What differentiates a catastrophic injury from another kind of injury? Catastrophic injuries can have a life-changing impact on your ability to care for yourself. These injuries range from traumatic brain damage to the loss of a limb and can make it difficult, if not impossible, for you to restore your previous quality of life.
Suffering the consequences of a catastrophic injury can feel wildly unfair, particularly when you can trace your losses to someone else’s negligence. That’s why Vaughan & Vaughan strives to make it as easy as possible for victims of catastrophic injuries to take action against liable parties. You can work with a catastrophic injury attorney in Lafayette to go to court today. For dedicated legal representation and support in cases involving catastrophic injuries, trust the expertise of a Lafayette Personal Injury Lawyer from Vaughan and Vaughan.
Classifying a Catastrophic Injury
You may face minor injuries after walking away from a slip and fall, car collision, or related personal injury accident. The difference between a catastrophic injury and a mild injury is that condition’s impact on your long-term well-being. For example, if you break your arm, you may have to take time off of work, but you’re likely to fully recover.
If you suffer a catastrophic injury, you may never be able to work, parent, or care for yourself like you used to. These conditions dramatically change the way you go about your day-to-day responsibilities. With that in mind, catastrophic injuries include:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal injuries
- Severe burns
- Injuries requiring amputation
- Injuries resulting in organ damage
You and your loved ones need to work with both medical professionals and catastrophic injury attorneys to best bring your losses to the attention of Lafayette’s civil judges. A professional classification of your injury, paired with an attorney’s experience, can make it easier to secure the compensation you need in the face of your catastrophic condition.
Your Case Will Get
The Attention It Deserves
Taking Action After a Catastrophic Injury
Catastrophic injury survivors like you who want to request compensation after an accident must file complaints, or claims, with Lafayette civil courts before they can summon a liable party to settlement negotiations. Your complaint needs to name the person responsible for your losses and present evidence of that person’s negligence.
Your complaint should also outline the value of your losses and provide courts with an estimate of your desired damages. You must defend your request for financial support if you want to secure it, whether you pursue settlement negotiations or a traditional trial.
At face value, building a civil complaint may seem like a significant amount of work, particularly when you’re still recovering from an accident. Our catastrophic injury lawyers know this. That’s why we strive to make it as easy as possible for Lafayette accident victims to recover while still taking legal action against an at-fault party. Specifically, we can:
- Investigate the nature of your losses
- Present evidence of negligence’s role in your accident
- Identify an at-fault party and present proof of their involvement in your accident
- Establish the estimated value of your case
- File your claim within its deadline
- Communicate with a liable party and their representatives on your behalf
You can discuss the full extent of a personal injury attorney’s available services during your free case consultation.
Acting on Behalf of an Injured Party
There’s a chance that an injured person may not be able to represent themselves in court after enduring a catastrophic injury. In these cases, you may want to step in legally on your loved one’s behalf. In Indiana, however, you can only take action on behalf of an injured party if you serve as that party’s personal executor.
The only time these circumstances change is when the injured party is a child. If you’re the parent of a child who’s endured a catastrophic injury, you can represent your child as you take information about their losses before a judge.
There is no fee
unless you win
Catastrophic Injury Cases Have Economic Value
Recovering from a catastrophic injury is expensive. You and your loved ones have to balance the cost of extensive medical care and at-home assistance while contending with a loss of income. How do you make that sudden change in finances more manageable? When in doubt, you can consult a Lafayette catastrophic injury attorney.
Specifically, you can use a catastrophic personal injury claim to bring your losses to the attention of a judge. Your claim can put forward an estimate of your total losses and demand that a liable party help you contend with your newfound financial strain.
Economic damages are relatively easy to estimate, as they refer to monetary losses like current and future medical bills. Non-economic losses can be more case-specific and refer to things like pain and suffering, stress, and other mental and emotional hardship that can follow a catastrophic injury.
That’s why our catastrophic injury lawyers treat each case individually. We know that no two cases are identical, and we take special care to ensure that we seek all applicable damages to make you and your family whole again.
You Have a Limited Amount of Time to File an Indiana Personal Injury Claim
If you want to take action against the party liable for your catastrophic injury, you need to do so quickly. Indiana puts a cap on the amount of time survivors may take to compile a case against a liable party. Indiana Code §34-11-2-4 specifically states that you must file your claim within two years of the day of your accident.
This deadline is not flexible. If you try to bring your complaint forward after your two-year deadline has passed, Indiana courts can deny you your right to damages. Your complaint must be on a county clerk’s desk within the state’s personal injury statute of limitations if you want to take action against a liable party.
The good news is that when you work with a personal injury attorney, you’re not building a civil complaint on your own. Our team knows how to keep you one step ahead of looming legal deadlines. We can make the most of your two-year research period and help you present a comprehensive catastrophic injury complaint to your county clerk within your filing deadline.
Schedule a Free Case Consultation ASAP
In the hours, days, and weeks following an emergency, you may not think that the difference between a temporary condition and a catastrophic injury bears all that much weight in your life. In reality, the difference between a catastrophic injury and a less-severe injury can impact your opportunities to recover and your right to legal recourse.
You, your loved ones, and/or a personal representative can meet with the Lafayette catastrophic injury attorneys at Vaughan & Vaughan to appropriately categorize the injury you’re contending with. When the time is right, we can take legal action against a liable party. Contact us online or over the phone today to learn more about your right to damages in civil court.
