Indiana refers to catastrophic injuries with the term “catastrophic” for a reason. While accident survivors like you can recover from catastrophic injuries, said injuries have the power to irrevocably transform your life. When you can trace these losses to someone else’s negligence, the injustice of your situation can feel as though it’s compounded on itself.
The good news is that there are steps you can take, after a catastrophic injury, to pursue justice for your losses. You can collaborate with a Carmel, IN, catastrophic injury attorney to bring your case to a judge’s attention. Then, together, you can fight for the financial support you need to contend with the economic strain brought on by your catastrophic loss.
Taking Legal Action After a Catastrophic Injury
Indiana civil courts understand that catastrophic injuries demand significant attention. You have the right to pursue long-term medical care while also building a personal injury claim against the person or parties responsible for your accident. That said, you must still abide by the filing deadline the state sets for its personal injury lawsuits.
The state outlines this deadline in Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4. According to the personal injury statute of limitations, you and a catastrophic injury attorney in Carmel have only two years to build your lawsuit. You cannot file your lawsuit if the statute of limitations applicable to your case expires.
Do You Need an Attorney to File a Catastrophic Injury Lawsuit?
You don’t need an attorney to file a catastrophic injury claim. That said, working with an attorney can make the process of filing your claim simpler, particularly in the face of what physical limitations you may have to contend with. A Carmel catastrophic injury attorney can help you:
- Investigate your accident and bring forward relevant evidence
- Estimate the total value of your losses
- Manage communications with the liable party and relevant insurance providers
- Keep track of your filing deadline
- Prepare for presentations in civil court
- Arrange private negotiations for settlement
We can discuss the range of our available services during your initial consultation with our team. Vaughan & Vaughan wants to give you as much control over your catastrophic injury case proceedings as possible.
Who Can File a Catastrophic Injury Lawsuit?
There’s a chance that a catastrophic injury may make it difficult for you or a loved one to represent yourselves in civil court. If you want to take civil action on a loved one’s behalf, you can only do so if you serve as that person’s personal executor. You do not have an automatic right to represent a loved one in court by merit of being related or married to them.
If you want to take legal action on another person’s behalf, you need to discuss your right to represent them with an attorney. Our team can hammer out the details of your loved one’s case. We can also determine if there might be another way for you to secure post-accident damages if you can’t act on a loved one’s behalf.
Your Case Will Get
The Attention It Deserves
Understanding a Catastrophic Injury Lawsuit
Before you file a catastrophic injury lawsuit with a Carmel civil court, you need to appropriately classify your losses. Catastrophic injury accidents differ from normal losses because they permanently change your ability to meet your day-to-day needs. Examples of catastrophic injuries that can appear in Carmel’s civil courts can include:
- Permanent or temporary paralysis
- Amputations
- Long-term illnesses
- Blindness or loss of related senses
- Multiple broken bones
Our team can present evidence of the severity of your losses when we first bring your case to a judge’s attention. As such, we may win the right for you to request more substantial damages for your losses than you might receive in a less severe personal injury case.
There is no fee
unless you win
Investigating Your Catastrophic Injury
When it comes time to pursue compensation for your losses, you need to ensure that the complaint you submit comprehensively addresses:
- The identity of the person responsible for your accident
- The total value of your case, based on your economic and non-economic losses
- The evidence you have defending your position
You must have this information integrated into your complaint if you want your case to move forward. It’s our job to build the assertions in your complaint by analyzing the evidence from your accident. We rely on our decades of experience to explain the nature of the negligence that caused your accident forward in either negotiations or a trial.
Bring Forward Evidence of Your Relevant Losses
You must bring forward evidence if you want to defend your claims of fault and your demands for compensation. The evidence that can defend your assertions of fault can include:
- Statements from bystanders who witnessed your accident
- Pictures of physical debris at the scene of the accident
- Video footage of the accident
- Statements and accident recreations provided by expert witnesses
- Police reports
You should also keep track of what invoices or bills you receive from applicable parties. You can submit those bills as evidence of the economic cost of your accident. Catastrophic injury lawyers in Carmel can then find the sum of those bills and submit an estimate of your case’s total value alongside your assertion of fault.
Don’t Sacrifice Your Right to Time in Court
Catastrophic injuries permanently upend your life. That doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your time before a judge, though. You can work with a Carmel, IN, catastrophic injury lawyer to outline a civil complaint and then present your case for a settlement. If the time comes to defend your claim, you can count on our team to guide you through negotiations or a trial.
Vaughan & Vaughan has decades of experience guiding accident survivors like you through the ins and outs of Indiana’s civil court system. If you’re ready to hold a liable party accountable for the negligence, contact our office. We can schedule your first obligation-free case consultation over the phone or through our website today.
