Central Carmel, IN, is one of Indiana’s most walkable urban areas. That walkability has its downsides, though. Drivers who don’t uphold their duty of care can initiate dangerous accidents with bicyclists, pedestrians, and each other. These accidents can result in a myriad of injuries, including substantial spinal cord injuries.
Spinal cord injury accident lawyers in Carmel recognize how devastating these injuries can be to your ability to take care of yourself and your family. If you lose a loved one to a spinal cord injury, it may take months or years for you and your loved ones to emotionally recover.
Fortunately, Vaughan & Vaughan has several combined decades of experience helping survivors like you and your loved ones address spinal cord injuries in civil court. You can work with our Carmel personal injury lawyers to demand that the party responsible for a spinal cord injury accident pay for the losses you or a loved one endured.
Who Takes Responsibility for a Spinal Cord Injury Accident?
You can walk away from a variety of accidents with spinal cord injuries. As such, there’s no designated party who can assume responsibility for every spinal cord injury that today’s attorneys see. If you want to assign blame for a spinal cord injury, you need to investigate the circumstances that led to your accident.
You have a specific responsibility to explain why you believe a certain party violated the duty of care owed to you. That “duty of care” requires all parties operating alongside you to take reasonable steps to protect you from predictable forms of harm.
Parties who engage in deliberate negligence, accident negligence, or recklessness do not uphold their duties and can thus take on responsibility for any injuries, including spinal cord injuries, that they may cause. The evidence you bring forward to prove that another party violated the duty of care owed to you can include the following:
- Video or photo footage of negligence
- Statements from accident bystanders
- Accident recreations
- Statements from expert witnesses
- Debris from the accident
Our attorneys can both gather this information on your behalf and analyze it so it better elaborates on the circumstances that led to your spinal cord injury.
Your Spinal Cord Injury Filing Timeline
Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4 limits the amount of time you have to compile evidence of a violated duty of care in a spinal cord injury case. You have no more than two years to complete your investigation, or else Indiana courts can disregard your request for financial support.
If your spinal injury makes it actively more difficult to meet your daily needs, or if you want someone with tried and true legal experience to comment on your case, you can request that Carmel spinal cord injury attorneys oversee your pursuit of a personal injury claim.
Your Case Will Get
The Attention It Deserves
What’s the Average Spinal Cord Injury Settlement?
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as an average spinal cord injury settlement. Whether you go to court or negotiate for coverage in private negotiations, you need to independently calculate your case’s value. You can refer to other cases and the precedent they’ve set to primarily figure out what damages you may deserve based on your losses.
With the lack of an average settlement in mind, though, make sure you don’t accept an insurance adjuster’s or liable party’s assessment of your case’s value without investigating on your own. Both of these parties prioritize their bottom lines over your spinal cord injury recovery.
In other words, you’re under no obligation to accept the first settlement offer that comes your way. Discuss the value of your spinal cord injury case with an attorney, calculate your possible damages, and defend your right to maximize compensation.
How to Calculate Your Personal Injury Case’s Value
How do you go about calculating the value of a spinal cord injury accident? First, consider your economic losses. What bills can you tie back to your spinal cord injury accident? Emergency services, an ambulance ride, surgeries, and physical therapy all constitute economic losses, meaning that you can demand a liable party compensate you for all of them.
You can also integrate the cost of lost property, lost wages, and lost opportunities for work into the total sum of your economic losses.
Last but not least, you can consider what non-economic impact a spinal cord injury has had on your life. If you find yourself contending with high levels of emotional distress, stress, or mental strain, our team can integrate those losses into your right to compensation. You can learn more about the process we use to value non-economic damages during a free case consultation.
There is no fee
unless you win
How Can You Deal With an Insurance Provider After a Spinal Cord Injury Accident?
There’s more than one way to secure the compensation you need to recover from a spinal cord injury. If you’ve paid for insurance, and your coverage should arguably help you pay your bills, you can file a claim for support with your provider. Unfortunately, not every provider takes a spinal cord injury seriously.
If your insurance provider denies your spinal cord injury claim or significantly undervalues the coverage you should receive through your current plan, let a spinal cord injury attorney in Carmel know. Vaughan & Vaughan can appeal a denied claim or negotiate for more coverage on your behalf.
It’s Time to Schedule Your Spinal Cord Injury Case Evaluation
Don’t let the bills from your spinal cord injury accident pile up. You don’t have to take on that financial burden alone. You can work with Carmel’s spinal cord injury attorneys to hold the party accountable for your accident and responsible for your financial recovery. Vaughan & Vaughan can help you along the way.
You can schedule a case evaluation with our team to discuss how our services might make your recovery more straightforward. You can reach Vaughan & Vaughan online or by phone to arrange your first appointment. We offer these initial consultations free of charge so that you can decide whether or not you want to proceed with legal action without any financial pressure.
