Why Choose The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia?
The Cochran Firm is home to some of the most experienced, accomplished spinal cord injury attorneys in the Philadelphia area. Attorney Robert Miller has received many awards and recognitions for his work in personal injury law and has a reputation across Pennsylvania and New Jersey for his successful outcomes in spinal injury cases.
The Cochran Firm understands the life-altering impact of a spinal injury. We know that gaining fair compensation is essential for a family to cope with the pervasive negative consequences to finances and other areas of life after a spinal injury.
Our dedicated team of Philadelphia spinal injury attorneys has the skills and resources to build a strong case for maximum compensation after a spinal injury in Philadelphia.
A spinal cord injury claim often brings a high compensation, but delaying legal action hurts your chances of being paid. If you or a close family member has experienced injury or you lost a loved one to death due to a spinal cord injury in Philadelphia, the time to take action is now. Call 800-969-4400 today to schedule a consultation with a spinal cord lawyer at The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia.
How a Philadelphia Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Can Maximize Your Compensation
A Spinal Cord Lawyer Helps Gain You Money for Damages You Might Not Consider
A Philadelphia personal injury case centered around a spinal injury can bring significant compensation. In Pennsylvania, you can seek three forms of compensation in a personal injury case: economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
Economic damages are the expenses and financial losses that have a demonstrable amount. Establishing a comprehensive financial goal for economic damages can be a long process, especially when a spinal accident victim faces the need for ongoing medical care, like future surgeries and therapy.
It may be necessary for your spinal injury attorney to work with medical professionals and other experts to identify what the long-term costs of care will be.
The other primary form of damages a Philadelphia spinal cord injury lawyer will help establish are non-economic damages. This can be a source of significant compensation. A spinal injury profoundly alters the quality of life of the injury victim and their loved ones. In Pennsylvania, common forms of non-economic damages include:
- Emotional anguish
- Pain and suffering
- Humiliation
- Disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of companionship.
When a spinal injury has left a person unable to use the restroom unassisted or unable to participate in family life, an experienced Philadelphia spinal injury attorney can help maximize your compensation by including factors like these into the consideration of overall damages.
Finally, some spinal cord injury cases qualify for punitive damages. Punitive damages are a form of punishment for excessive or intentional negligence on the part of the responsible party. It’s less common to receive these in a personal injury case, but sometimes a judge will order them to be paid in addition to the amounts awarded for economic and non-economic damages.
You may know you’re entitled to money after a spinal injury, but you might be surprised by just how large a settlement you can gain when a Philadelphia spinal cord injury lawyer builds a case on your behalf.
For more information on how our team can consider all of your losses to maximize your potential compensation, call The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia at 800-969-4400 today.
Philadelphia Spinal Cord Lawyers Fight to Prove You’re Owed Money
Proving Negligence Takes a Skilled Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Any successful spinal injury case depends on one key element — proving that the other party was negligent. Negligence is a concept in personal injury law that helps determine who is responsible for damages after an injury.
Negligence has four main parts:
- The responsible party owed a duty of care to the injured victim.
- That duty of care was breached.
- That breach led to demonstrable injuries.
- You can prove your damages in court.
Proving this four-part definition of negligence is necessary for winning any spinal injury case. However, how your attorney achieves this can vary widely based on the circumstances of your accident. When an injury is caused by a slip and fall accident, the steps to proving negligence look very different than in a case in which an injury resulted from an auto accident case.
The state of Pennsylvania only allows injury victims two years to initiate a civil case over a spinal injury. If you hope to successfully gain compensation, you need to begin speaking with a Philadelphia spinal injury attorney immediately so they have time to build your case.
How a Philadelphia Spinal Cord Injury Attorney Identifies a Fair Compensation Amount
Spinal Cord Injury Compensation Should Match the Level of Injury
The nature of a spinal cord injury means there’s a high likelihood of significant medical expenses and lost earning ability. It’s also common for a spinal injury victim to need assistive care to complete basic daily tasks like grooming and eating. The families of spinal cord injury victims often struggle to afford the costs of an assisted living facility or an in-home caretaker.
A
- Impact on quality of life
- Severity of injuries
- Long-term medical prognosis
- Costs of ongoing medical care
- Age, life expectancy, and expected earnings
- How injuries impact family involvement and finances.
Ultimately, the ability of your legal team to craft a strong argument and consider all factors significantly impacts your outcome. Experienced spinal cord injury lawyers routinely recover compensation for hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of dollars.
The Type of Spinal Cord Injury Impacts Your Case Value
Severe Spinal Cord Injuries Lead to Higher Payouts
Any form of spinal injury can lead to significant compensation. However, not all spinal cord injuries are alike.
The spinal column is responsible for many physical abilities and functions. Injury to this body part can have a wide range of outcomes. The severity of the injury and the chance of recovery can vary by case, and these factors have a direct bearing on compensation.
Individuals fortunate enough to make a full recovery after a spinal injury may still find themselves saddled with excessive medical debt and chronic pain that continues for a lifetime.
In many cases, a spinal injury brings a more tragic outcome. Some victims may find themselves paralyzed, with no hope of recovery, while others may experience impacted cognitive function, with serious consequences for speaking and thinking — not to mention how it can affect an individual’s personality.
Maximizing compensation requires working with an experienced team of spinal cord injury attorneys familiar with the different types of spinal cord injuries and how they occur.
Certain injuries are more common with a fall, while others are more likely to be sustained in a motorcycle accident. The more experience your attorney has with injury types, the more likely they are to know how to use the details of an injury to increase the compensation you’re eligible to receive.
A spinal injury victim may be left with quadriplegia or tetraplegia, which involves paralysis of both the arms and legs. Paraplegia refers to paralysis of two limbs and most commonly impacts the legs.
There’s also a difference between complete and incomplete spinal cord injury, depending on whether the victim experiences complete or partial paralysis below the injury site. All these elements of an injury factor into compensation, so working with an attorney experienced in spinal injury cases is crucial.
Why You Need Philadelphia Spinal Cord Lawyers on Your Side
At The Cochran Firm, we understand that a spinal cord injury impacts far more than your physical health alone. Recovering compensation begins with a consultation. Our spinal injury lawyers will focus on two main areas — the extent of the damages and how the party responsible can be held accountable for your losses.
A spinal injury attorney will work with you to understand:
- Your account of the accident
- Who you think was responsible and why
- A full account of all financial costs and losses caused by the injury
- All of the non-financial ways you and your family have been impacted.
Once our legal team has a full picture of the injury and its repercussions, we can work on a compensation plan. To navigate the complexities of personal injury claims, consulting a personal injury lawyer can be a crucial step. This typically involves either seeking compensation directly through the insurance policies of the parties involved or filing a personal injury lawsuit.
There are many ways a Philadelphia spinal injury attorney will work to create and strengthen your case. The legal team at The Cochran Firm may:
- Collect evidence from medical records, police reports, and witness testimony
- Consult with experts to prove that the accident wasn’t your fault
- Consult with professionals to establish the expected lifetime costs of the injury
- Use tax returns and income statements to assess lost lifetime earnings
- Collect bills and receipts to demonstrate the costs of the injury
- Establish a target amount for non-financial damages
- Handle all legal actions and insurance communication on your behalf
- Negotiate with insurance companies for a fair settlement amount
- Represent you in court if a verdict is necessary for fair compensation.
Every case consists of unique elements, which means that the steps a spinal cord lawyer will need to take to fight for your rights will depend on the circumstances of your accident.
For more specific answers to questions about your injuries and how you can go about gaining compensation, call 800-969-4400 to schedule a consultation with the Philadelphia spinal cord lawyers at The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia.