Any injury sustained in an accident has the potential impose significant financial and personal losses. However, when someone else’s negligence results in a permanent disability or disfigurement, you may have grounds for legal recourse.
What Makes Traumatic Injury Claims Unique?
While catastrophic injuries are considered particularly severe due to their permanent and debilitating nature, devastating injury cases in the context of civil law are no different from any other personal injury claim. Successful recovery still requires a claimant’s to prove that a defendant was negligent in some way and directly resulted in a claimant’s compensable losses. Due to the long-term impact of a catastrophic injury, any settlement demand or lawsuit must account for the long-term economic and non-economic losses that injury causes.
This includes home modification costs, bills for rehabilitative care and in-home assistance, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. However, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003 sets a two-year filing deadline on personal injury litigation regardless of how severe the injury in question is. As the full extent of a claimant’s losses may not be known in that time, a knowledgeable attorney may bring in local experts to determine the future impact of a catastrophic injury.
