious injury cases in Memphis involving:
- Brain damage (TBI)
- Spinal cord injury and paralysis
- Second- and third-degree burns
- Severe fractures
- Amputation injuries
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Blindness
- Hearing loss
Our lawyers have been handling cases of serious personal injury and wrongful death in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi since 1970.
Causes of Catastrophic Injuries
Many types of incidents can cause catastrophic injuries. These types of accidents often happen suddenly, and understanding the cause of them can be challenging at best. Part of the work our Memphis attorneys will do is try to understand how the catastrophic injury occurred so that we can pursue compensation from those responsible.
The following are some of the scenarios in which a catastrophic incident can occur, but this is not a comprehensive list.
- Motor vehicle accidents: These are some of the most common causes of catastrophic injuries, often resulting from negligence of the other driver. High-speed accidents, drunk driving accidents, and those that are brought on by reckless behavior tend to result in the most damaging of accidents.
- Workplace accidents: These accidents may involve hot surfaces or liquids leading to burns, equipment failures that can cause lacerations or even full amputation, and wrongful death due to falls. Industrial, construction, and manufacturing jobs tend to be the highest risk factors, though any job can lead to a workplace accident.
- Vehicle accidents: This includes boats, bikes, motorcycles, and even just pedestrian accidents. In these situations, the victim is more prone to injury than others because they are not protected by the vehicle itself, often leading to more challenging injuries.
- Medical negligence accidents: Surgical procedures that fail or mistakes by anesthesia doctors can lead to significant injury and long-term damage, including loss of life, brain damage, and infection risks.
- Sports accidents: Many of us have seen injuries in professional sports that can be devastating due to the way a person falls or a bone breaks. This can happen at all levels of play.
- Violent crimes: These accidents may produce devastating losses for the individual, including the loss of life in some situations.
You may have suffered a serious injury from other accidents, too. For example, a fire may be the result of a failed product, and it may have left detrimental damage to your health and well-being. Some people are injured as a result of a fall, leading to long-term mobility or permanent disability.
Defective products, slips and falls, dog bites, and premises liability are all types of injuries in which catastrophic losses can occur.
Understanding Losses in an Injury Case
It is not always possible to fully understand what caused the losses in your case. Our catastrophic injury lawyer will work closely with you to try to uncover what occurred and why.
We can use evidence from multiple sources, insights from professionals and experts, as well as evidence at the scene of the incident to try to piece together what occurred. That can help us to formulate the best settlement for your case.
In all of these cases, it is critical to work with an attorney with ample experience in these types of injuries. That can prove to be critically important since the injuries tend to carry long-term consequences that you may be owed compensation for. Do not settle your case until you speak to our attorneys about your injuries, the cause, and the way it has impacted you.
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How to Recover Compensation for a Catastrophic Injury
There are multiple ways in which you could recover maximum compensation after suffering a catastrophic injury. Two of the most popular ways include filing a claim with the insurance company and bringing your case to civil court. Here is more about each of these options:
Filing an Insurance Claim
Tennessee is a fault state for accidents and insurance purposes. This means when you are involved in an accident, and someone else is responsible for causing your injuries, you will file a claim with their insurance company. This is true whether you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, slip and fall accident, or any other type of accident. In most catastrophic injury claims, the liable party is represented by some type of insurance policy.
This might include renters’ insurance, homeowner’s insurance, general liability insurance, or malpractice insurance, to name a few. When filing a claim with the insurance company, you should be prepared for some pushback. The insurance company is going to lose money if they approve your claim. For this reason, you can expect them to look for opportunities to deny you the benefits you deserve.
It may be in your best interests to have your catastrophic injury attorney in Memphis step in and negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf. This way, you do not have to worry about being taken advantage of in your greatest time of need.
Filing a Civil Lawsuit
Filing a civil claim against the liable party is another way you can recover maximum compensation for your damages. In many cases, injury victims are unable to recover the compensation they need through an insurance settlement. This could be because the insurance company is not required to compensate you beyond the limits of the policyholder’s policy, or the liable party does not have an insurance company for you to file a claim.
Fortunately, since insurance settlements often limit the amount and types of damages you can recover, bringing your case to court may be your best option if you hope to recover maximum compensation for your damages. At trial, you have the opportunity to be made whole. This means you should be repaid for every single loss you suffered as a result of your injuries. At trial, you can recover your economic and non-economic damages in their entirety.
Deadlines for Catastrophic Injury Claims
If you are interested in pursuing your catastrophic injury claim, it is important that you get started on your claim as soon as possible. This is because the statute of limitations for catastrophic injury claims is based on the one-year statute of limitations under Tennessee law.
One year is not a lot of time to build a powerful case against the liable party. That does not mean it cannot be done, but the sooner you get your attorney on your case, the more likely it is that we can recover the time-sensitive evidence that we need to prove liability.
If you attempt to file your lawsuit once the statute of limitations has expired, the defense will simply file a motion to dismiss your case. Sadly, the judge will have no other choice than to grant their motion and bar your case from the Memphis civil court system. Fortunately, when you retain an experienced catastrophic injury attorney to advocate for your rights in Memphis, the statute of limitations will not have a negative impact on your ability to get justice.
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How to Win Your Catastrophic Injury Case
If you hope to recover total compensation for your damages, your attorney will need to prove that someone else is at fault for your injuries. For any personal injury or catastrophic injury claim to be successful, liability will need to be proven based on a preponderance of the evidence.
This is different from the burden of proof at criminal trials, where the prosecutor must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil court, your attorney in Memphis will need to show that the evidence supports the defendant’s liability for your catastrophic injury. To prove negligence, your attorney will need to show that the following four elements have been met:
- Duty of care
- Breach of duty
- Causation
- Damages
There are countless types of evidence that could be used to support your case. The type of accident you were involved in could provide your attorney with the evidence needed to establish liability.
An Example to Win a Catastrophic Injury Case
For example, if you were struck by a commercial truck in Memphis, your catastrophic injury attorney will look at the tractor-trailer’s black box data to uncover vital information that supports the truck driver’s negligence. Other types of evidence that could be used to prove fault in a catastrophic injury claim include:
- Cell phone records
- Police reports
- Accident reconstructionist reports
- Chemical blood alcohol test results
- Police and crash reports
- Forensic evidence
- Photos of the accident scene
- Photos of your injuries
- Photos of property damages
- Dash or body cam footage
- CCTV footage
- Witness statements
- Expert testimony
Fighting for Every Dollar You Are Owed
Our lawyers understand that getting you appropriate compensation for these kinds of serious injuries requires all the more effort. We have had extensive experience and success with these types of cases and can work closely with medical specialists, accountants, life care planners, and other experts to make sure that you’ll have enough resources to provide for your medical care needs, dignity, and quality of life when all is said and done.
Economic and Non-Economic Damages
You have the right to be compensated for every single loss that relates to your catastrophic injury. That includes both economic (financial) and non-economic (non-financial) damages.
Your Memphis attorney will need to closely examine these losses to ensure no loss goes unaccounted for in your catastrophic injury case. Some of the more commonly awarded types of damages include:
- Emotional distress
- Skin scarring, dismemberment, and disfigurement
- Diminished quality of life
- Physical pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of future potential earnings
- Loss of income
- Property damages
- Medical expenses and equipment costs
- Reputational damages
- Inconvenience
- Costs of increased insurance premiums
- Loss of household services
Punitive Damages
You might also be awarded punitive damages depending on the details of your case. These are not a type of special damage you have the right to recover but are instead used as a means of punishing the defendant beyond the damages they are obligated to repay you. The courts will only award punitive damages when they find the defendant’s actions grossly negligent or egregious.
Meet with a Memphis Catastrophic Injury Attorney Today
Whether you come to see us in Memphis or we travel to meet with you in your home or at the hospital, the consultation is free with no strings attached. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Our Memphis catastrophic injury lawyer at Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi handles cases on a contingency basis, which means they do not charge any legal fees unless they obtain a settlement or verdict on your behalf. You have nothing to lose by speaking with our attorneys.
Schedule your no-cost, risk-free consultation when you complete our convenient contact form or call our office to get started on your case.
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