A catastrophic injury caused by an accident affects not only the victim but their entire family in tragic, long-lasting ways. For the victim, the effects can be devastating as they lose their independence and the life they once knew. Families also suffer from seeing their loved ones harmed as they struggle to adjust to caretaking roles and covering frequent medical bills.
While a catastrophic accident changes everything permanently, having a compassionate support network and pursuing fair compensation and accountability can help both you and your family move forward. The compassionate team at Sargent Law can help you get the financial compensation you need.
Our award-winning Idaho personal injury firm has represented thousands of clients and secured more than $40 million in compensation for the victims of accidents that were caused by negligence. Call us at 844-SARGENT for a free consultation, or use our online contact form to learn how we can help your family.
Types of Accidents Our Boise Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Represent
In any accident caused by another party’s negligence, the Boise personal injury lawyers at Sargent Law Firm can protect your rights. Here are some of the most common types of accidents that result in catastrophic injuries:
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Construction accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Slip and fall injuries
Are you uncertain whether your accident qualifies for a catastrophic injury claim? Your story matters to us. Our dedicated team is here to listen to the specifics of your accident, understand how it has impacted your life, and assess your case.
What Classifies as a Catastrophic Injury?
Typically, the legal definition of a catastrophic injury refers to severe, debilitating injuries that have permanent and life-altering impacts on the victim. Some key types of injuries that are considered catastrophic include:
- Spinal cord injuries – Damage to the spinal cord that results in permanent paralysis or loss of function in the limbs. This includes paraplegia and quadriplegia.
- Traumatic brain injuries – Injury to the brain that impairs cognitive abilities, behavior, speech, vision, memory, and physical function. It can include concussions as well as severe TBIs.
- Amputation – Loss of a limb or part of a limb, such as a finger or hand. Even the loss of one limb can have devastating impacts.
- Severe/disfiguring burns – Burns, especially electrical or chemical burns, that impact significant areas of the body and skin and may require extensive treatments or grafting.
- Loss of vision or hearing – Partial or complete irreversible loss of one of the key senses.
- Multiple organ damage – Trauma that impacts the function of multiple bodily organs.
The common thread is that these catastrophic injuries have severe, lifelong impacts that drastically undermine quality of life and the ability to return to work and perform everyday activities.
How Much Is a Catastrophic Injury Claim in Boise Worth?
Although it’s impossible to put an exact dollar amount on your claim, when a catastrophic injury occurs due to the negligence of another party, the values of legal claims brought by victims tend to be substantially higher than an average or minor personal injury case. That’s because catastrophic injuries have profound, permanent impacts on a victim’s health, employment capacity, income potential, independence, and quality of life.
The economic costs alone tend to stack up quickly when disability, loss of income, and significant medical care or adaptations to homes/vehicles are factored over the victim’s lifespan. The at-fault party typically must pay higher non-economic claims as well – for tangible pain and suffering when disability or disfigurement substantially undermines enjoyment of life.
Several factors determine the value a lawyer will put on your claim. To learn more about the value of your claim, reach out to the team at Sargent Law to schedule a free consultation. Once we have had a chance to learn more about your story and examine your situation, we can estimate how much your claim may be worth.
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Schedule NowDamages You Can Collect After a Boise Catastrophic Injury
When a catastrophic injury occurs due to another party’s negligence, considerable economic and non-economic damages are at stake, which skilled personal injury attorneys fight to secure for victims and their families.
Economic damages alone can be extremely costly when totaling current and estimated future medical bills, equipment costs, lost income and benefits, in-home healthcare assistance, and modifications to homes and vehicles. The sheer volume of tangible expenses stemming from permanent disability or impairment is massive, especially when considered across decades.
Likewise, non-economic damages reflect the more intangible but equally devastating impacts on quality of life, like loss of mobility, independence, enjoyment of activities, dignity, comfort, consortium, and life milestones. Assigning dollar values to these losses attempts to account for how much daily living and well-being are profoundly disrupted after a traumatic injury.
How a Boise Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Can Help You During the Claims Process
A catastrophic injury lawyer in Boise can provide invaluable help and support to families during an emotionally and financially devastating time. Some of the ways we can help include:
- Handling urgent medical lien negotiations with hospitals so you can focus on recovery and care rather than bills.
- Coordinating discussions with health insurance providers regarding coverage of treatments, equipment, home health care, and rehabilitation expenses.
- Retaining highly trained life care planning experts to fully assess long-term medical equipment, accommodation, and caretaking costs to enable independence.
- Freezing assets and establishing special needs trusts to protect eligibility for public assistance programs while still retaining compensation.
- Negotiating fair settlement offers from insurance companies that attempt to take advantage of suffering families. Lawyers can serve as determined advocates.
- Allowing family members to prioritize being emotionally present and making medical decisions without stress over claim processes.
- Reducing uncertainty around the future by forecasting needs across the injured person’s lifespan and securing adequate compensation.
Although we can’t undo the damage this incident has caused, we can significantly help you along the road to stability and security. We have more than 400 five-star reviews and pages of client testimonials that show our dedication to our clients.
You Have a Time Limit to File a Catastrophic Injury Claim in Idaho
Idaho Statutes § 5-219 states that the victims of catastrophic injuries generally have two years to file a claim for compensation. There are a few qualifications around this two-year statute of limitations, including exceptions for minors who suffer catastrophic injuries and for people who were injured on government-owned property.
Meeting these strict deadlines is crucial to securing fair life-long compensation after a life-altering accident in Idaho. Your injury lawyer will ensure the claim is filed before the statute of limitations cutoffs apply.
How a Boise Catastrophic Injury Attorney Establishes Liability
A catastrophic injury attorney takes strategic steps to establish liability in an injury claim to obtain fair compensation for victims and families in the Boise area:
- We thoroughly investigate the accident. This includes obtaining police reports, interviewing witnesses, visiting the accident scene, reviewing equipment/property conditions, and consulting independent experts.
- We identify all negligent parties. We analyze who designed, manufactured, operated, maintained, supervised, or owned the dangerous property or instrumentality that caused catastrophic harm.
- We prove a duty of care was owed. Our lawyers demonstrate that the identified negligent parties had a reasonable duty of care toward the injured victim’s safety, which they failed to uphold.
- We show breach of duty through unsafe actions. This points to specific negligent actions like failure to inspect equipment, not fixing known hazards, operating machinery unsafely, etc.
- We establish a causal link from breach to injury. This proves the identified breaches of duty caused the accident and subsequent profound injuries rather than other intervening factors.
- We calculate damages from the harm suffered. This quantifies past and future medical bills, lost earning potential, rehabilitation, and assistive living costs and assigns values for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
- We hold all negligent parties accountable. This ensures that every entity responsible for the accident bears liability, not just those who are the easiest to prove were at fault.
Securing full accountability and maximum compensation requires diligent investigation, thorough documentation, asset identification, and aggressive negotiation tactics. Let us handle these steps for you when you already have so much to cope with.
It’s free to speak with us and learn the value of your case today.
Call Us NowGet a Free Consultation With a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer in Boise
Catastrophic injuries like brain damage, paralysis, amputation, severe burns, blindness, and deafness drastically undermine quality of life and require considerable care for decades. The at-fault parties should be held accountable.
The Sargent Law Firm knows how to handle the complex legal, insurance, and liability questions around catastrophic accident claims while reducing the burden on families. Our dedicated catastrophic injury lawyers in Boise have secured millions in verdicts and settlements for injured Idaho residents requiring lifetime medical care and rehabilitation.
Let our compassionate and aggressive lawyers seek the compensation you deserve after a catastrophic incident. Call us at 844-SARGENT for a free consultation, or contact us through our online contact form to learn more about how we can help you seek justice in Idaho.