Spinal Injuries

Thousands of spinal cord injuries occur in accidents like car crashes and 18-wheeler accidents annually, leaving people who have sustained permanent damage to their cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacral spinal regions with staggering medical expenses, permanent disabilities, and other consequences. Many victims of spinal injuries are unable to return to their previous employment, or any type of employment at all. Debilitating conditions like paraplegia and quadriplegia can result from severe spinal trauma. At the Dunahoe Law Firm, our Louisiana spinal injury lawyers advocate for victims in and around Natchitoches, Shreveport, and Alexandria, as well as other cities.

All too often, spinal injuries result from negligence. A distracted driver sending a text message may cause a car crash, or a trucker who has been on the road for too many hours without a break may doze off and plow into a motorcycle. In order to recover damages, a plaintiff (the injured person) must be able to prove four things. These are:

• A duty of care that existed between the defendant and the plaintiff;
• A breach of duty based on the defendant’s actions or failure to act;
• Damages (actual harm) that the plaintiff sustained; and
• Causation between the plaintiff’s damages and the defendant’s breach of duty.

A common question in these situations is “how much is the case worth?” The question may seem simple enough, but our spinal injury attorneys understand that Louisiana accidents can lead to a wide variety of conditions and costs. Expert testimony regarding the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, the cost of their treatment (both past and future), and their prognosis often must be secured. Other experts, such as vocational rehabilitation specialists or accident reconstructionists, may also be deposed or called to testify at trial. It takes considerable effort and skill to advocate for an injured individual in a negligence lawsuit involving a spinal injury or another type of catastrophic injury. All of this preparation must be handled vigilantly and efficiently. There is only one year after an accident within which a victim can bring a claim, according to the Louisiana statute of limitations. Also, a plaintiff’s attorney will be sensitive to the importance of preserving evidence for trial before it decays.

Insurance companies may not take a case seriously unless the plaintiff makes it clear that they are prepared to go to trial. It is not usual for a personal injury case to settle just before a trial because many insurance companies will wait until the last possible second to make a reasonable offer to the plaintiff. Some cases still need to go to trial, and a few must go through the appellate process before the adjuster will finally write a check for the judgment awarded by the jury. To make sure that your rights are protected throughout the complexities of the legal proceedings, a victim or their family should consult an attorney at the outset of the process.

Many attorneys define success by the size of their caseload or the amount of money that they generate in a given year. At the Dunahoe Law Firm, our philosophy is different. We do not practice law in an “assembly line” manner in which clients’ calls are screened, paralegals handle all of the paperwork, and an accident victim never meets their attorney face to face until and unless the case goes to trial. When you phone our office, your call goes straight to an attorney. We are consistently in the office, and we work hard to be available to our clients. We are not afraid to go to trial, and we have many multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts to prove our accomplishments in the courtroom. We represent clients in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases in Natchitoches, Shreveport, Alexandria, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, among other cities. Just call us at 800-259-4460 or contact us online for a free appointment with a spinal injury lawyer in Louisiana.