Damage to the spinal cord can have permanent and debilitating effects that irreversibly alter the course of your life. Returning to work, participating in personal pursuits, or even completing daily tasks can be a challenge and treatment can require expensive emergency medical care and rehabilitative services.
Fortunately, an experienced injury attorney may be able to help you recover fair compensation for all those losses and more through a civil claim against the party responsible for your injury. By working with an qualified Bloomington spinal cord injury lawyer, you could significantly strengthen your case for compensation and get help with maximizing your recovery, while making the process much easier for you and your family.
The Lifelong Impact of Spinal Cord Damage
The spinal cord is essential to everything from coordination to sensory signals to basic movement in every part of the body. If the spinal cord suffers damage, the brain’s ability to communicate with parts of the body below the injury is impeded, and since the spinal cord cannot heal itself the way other body parts do, the damage done may be permanent.
Since civil litigation always revolves around recovering monetarily for specific losses, the value of a spinal cord injury claim depends on how severe the damage sustained is. Incomplete spinal cord injuries, while still devastating, often do not result in total loss of sensation and may even have good prognoses for recovery over time, so ensuing civil claims may fortunately not need to account for lifelong losses of earning capacity and enjoyment of life.
The same cannot be said for complete spinal cord injuries, which involve the spinal cord being completely severed and invariably result in total paralysis below the injury site. A Bloomington attorney could help you seek appropriate compensation for any type of spinal cord damage, for both past and future and for both economic and non-economic losses.
Potential Obstacles to Effective Recovery
Despite the debilitating nature of spine trauma, civil cases based on these types of injuries are not immune from the restrictions state law establishes on all forms of personal injury litigation. The two-year statutory filing deadline set by 735 Illinois Compiled Statutes §5/13-202 applies to most spinal cord injury claims. Unfortunately, in some cases due to the slow healing process following spinal injuries, it can be difficult to fully evaluate an injured person’s damages before the statute of limitations expires, but it remains vital to have a lawsuit on file within the statute of limitations. Please note that the two-year statute of limitations applies to most spinal cord injury cases, but it does not apply in every case. The best way to determine what deadlines apply to your case is a free consultation with an experienced injury lawyer.
In addition to obstacles posed by the statute of limitations, injury victims often experience added insult to injury when defendants and their insurance companies try to shift the blame to the injured person. It is important to have legal counsel to help you combat suggestions of “comparative fault.” Under Illinois law, if you are found partially responsible for the circumstances causing your injury, you may be subject to a proportional reduction in recoverable compensation based on the percentage of fault assigned to you, in accordance with 735 ILCS §5/2-1116.
Ensuring that these and other potential pitfalls do not get in the way of effective recovery is a big reason why retaining a skilled lawyer can be so important following a spinal cord injury in Bloomington.
Seek Help from a Bloomington Spinal Cord Injury Attorney
Because of the seriousness of damages that a spinal cord injury can produce, it is especially important to get help and not to try to go through the claims process alone. Insurance companies and defense lawyers will fight hard to keep you from getting the compensation you need, and unfortunately, you may have slim odds of effectively fighting back without qualified legal counsel on your side.
Help is available throughout every step of your claim from a dedicated Bloomington spinal cord injury lawyer. Learn more about legal options by calling today for a free consultation
