Did you or a family member suffer a catastrophic injury in San Diego, CA? Every aspect of your life may have changed. If someone else was responsible, you deserve to have an experienced San Diego catastrophic injuries lawyer advocating for you. Our team at Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers can help you fight to recover compensation for medical bills, lost wages, suffering, trauma, and more.
We have over 80 years of experience handling complex personal injury law matters. To date, we’ve recovered over $100 million in settlements and verdicts.
If you have questions about your legal options, contact our law offices in San Diego, California at (858) 551-2090 to learn more about how an experienced San Diego catastrophic injuries attorney can help today.
Why Call Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers for Help With a Catastrophic Injury Claim in San Diego?
While the insurance companies and at-fault parties may seem sympathetic, they won’t have your best interests in mind. It’s likely that they’ll try to manipulate the situation and take advantage of you during this stressful and overwhelming time.
Hiring an experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer is the best way to force insurance companies to take you seriously. Clients have trusted our team at Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers, since we opened our doors in 1992. We’ve been recognized by Super Lawyers and earned a perfect-10 Avvo rating.
Hire us, and we will:
- Conduct a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding your injury
- Enlist experts who can provide evidence about causation and your case value
- Identify all parties who share legal responsibility for your injuries
- Make sure you understand your legal rights and options
- Reject any lowball deals and pursue the maximum compensation you deserve
Our San Diego catastrophic injuries attorneys will do everything we can to help you maximize your financial recovery. Contact us today to learn more about how we can fight for you.
Catastrophic Injuries in San Diego: An Overview
Many different types of injury can be classified as catastrophic. While there is no precise definition, a catastrophic injury is one that will fundamentally alter your life.
Catastrophic injuries often:
- Require extensive medical care and rehabilitation
- Dramatically change your earning capacity or make it impossible to work at all
- Require home and vehicle modifications
- Make it impossible to live independently without assistance
- Result in loss of mobility or cognitive impairment
Catastrophic injury victims are often left struggling to re-learn how to perform basic activities of daily living.
What Is My San Diego Catastrophic Injury Case Worth?
Valuation is a complicated issue in catastrophic injury cases. The costs associated with living with a catastrophic injury can be overwhelmingly high. It’s critical to make sure your settlement or verdict accounts for the full extent of your losses.
While no two personal injury cases are exactly the same, many of the same factors are important when evaluating the value of an injury claim, including:
- Your age and life expectancy
- Whether the injury is permanent
- How the injury impacts your earnings
- The cost of your medical treatment
- The types of future medical care and rehabilitation you will need and the cost
- Whether you can live independently after reaching maximum medical improvement
- How the injury has impacted your quality of life
- How the injury has impacted your mental health and emotional wellbeing
- Your physical pain and suffering
- Whether you share any fault
- The terms of any available insurance policies
- The nature of the defendant’s actions
You’re entitled to compensation for all of the losses you’ve already suffered. You can also recover compensation for expected future losses and ongoing suffering.
What Types of Compensation Can Injury Victims Recover for Catastrophic Injuries in San Diego?
There’s really no way to reverse the clock and restore your health. Recovering compensation for all of the damages you’ve incurred is the only way to get justice.
As a victim, you can seek compensation for all economic and non-economic damages you’ve suffered, including:
- Current medical bills for ER visits, hospitalization, surgeries, follow-up visits, etc.
- Medications and medical devices
- Lost wages
- Future medical costs
- Lost future earning capacity
- Rehabilitative care
- Long-term care
- Skilled nursing care
- In-home assistance
- Modifications to your home and vehicle
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Mental trauma
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of your independence
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Depression
- Damages for wrongful death
If your case goes to trial, it’s possible that the court may award punitive damages. However, punitive damages are only available when there’s clear evidence that the defendant’s acts were intentional, malicious, or shockingly reckless.
Can I Lose My Right to Compensation if I Was Partly Responsible for My Own Injuries in California?
It’s always possible that someone could blame you for causing your own injuries. When multiple parties share blame for the same situation, California operates under a pure comparative negligence law. Liability is divided between anyone who shares blame for an accident. That includes victims, regardless of how severely they’re injured.
Assuming you actually did share some blame, you’ll be allocated a percentage of the fault. Your compensation is reduced by the proportion of fault allocated to you.
Allocating blame between responsible parties can be incredibly difficult. You can protect yourself by hiring an experienced attorney who is familiar with these blame-the-victim tactics. Our team knows how to fight back and neutralize any unfair allegations.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer in San Diego?
Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers is a contingency-fee-based firm. Our attorneys’ fees are entirely contingent on the amount of money we recover in your case. Once your case has settled with insurance or we’ve won a jury verdict, we take a percentage of that settlement or verdict. Of course, that means you never pay unless we win.
We Handle All Types of Catastrophic Injury Cases in San Diego
Different types of injuries can be classified as catastrophic. The common thread is their potential to dramatically change your life.
At Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers, we have the skills to handle any type of catastrophic injury claim, including those involving:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Paralysis and severe spinal cord injuries
- Amputations and loss of limbs
- Severe burns
- Chest and thoracic injuries
- Internal organ damage and bleeding
- Vision loss
- Hearing loss
Some catastrophic injury victims will recover with time. Others will struggle with lifelong disabilities and impairment. If your injuries occurred because of someone else’s actions, our lawyers in San Diego are here to help you fight for justice. Contact us today for a free case review.
How Common Are Catastrophic Injuries?
Catastrophic injuries are more common than you might imagine. Every year, about 185,000 amputations occur in the U.S. Over two million Americans are living with the loss of a limb.
More than five million Americans are living with permanent disabilities caused by brain injuries. Nearly 30,000 Americans are admitted to hospitals with serious burn injuries each year.
What Causes Most Catastrophic Injuries?
Unfortunately, most catastrophic injuries occur because of accidents that are entirely preventable.
Some common causes of catastrophic injuries include:
- Motor vehicle accidents, including motorcycle accidents and truck accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists
- Boating accidents
- Construction accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Dog bites
- Sports accidents, especially during contact sports
- Swimming pool accidents and near-drownings
- Defective products
- Exposure to live electricity
- Dangerous property conditions
- Medical malpractice
- Assault and violence
Regardless of how your injury occurred, count on our San Diego catastrophic injuries attorneys at Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers, to help you fight for justice. Give us a call today to learn more about your legal rights.
How Do I Prove I Deserve Compensation After a Severe Injury in California?
Most personal injury cases require proof of negligence. To successfully recover compensation, you must prove that someone else’s actions directly caused your injuries.
More specifically, the legal elements of negligence are:
- The defendant owed you a legal duty of care
- By some act or omission, they breached that duty
- The breach was the direct and proximate cause of your injuries
- You can identify specific damages that you suffered as a result
Regardless of the legal theory behind your case, it’s always important to have an experienced lawyer who can help you collect and analyze any evidence that can be used to prove you deserve compensation.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit After a Catastrophic Injury in California?
A two-year statute of limitations applies in most California personal injury cases. You’ll likely have only two years from the date of your injury to file a lawsuit. Once two years pass, you cannot sue for damages.
A lot will happen in the two years following a catastrophic injury. It’s critical to have a lawyer start building your case as quickly as possible.
Contact a San Diego Catastrophic Injuries Lawyer for a Free Consultation
You don’t have to deal with the aftermath of a life-changing injury alone in San Diego, CA. An experienced San Diego catastrophic injuries lawyer can help with every aspect of your case. Contact our team at Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers, to get started today.
Visit Our Personal Injury Law Office in San Diego, CA
We proudly serve San Diego County and its surrounding areas:
835 5th Avenue #302, San Diego, CA 92101
(858) 551-2090
Highly Rated Emergency Rooms in San Diego
- UC San Diego Health ER – 200 W Arbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92103
- Sharp Memorial Hospital ER – 7901 Frost St, San Diego, CA 92123
- Scripps Mercy San Diego ER – 4077 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103
- Naval Medical Center San Diego ER – Building 1, 34800 Bob Wilson Dr #200
*Disclaimer – we do not endorse these companies or profit from having them listed on our website.