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Newport Beach Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
Any kind of personal injury can sidetrack your day-to-day plans and leave you with unexpected expenses and personal losses, but a particularly calamitous accident can have effects that last for the rest of your life. If someone else’s negligence has left you with a permanent disability, disfigurement, or loss of capacity, recovering compensation through civil litigation may become a virtual necessity if you want to maintain your financial security.
However, seeking restitution for long-term expenses and lifelong disabilities can be immensely difficult without assistance from a qualified personal injury attorney. If you suffered a devastating injury in an accident another person caused, contacting a Newport Beach catastrophic injury lawyer should be high on your list of priorities.
What Makes an Injury Catastrophic?
Currently, there is no specific statute enshrined in California state law that defines what a “catastrophic injury” is in the context of civil litigation. Generally speaking, an injury qualifies as catastrophic if it results in long-term or permanent harm that negatively impacts the victim’s ability to work for a living, but the circumstances that could cause such an injury and the specific form that injury takes vary significantly from case to case.
In Newport Beach, catastrophic injury attorneys most often help people injured in motor vehicle crashes, construction and manufacturing accidents, and mistakes made by medical professionals. However, any incident borne from negligence that causes severe damage to the spine, brain, or nervous system, or which results in the amputation of a limb, may form the basis for a personal injury lawsuit.
Recovering for All Available Forms of Compensation
Compared to a typical personal injury case, claims based around catastrophic injuries tend to be focused much more specifically on the long-term effects of the harm the plaintiff suffered. While short-term losses like emergency medical expenses could be factored into a settlement demand, it may be more important to focus on expenses that occur over the years to come, like physical therapy bills, costs of modifications to their home, and the loss of income and earning capacity that their injury leaves them with.
In addition, non-economic damages like loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium with family, and general pain and suffering often play a significant role in these kinds of cases too. An experienced catastrophic accident lawyer could help identify what specific damages may be recoverable for a plaintiff in Newport Beach.
Potential Obstacles to Recovery
Like with any personal injury lawsuit, it is important for catastrophic injury plaintiffs to ensure they are not unduly held liable for causing their own injuries. While legal precedent in California does not set a maximum amount of liability a plaintiff can bear before they are barred from recovery altogether, their damage award may be reduced by a court in proportion to their percentage of fault.
Additionally, California Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 sets a deadline of two years from the date of an injurious incident in which an injury victim may file suit against a party they allege to be liable. Certain exceptions may extend this deadline to some degree, but it is always good practice to prepare and file any civil case as soon as possible, especially if it involves an injury with lifelong consequences.
Discuss Legal Options with a Newport Beach Catastrophic Injury Attorney
In order to effectively recover following a catastrophic accident, you must consider what compensation you need not only for short-term losses, but also what financial needs and losses your injury may cause many years down the road. Furthermore, you must be able to demonstrate liability based on a preponderance of available evidence, which can be tricky for someone unaffiliated with California civil law to manage by themselves.
Instead of working on your case alone, enlist the assistance of a dedicated legal professional. Call a Newport Beach catastrophic injury lawyer today to start working on your claim.