Cervical injuries sustained during an auto accident, depending on the elements of a crash, may present grounds for victims to recover their losses via personal injury claims. Cervical injuries, which according to medical standards include injuries to the neck at the cervical vertebrae and cervical nerves at C1 through C8. Typically, these injuries pose the most risk to victims of all spinal cord injuries, as injury to C1 through C8 are most commonly associated with partial or full paralysis, and in many cases of injury, to C3, C2, and C1, death is often the result. For loved ones of victims suffering from cervical injuries, understanding the nature of these injuries, in both a medical and legal context, is essential in order for them to understand their and their loved one’s legal rights following a car crash causing these injuries.
Understanding the Reality of Cervical Injuries in a Legal Context
Although each injury is unique, in reality, any cervical injuries involving C8 through C1, place victims in a high-risk category for permanent disability and paralysis. Often, suffering injuries in the C3 through C1 region often results in death, or in rare cases, results in victims requiring life-support devices to remain alive. Regardless of the exact vertebrae damaged, whether C1 through C8, victims face permanent disability, which may greatly or entirely inhibit their ability to live any form of quality life. Furthermore, these injuries require intensive medical intervention, typically for the remainder of the victim’s life. In essence, if a victim suffers from a severe cervical injury, damage claims must account for a lifetime of medical expenses, lost income, and other impossible to quantify non-economic damages, including mental anguish, pain, and suffering.
Filing Claims for Cervical Injuries
The nature of cervical injuries, once stabilized, is often categorically difficult to predict with any degree of certainty, especially regarding the expected level of mobility in the future following recovery and rehabilitation. In many cases, this requires legal counsel to estimate the potential damages caused by these injuries without necessarily perfect information from medical professionals. However, when filing claims for injuries, whether dealing directly with insurance adjusters or in a formal lawsuit, an attorney will have to calculate the estimated damages a victim has suffered as the result of their injuries, which may include any and all of the following items, including:
• Medical expenses, both acute, post-acute, and long term care requirements
• Lost income, which will rely on income earning potential prior to accident, as well as other considerations
• Non-economic issues, such as pain, suffering, mental anguish, diminished quality of life, loss of mobility, permanent disability, disfigurement, and other issues which pose a lifelong loss to victims, but are not necessarily readily quantifiable in most cases. Relying on previous legal precedents and settlements, as well as liability caps in some states, is the best method of calculating these damages
• Loss of consortium for loved ones
Filing a Complaint in Court
In order to follow all procedural rules and statutes applicable to making bodily injury claims in a given state, victims and their legal counsel often not only file claims with an insurance company, but also, will file what is known as a complaint within the Court. Filing a complaint with the courts allows victims to meet the statutes of limitations for filing suit over a given personal injury, which varies from state to state. Typically, statute of limitations applicable to personal injury cases range from less than 180 days to in excess of two (2) years.
Filing a complaint in court varies in procedure due to the case-specific nature of each injury claim. Normally, however, the drafting process of a complaint, which is provided to the appropriate court venue and jurisdiction, includes some of the following:
• Brief to in-depth detailing of events transpiring before and after accident injury in question, including possibly supporting documentation from the onset
• Inclusion of relief or damages requested by plaintiff
• Naming defendants, including possibly their alleged negligent role
After filing a complaint, the Court will apply a case number, and the documents must be served to the appropriate defendants. This is typically performed via a process server, or if necessary, by publication. Following delivery of complaint documents to named defendants, the defendants have a state period of time to answer claims with their own claims.
Getting Legal HelpIf you or your loved one has sustained cervical injuries during an auto accident, consulting with an attorney as soon as possible is in your best interest. Not only are statute of limitations laws relevant to each personal injury claims case, which vary according to each state’s laws, but also, the process of preparing and filing claims requires active intervention from legal counsel and victims and their loved ones.
