No matter how it happens, an accident resulting in permanent paralysis is a devastating experience, especially if it was caused by another person’s carelessness or recklessness. Even if no amount of money can restore you to your pre-accident state, you still deserve to be paid fairly for your injury-related losses and setbacks.
In these scenarios, an experienced Live Oak paralysis injury lawyer could provide invaluable assistance from beginning to end of your legal proceedings. On top of helping you establish that someone else bears fault for causing your damages, your dedicated catastrophic injury attorney can work diligently to ensure that accusations of comparative fault made against you do not unfairly restrict the amount of compensation you can obtain.
Paralysis, or the loss of sensation or motor function in a particular region or part of the body, can be caused by traumatic injuries in a number of ways, the most common of which is damage to the spinal cord inside the spine’s vertebrae. Depending on where along the spine the damage occurs and how much the spinal cord is severed, this form of trauma can result in a few forms of impairment. Some claimants might be left with paraplegia, which refers to paralysis below the waist, while others might be left with quadriplegia, paralysis of the whole body below the neck.
Traumatic brain damage can also result in paralysis, either from an external impact that causes damage to the brain or a medical problem such as a stroke that results in the brain being deprived of oxygen. While brain injuries can cause paraplegia and quadriplegia, it can also sometimes cause more localized paralysis. For instance, someone might experience hemiplegia in just the left or just the right side of the body, or monoplegia in a single limb.
Nerve damage from penetrating injuries or severe burns can also result in these forms of paralysis, unfortunately with equally slim chances of long-term recovery in many cases. Regardless of the form or source of paralysis, a dedicated Live Oak attorney can tenaciously pursue fair restitution for every short-term and long-term negative effect that the injury has.
It is important to understand that proving someone else directly contributed to causing a paralyzing injury through their own negligence does not always mean they will bear 100 percent liability for financial compensation. In fact, under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §33.001, a paralyzed person found by a court to be more responsible for causing their own losses than all other people involved in their case combined is ineligible to recover any civil compensation at all.
Furthermore, TX Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §33.012 allows courts to reduce how much compensation a single plaintiff can recover based on any lesser share of total fault they hold. For example, a person found 20 percent to blame for their paralyzing accident compared to a defendant’s 80 percent would be restricted to recovering for 80 percent of their total losses at most. A paralysis injury lawyer in Live Oak can be a vital ally when it comes to fighting back against accusations of comparative fault along these lines.
Being paralyzed because another person acted carelessly or recklessly can be incomparably frustrating and traumatizing, especially if your injury will keep you from working or participating in favorite hobbies ever again. Holding that other person financially liable for your injury may be key not just to maximizing your quality of life and getting the financial compensation you deserve.
Thankfully, help is available from experienced legal professionals who know how to fight and win on behalf of people just like you. Contact a Live Oak paralysis injury lawyer today to get started.