What Damages Can You Recover in Catastrophic Injury Cases?

Posted on February 6, 2025 in Personal Injury

After suffering a catastrophic injury, there is a high likelihood that your life will never be the same again. Not only are you struggling to keep up with the economic costs of your injuries, but you cannot earn money to pay them. You have likely suffered significant damages for which you will need compensation.

When you can prove that someone else’s negligence was the cause of your catastrophic injury, they have a legal obligation to compensate you. While this may sound simple in theory, getting to this point is highly complicated. You must know the value of your case and prepare to fight the insurance company every step of the way until it pays you.

You should always hire a catastrophic injury attorney to lead this battle. Not only are you unable to deal with anything on your own during this difficult time, but you also do not have the legal knowledge to understand the value of your case and ensure you receive the money you deserve. A catastrophic injury lawyer will begin work on your case by conducting a full investigation. Then, they will quantify your damages before filing a claim or lawsuit on your behalf. Your attorney will not easily let the insurance company off the hook when it tries to pay you less than the full amount that you deserve. If you do not have a lawyer, speak to a catastrophic injury attorney today to learn more about your legal rights.

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What Is a Catastrophic Injury?

A catastrophic injury can result in permanent or long-term damages to your person or cognitive abilities. You will have to deal with a devastating injury for the rest of your life, and you will rarely fully recover. If you do, it only comes after a long and grueling rehabilitation period. In the meantime, you will incur significant financial expenses and miss out on many things.

Examples of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries may include the following:

• Amputation of the loss of usage of one of your limbs
• A spinal cord injury that prevents you from using one or more limbs
• A traumatic brain injury that may take away your cognitive abilities
• Severe scarring to a prominent part of your body, such as your face
• Severe damage to one or more of your internal organs
• Severe burn injuries

Here, you will require one or more surgical procedures and an extensive amount of time in rehabilitation. Even still, you will likely only recover up to a certain point. Your injury may be so severe that you cannot recover at all.

You Must Know the Exact Value of Your Case

Besides proof that someone else was negligent and the cause of your injuries, knowledge about the value of your case is the most key information you can have in a lawsuit. Before you can approach the insurance company or file a lawsuit in court, you must know how much you seek damages. You will not come by this information on your own because there are numerous elements of your catastrophic injury compensation, some of which may be subjective. Every dollar part of your damages represents something you have lost, whether an actual monetary loss or a negative effect on your life.

You will learn the value of your case after your catastrophic injury lawyer reviews your situation. They will gain an understanding of your prognosis and what your life may be like in the future when living with your injuries. A catastrophic injury attorney may work with several expert witnesses to gain greater insight into your damages. These expert witnesses may even testify at trial when you are trying to prove your damages.

Your catastrophic injury lawyers may be unable to come up with an estimate of your damages at first. You must first recover to the fullest extent possible, where additional medical treatment will not improve your condition. When you have suffered a catastrophic injury, you will never fully recover, and you will be living with the effects of your injury for a long time to come.

Before filing a claim or lawsuit, you must understand how your catastrophic injury lawyer calculates your damages. Because you have suffered a severe injury, you can expect that your case is worth a fair amount of money. If you do not know the exact value, you risk getting less than you deserve because you may accept a lower settlement offer.

Economic Losses from Your Catastrophic Injury

Your catastrophic injury likely involves high costs for your care. These are a part of your economic damages for which you will receive compensation. Your past and future medical bills are part of your settlement or award, and you should know your future medical expenses because you can receive compensation for them now. You cannot come back for more money in the future as you need it.

Medical expenses can include any necessary equipment and retrofitting your home to accommodate your disability. Your damages will also include the lost earnings from your job. Your catastrophic injury may keep you from working entirely, or it may prevent you from doing the job that you did before you suffered an injury. The party responsible for your injury must pay you for your lost income and any reduction in your earnings capacity. Your catastrophic injury lawyer may work with a vocational expert to determine how much you could have earned if you had the ability to continue working uninterrupted. However, the insurance company may disagree with this viewpoint.

Non-Economic Damages from Your Catastrophic Injury

Non-economic damages make up a large part of your catastrophic injury settlement and represent the intangible effects of your injury. Although these are non-monetary, you can still receive compensation for them. You have lost certain things due to your catastrophic injury, and you have the legal right to get paid.

Your injury has many different impacts on your life, and pain and suffering are perhaps the most significant part of your non-economic damages. Your catastrophic injury may have left you in a considerable amount of physical pain, which you may experience for the rest of your life. In turn, the physical pain can also cause depression and other mental health issues. Knowing you may never be the same again can hurt your emotional well-being. Pain and suffering encompass any discomfort that you have experienced after your accident and will endure in the future.

Your pain and suffering damages should be subjective and unique to you and your situation. After all, you are the one who is dealing with the effects of your injury, and you know its impact on you. However, insurance companies for anything that they consider subjective. They try to eliminate the subjective in favor of a formula that they claim is objective and depends on the severity of your injury.

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How the Insurance Company Estimates Pain and Suffering

When you have suffered a permanent catastrophic injury, insurance companies will try to use a formula called the multiplier method to arrive at the amount of money that they offer you for pain and suffering damages. They will apply a multiplier to your medical bills to determine this number. For example, if the insurance company estimates your past and future medical bills at $200,000 and uses a multiplier of four, your pain and suffering damages will be worth $800,000. The insurance company may use a multiplier of up to five, depending on the severity of your injury.

The multiplier method may not accurately capture your situation and result in underpaying you for your injuries. You cannot tell your story when the insurance company tries to use a reflexive and mechanical formula. You may respond to your injuries differently than another accident victim, so using the same formula to calculate your pain and suffering damages does not make sense. Your catastrophic injury attorney will fight to tell your story, and they will be as aggressive as necessary to get the insurance company to listen.

Other Aspects of Your Non-Economic Damages

Other elements of non-economic damages can lead to additional compensation for your catastrophic injury. For example, you may have permanent disfigurement when your catastrophic injury has affected a specific body part. Non-economic damages include payment for scarring and disfigurement that can affect your appearance for the rest of your life. Your appearance may limit what you can do in life, including advancing at your job and forming certain relationships, which should increase your compensation.

You can also receive emotional distress damages from the accident. The experience of the accident and the immediate aftermath may leave you with haunting memories that you have to live with indefinitely. You may be dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, which keeps you from doing activities or living the most normal life that you can with your injuries. The responsible party should pay you for emotional distress, but you need to have the condition diagnosed and treated by a mental health professional.

Even your spouse may have the legal right to damages if there has been a loss of consortium. They can receive compensation for the loss of the physical relationship that they had with you if it has been affected by your catastrophic injury.

Take Steps to Document Your Non-Economic Damages

You need to do everything you can to begin documenting your non-economic damages as soon as possible after the accident. You can offer testimony from family and friends who have spent time with you since you suffered an injury. Record your experience since the accident and what you go through daily.

You can expect insurance companies to challenge your account of your damages because they do not want to pay you the full amount. You must prepare to fight them on your non-economic damages and any other aspect of your claim. A catastrophic injury lawyer will stand up for your legal rights at every step.

You never have to accept the insurance company’s offer if it does not make economic sense. If the settlement offer is too low, you are free to reject it, and that is what you should do under the circumstances. Your catastrophic injury attorney will continue negotiating with the insurance company until it fairly pays you. Sometimes, your catastrophic injury settlement will come after you have filed a lawsuit but before your case goes to trial. Insurance companies are afraid to go up against you in court because you may make a very sympathetic plaintiff in the eyes of the jury. Juries can award you significant funds, forcing insurance companies to pay you a lot.

Hire a Catastrophic Injury Attorney as Soon as Possible

When you are dealing with the physical, emotional, and financial aftermath of a catastrophic injury, you may feel like you are fighting alone. However, a catastrophic injury attorney can offer you the guidance and representation you need during this challenging time. These attorneys understand catastrophic injury cases and have the knowledge and experience to handle the legal system on your behalf.

One of the most significant advantages of hiring a catastrophic injury attorney is that they work on a contingency fee basis. This arrangement means they do not require any upfront payment, and their fees are contingent on successfully recovering your compensation. You will not owe them anything if they do not win your case. This fee structure allows individuals who may not have the financial resources for an attorney to seek justice and recover the compensation they deserve.

In addition to not requiring out-of-pocket fees, catastrophic injury attorneys offer free initial consultations. During this consultation, you can discuss the details of your case, ask questions, and determine if working with the attorney is the right choice for you. This meeting allows you to explore your legal options without any financial commitment.

It is important to remember that catastrophic injury cases can be incredibly complex, involving medical records, expert testimony, and extensive legal procedures. By hiring an attorney, you gain legal representation and a team of professionals who will advocate for your rights and ensure you receive the maximum compensation possible.

If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, reach out to a personal injury attorney today and take the first step toward securing the justice and compensation you deserve.

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