California Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers and Paralysis Attorneys Serving Northern and Southern California in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Sacramento, Orange County Ventura Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Berkeley and Oakland. We Are Experienced Complex Litigation Serious Injury Lawyers Representing Clients with Paraplegia and Quadriplegia and All Other Serious Spinal Cord Injuries Sustained in Auto Accidents, Falls, Premises Liability, Medical Negligence and Product Liability Cases.

Spinal cord injuries including paraplegia, quadriplegia and other injuries resulting in paralysis occur at an alarming rate, more than two hundred thousand each year, mostly resulting from auto accidents, but also from medical negligence, or from falls due to the negligent maintenance of commercial premises or residential apartments or facilities, as the result of construction or employment accidents, sometimes also as the result of faulty structures or machinery or products used in the workplace. Our California paralysis lawyers are paraplegia and quadriplegia paralysis attorneys extensively experienced in presentation of catastrophic injury litigation within our practice areas. You may review our specific credentials as auto and motorcycle and bicycle accident lawyers, medical malpractice attorneys, premises liability lawyers and product liability attorneys on our other subject matter "Practice Areas" pages. If your paralysis derives from a brain injury, you should consult our traumatic brain injury lawyers page.

Our California spinal cord injury lawyers and paralysis attorneys are specifically qualified and indeed nationally acclaimed for our successful handling of the most complex catastrophic injury litigation appearing in our courts, and particularly important in paraplegia, quadriplegia and other spinal cord injury cases, we are very highly experienced in the presentation of catastrophic injury claims requiring the competent presentation of the client's general and special medical and loss of earnings damages, which are pivotal in obtaining full compensation in paralysis cases. As we will discuss more fully below, general damages include "pain and suffering" and particularly important in spinal cord injury cases, "loss of enjoyment of life" damages, for which, in addition to the testimony of family and friends, we commonly employ the services of professional "Day in the Life" filmmakers. Our spinal cord injury lawyers and paraplegia and quadriplegia lawyers are also highly experienced in the presentation of the most complex past and future medical expense claims, in paralysis cases commonly relying on a host of experts from physicians to life care planners and economists. Our spinal cord injury lawyers and paraplegia and quadriplegia lawyers are also highly experienced in presenting the most complex evidence of past and future earnings losses, employing expert vocational rehabilitation experts and economists in every serious paralysis injury case. For reasons discussed more fully below, this type of investigation and preparation of client's general and special damage claims is an essential part of any spinal cord injury case, and particularly any case involving a client who has suffered paraplegia or quadriplegia. It provides the evidence upon which the settlement judge and jurors will rely in assessing our clients damages. And it is type of evidence that our highly experienced spinal cord injury lawyers, paraplegia and quadriplegia attorneys have presented in many scores of catastrphic injury cases.

We discuss more fully on our practice areas pages ours specific credentials in catastrphic injury auto accident litigation, negligence, premises liability, medical malpractice and product liability cases, and the recognition we have received by our trial lawyer peers, as well as our national acclaim as trial lawyers for the most complex serious injury litigation. Very briefly, attorney Ray Henke is "AV" rated by Martindale & Hubbell, the highest "legal ability" and "ethical standards" ratings awarded by the most highly respected national attorney rating directory in the United States. Martindale & Hubbell bases its ratings on interviews with judges before whom the lawyer has practiced and interviews with other prominent lawyers in the state who are familiar with the attorney's legal ability and ethical standards. The "A" in the "AV" rating is defined as "very high to preeminent" in "legal ability; and the "V" is defined as "very high" in "general ethical standards." According to Martindale & Hubbell: "AV Peer Review Rating — shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity."

California paralysis and spinal cord injury lawyer, Henke, has received extensive recognition from his peers as a determined and successful serious injury trial lawyer in a wide range of complex litigation, perhaps the most complex of which being pharmaceutical product liability cases, the most complex cases tried in our courts of law. Attorney Henke's cases and trial work have been widely chronicled in California and national legal journals, from "California Lawyer" to the "National Law Journal." California spinal cord injury lawyer, Henke, was nominated "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association for his extraordinary trial success in landmark complex litigation, and elected Governor of the Association by the several thousand members of this 5th largest trial lawyer association in the United States. He has been recognized by Congress, and has indeed testified before Congress, at the invitation of the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, specifically with regard to his trial work in important complex litigation.

California spinal cord injury lawyer and paraplegia and quadriplegia attorney, Ray Henke has also received widespread recognition for his trial work in complex litigation in the lay media. His cases and trial successes have been chronicled in the legitimate print media from the front page of the New York Times to the front page of the Los Angeles Times, from the Washington Post to the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner and in scores of other legitimate newspapers. His complex cases and trial work has also been chronicled in the national and international television news media, including feature segments on Tom Brokaw's NBC Nightly News and CNN.

Attorney Henke has obtained many multimillion dollar settlements and jury verdicts in the most complex cases. He is listed as one of the "Top Lawyers in America." He is a member of the "Million Dollar Advocates Forum." Mr. Henke has tried cases ranging from auto accident cases to pharmaceutical product liability cases, birth injury cases to brain injury cases, from medical malpractice cases to helmet and machine product liability cases. Spinal cord injuries can occur as the result of many types of accidents and falls, requiring the expertise of an qualified and experienced auto accident lawyer or premises liability lawyer or product liability attorney or medical malpractice lawyer. You may consider the other pages of this site to review attorney Henke's specific credentials and track record in each of our "Practice Areas" the menu for which appears in the upper left corner of this page.

Our California spinal cord injury attorneys and paraplegia and quadriplegia lawyers offer free case evaluations and consultations. Simply submit the "California Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Case Evaluation Request" and one of our highly experienced catastrophic injury trial attorneys will call you to inquire about your injury, your diagnosis and prognosis, the facts surrounding the accident or incident which resulted in your spinal cord injury, and we will provide you with our case evaluation and recommendations. Our spinal cord injury lawyers and paralysis attorneys serve all of Southern and Northern California, from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, from San Diego to Sacramento, in Orange County and Ventura Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Berkeley and Oakland. Our California spinal cord injury attorney case consultations are completely free of charge and without any obligation. We are here to serve you.

Our California Paralysis Attorneys and Quadriplegia and Paraplegia Lawyers Discuss the Biomechanics of Spinal Cord Injuries Commonly Sustained in Accidents.

The spinal cord consists of a bundle of nerves that traverses from the base of the brain to the lower back, commonly referred to as the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral spine, defined by the vertebral number, the vertebrae being the bony structures surrounding the spinal cord. Sometimes in lay terms the vertebrae are referred to as the backbone, and physicians will sometimes describe the spinal anatomy in terms of the upper, middle and lower back.

The bundle of nerves comprising the spinal cord is responsible for movement and sensation, permitting our brains to operate our limbs and musculature in general, permitting us to walk and hold our young children in our arms. Our nerves send back the sensations of touch, the tactile information about the qualities of the objects we touch, like the feel of our spouse's hair, or the gentle embrace of our mother.

When the spinal vertebrae are fractured or broken, as in the most common types of accidents leading to spinal injury, this bundle of nerves comprising our spinal cord will sometimes be damaged, and the result in terms of our ability to move our limbs and other aspects of our musculature and our ability to feel tactile sensation will be impaired. The consequence of the impairment will be determined by the location of the spinal damage, meaning the vertebral level of the injury, and whether the impairment of function and sensation is complete or partial.

Paraplegia results from injury to the spinal cord at the location of the thoracic, lumbar or sacral vertebrae, and results in the loss of motor and muscular function and sensation in the lower areas of the body, usually from the waist down, and the loss of use of the lower extremities.

Quadriplegia results from injury to the spinal cord at the location of the cervical vertebrae, and those who are rendered quadriplegic generally lose motor and muscle control as well as sensation in both the upper and lower areas of the body, and lose the function of both their upper and lower extremities.

Spinal cord injuries, including paraplegia and quadriplegia, regardless of the location of the injury, are commonly categorized as "complete"or "incomplete" referring to whether or not there is retained nerve signals permitting some degree of movement, muscle control or sensation.

Rarely does function or sensation return, but sometimes where there is swelling immediately following an accident, and the swelling later subsides, there may be some return of motor movement and sensation, or bladder control or even sexual function, or in very cases there may be a return of independent respiratory function, blood pressure, or other vital functions. Unfortunately, there is at present no "cure" for spinal cord injuries, although there is ongoing research, including in nerve regeneration, which may prove useful in the future in restoring function lost after a spinal cord injury.

Our California Paralysis Lawyers and Paraplegia and Quadriplegia Attorneys Describe the Measure of Damages, And Presentation of Damages in California Spinal Cord Injury Cases.

The elements of a spinal cord injury case are first "liability" meaning demonstrating the negligence or other wrongful conduct of the auto driver or physician or commercial or residential apartment owner or product manufacturer whose negligence or intentional conduct resulted in the injury; and second, proof of the client's "damages." Our expertise in establishing liability in auto accident, premises liability, negligence, and product liability cases is discussed on other pages of this site, listed in the "Practice Areas" menu at the top of the left column of this page.

Once liability is established, the contribution of the experienced trial lawyer in paralysis and other spinal cord injury cases is in persuasively presenting the evidence of the client's general damages, meaning his pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and his special damages, meaning his past and future medical expenses, and past and future loss of earnings or earning capacity. Our spinal cord injury attorneys and paraplegia and quadriplegia lawyers are highly experienced in presenting the percipient and expert testimony essential to maximize the opportunity to obtain full compensation for every measure of our clients' damages.

Our California Paralysis Lawyers Discuss the Presentation of Medical Special Damages In Paraplegia, Quadriplegia and other Catastrophic Spinal Cord Injury Cases.

Presenting "past medical expense" in a spinal cord injury case is not particularly complex, requiring no more than an accounting of the accumulation of medical bills through the date of the settlement conference or trial, but the presentation of "future medical expenses" is substantially more complicated, particularly in a paralysis case, as to achieve the most complete accounting requires the anticipation and valuing of all of the medical care, convalescent or home nursing expenses, medical supplies, and all other related expenses that the quadriplegic or paraplegic client will require over the full course of his or her life expectancy.

In every catastrophic injury case our California spinal cord injury and paralysis lawyers employ a number of experts in analyzing our clients' future medical expenses, but perhaps most importantly a professional "life care planner." The cooperation of treating physicians, expert specialists, and other health care professionals will be important to laying the foundation for "life care plan." These are the physicians and experts who will be best able to describe the kinds of medical treatment and medications and supplies, convalescent care, nursing care, attendant care, and other elements of expense which will be required over the short term and through the years paraplegic or quadriplegic client is estimated to live. Indeed, the "life expectancy" of the client with serious spinal cord injuries is itself is a very important aspect of the calculation of future medical expenses, requiring expert assessment commonly requiring analysis of both the detailed facts of the client's medical condition and government statistics with regard to life expectancies of individuals with the same or similar injuries occurring at the same age.

The life care planner engaged by the experienced California paralysis lawyer will interview the client's treating physicians and experts engaged by the attorney, and then he or she will prepare the detailed "life care plan" accounting for all of the medical and hospital and nursing and convalescent and medication and other expenses, big and small, which the plaintiff will probably require over the course of the remainder of his or her estimated remaining years of life. It is very important that a highly qualified life care planer be engaged because it is common for defense attorneys to attempt to undermine the life care plan calculations by cross examination of the expert in deposition and at trial. The sophisticated spinal cord injury lawyer and paraplegia and quadriplegia attorney will go over every element of the life care plan with the professional life care planner to assure that all the medical expenses claimed are reasonable, and perhaps most importantly in catastrphic spinal cord injury and paralysis cases to make sure that the life care planner has obtained the appropriate foundation from the plaintiff's medical doctors or experts to substantiate the client's life expectancy, and hence the estimated duration over which the life care planner has calculated the future medical expenses.

The experienced California spinal cord injury lawyer will then provide the life care plan to an economist who in turn will apply standard government statistics on the expected year to year rise in the specific categories of medical costs over the course of the plaintiff's life expectancy, and then the economist will "discount" the sum of all future medical expenses which were calculated on the basis of cost plus medical cost inflation to "present value" using standard general rates of inflation, again based standard government statistics.

Our California Paralysis Lawyers and Paraplegia/Quadriplegia Attorneys Discuss the Methods of Calculation and Presentation of Past and Future Loss of Earnings in Serious Spinal Cord Injury Cases.

It is an unfortunate characteristic of impact of quadriplegia, paraplegia and other serious spinal cord injuries that the career of client in his chosen profession will almost always be cut short. Most quadriplegic clients will not have any good or reasonable prospect of returning to the work force in the profession they trained for or developed competence by years of experience, although many clients with spinal cord injuries including paralyzed clients will find that that they can adapt to their very serious disabilities and return to the workforce and engage in economically productive endeavor. It is the function of the experienced catastrphic injury lawyer to put together the evidence and team of experts to determine and present the "net" loss of future earnings that the spinal cord injured client will suffer over the course of his or her "work life expectancy."

The appropriately qualified paralysis lawyer and spinal cord injury attorney will also be adept at presenting at settlement conferences and trial the most persuasive evidence of the full measure of his clients lost past and future earnings or earning capacity. The measure of "past earnings losses" is often easy to calculate, at least in the case of a wage earner, indeed often as simple as multiplying his or her daily wage by the number of work days from the date of the accident through the date of the settlement conference or trial. But the presentation of the plaintiff's full measure of "future earnings losses" requires a spinal cord injury lawyer with extensive experience in preparing and trying catastrophic injury cases.

The paralyzed client's future economic losses, again taking the simplest case of the wage earner for purposes of example, are measured by the wages that the client would probably have earned over the course of his "work life expectancy" but for the injury, less the amount he still is reasonably capable of earning, taking into consideration the severity of his limitations implied by is paraplegia, quadriplegia or other serious spinal cord injury. The analysis of the paralyzed client's "future loss of earnings" requires at least two highly qualified experts, a vocational rehabilitation expert and a forensic economist, and the cooperation of many others, including the plaintiff's treating physicians and/or specialists hired by the experienced spinal cord injury attorney. The "vocational rehabilitation expert" will interview client at length, probably over a number of meetings, he will at the minimum speak to the clients treating physicians, physical and occupational therapists, review the client's medical records, obtain his school records, review his educational history and accomplishments, and his work history. He will conduct a battery of tests, consider the plaintiff's transferable skills, and will arrive at an analysis both of the earnings that the paraplegic or quadriplegic client would likely have earned over the course of his or her work life expectancy if he or she had not been injured, he will analyze the types of work which will be foreclosed to the paralyzed client in the future by reason of his injuries, and he will identify those types of employment that the client would be reasonably capable of performing, assuming that the client is not totally disabled. The experienced California spinal cord injury lawyer will then provide vocational rehabilitation expert's report to the forensic economist who will again apply government statistics in assessing the likely future earnings that the client would have earned over his work life expectancy if he had not been injured, subtract the mitigating amount of earnings that the client would be reasonably capable of earning in the professions for which he has the education, skill and physical ability still to work, and then the economist will discount that amount to present dollar value again by use of government inflation statistics.

Seasoned catastrophic injury trial lawyers understand that the quality of the preparation of the foundation and opinions of the vocational rehabilitation expert and the forensic economist, and then the competency of the presentation of the future earnings losses at settlement conferences and trial, by the knowledgeable and experienced spinal cord injury lawyer, will define the prospects that the paralyzed client will receive his or her full measure of economic damages.

The experienced spinal cord injury lawyer recognizes, that it is important for the paralyzed client to consider carefully the importance of including in the calculation future earnings losses, the fair estimate of the amount that the client will be capable of earning notwithstanding his substantial injury in every case where the client is not totally disabled. The experienced defense lawyers will cross examine the plaintiff's vocational rehabilitation expert and economist at their depositions and at trial, and these defense attorneys will present their own experts who will use every possible tactic available to them to attempt to undermine the plaintiff's experts calculations and offer their alternative calculations minimizing the plaintiff's the future earnings losses. The judges who preside over settlement conferences and jurors who will determine the plaintiff's damages at trial, will most commonly accept the analysis of the experts whom they find most "credible." The experienced serious injury attorney must assure that as a function of the data gathered by his experts, and the methods of calculation they use, that it will be their testimony on future loss of earnings that will be accepted as the most credible. It is also widely recognized by highly experienced California spinal cord injury lawyers and all other catastropic injury attorneys that jurors and even judges become sympathetic and identify with the plaintiff who is making an effort in his life to meet the challenges presented by his serious spinal cord injury, including by seeking to avail the opportunity to remain a productive member of society. It is for this reason also that our California spinal cord injury lawyers and paralysis attorneys encourage our clients to consider the opportunities for education or training to return to the workforce.

Indeed, one of the great joys of serving as a plaintiff's lawyer in serious spinal cord injury and paralysis cases is that as the result of his client's consultations with the vocational rehabilitation expert, the client may often come to realize that he has good available opportunities to return to productive life that he or she might never have considered. The client may be required to obtain additional education or vocational training. But the client's reward will be in his satisfaction in his new profession and in remaining a contributing member of society.

The experienced California spinal cord injury lawyer and paraplegia and quadriplegia attorney realizes that every client is unique, and furthermore that he must adapt his case strategy to the facts and circumstances of the particular case. There is no cookie cutter strategy for paralysis cases. Indeed, in the above analysis of our approach to "future earnings losses" we examined only what is required for the presentation of future earnings losses in the simplest case of a wage earner. There are very different and often much more complex analyses that are required, for example, where the client is a business owner or professional in partnership or operating a sole proprietorship. Some spinal cord injured clients may have been in professions where there were prospects for advancement and substantial increases in pay which must be accounted for in the analysis. Some clients may lose their business or have to sell their business as the result of their injuries, and so again, these facts may complicate substantially the analysis of economic loss. In some cases, the client may be a minor with no work history, or a housewife who has had no history of paid employment, requiring an analysis of "loss of earning capacity." It is essential in all quadriplegia, paraplegia and other spinal cord injury cases that highly qualified and experienced catastrophic injury trial lawyers be engaged to competently prepare and then present the economic damages in settlement conferences and at the trial in order to assure that you are fully and fairly compensated.

Our California Paralysis Attorneys Discuss the Preparation and Presentation of the Client's General Damage - Pain and Suffering and Los of Enjoyment of Life Damages - in Paraplegia Quadriplegia and Other Spinal Cord Injury Cases.

"General damages" are sometimes referred to as "pain and suffering damages," but more accurately characterized in paraplegia, quadriplegia and other spinal cord injury cases to include also, and most importantly, the value of the plaintiff's "loss of enjoyment of life". General damages are not subject to precise calculation, as we've seen with the calculations of past and future medical expense and earnings losses. Nor are general damages adequately provable by expert testimony, as are the elements of special economic damages, although in some spinal cord injury cases the testimony of a treating physician or expert psychologist or psychiatrist, may be useful to convey to the jury an objective insight into the client's subjective pain, sadness or depression or disappointment that may be one important part of the particular paralyzed client's general damages. The most important testimony forming the basis for an award of general damages is usually the testimony of the paraplegic or quadriplegic client, his spouse, or parents, or children, other family members or friends, those who have experienced the changes in the quality of life of their loved one from before and then after the accident which resulted in the spinal cord injury. One very important forensic weapon in the arsenal of the experienced catastrophic injury lawyer is the "Day in the Life" film, which can be very effective in showing the settlement judge or jury all that the spinal cord injury client must endure as a part of his daily life. "Day in the Life" films are created by professionals with substantial experience in capturing the difficulties of daily life of a paraplegic or quadriplegic patient. They are made portraying the dignity and courage of the paralyzed client and yet are intended to show in some respects the indignity of life thrust upon him or her, because so much that others of us take for granted that we can do for themselves, the quadriplegic or paraplegic man or woman must rely on others to do for them. It is our philosophy as experienced serious injury attorneys that "Day in the Life" films should ideally also show the courage if not the heroism of the paralyzed client as he meets his enormous life obstacles, determined to make the best of his life, notwithstanding the challenges thrust upon him by the events that led to his devastating injuries.

Damages for "loss of enjoyment of life" also includes conveying effectively all of the simple pleasures that formed a part of the client's life before the accident which he can't engage in any longer by virtue of his spinal cord injury. Loss of enjoyment of life damages are again always unique to the particular client and spinal cord injury lawyers and paraplegia and quadriplegia attorneys must spend sufficient time getting to know their clients, learning about all of the activities they most enjoyed before the accident, but which they can't enjoy now. In any particular case the activities might be taking the family on skiing vacations every winter, or playing softball in the Spring or coaching their children's soccer team, or just lifting up their grandchildren or taking walks in the evening with their spouse. We also speak to those who enjoyed these activities with client, and their testimony too may be useful, not just to support the credibility of the client's testimony, but to add to it often the observations of family members of the laughter and joy they observed as the client had engaged in all of the activities he most enjoyed. The client or family members may also have photographs or home videos recording this joy, and the photographs and films may also constitute important evidence to show dramatically the value that the spinal cord injured client experienced in the activities he most enjoyed before the accident which left him paralyzed.

Conveying loss of enjoyment to a settlement judge or jury is the fine art of the experienced catastrophic injury attorney and quadriplegia or paraplegia lawyer, built in part upon gaining a full understanding of all that his client lost when he suffered his spinal cord injury, and then presenting it in the testimony of his client, his client's spouse or children or parents or close friends, in the family photographs and home movies, juxtaposed against client's post accident limitations evidenced in the "Day in the Life" film. In settlement conferences, and in opening and closing arguments at trial, the experienced spinal cord injury lawyer then weaves this loss of enjoyment evidence into a fabric that will most effective to impress the settlement judge or impassion jury with the emotional impact of the full magnitude of his client's loss. Indeed in some cases the loss of enjoyment claim in quadriplegia cases and paraplegia cases can amount to just about everything that the client had found valuable and rewarding in his life.

Sometimes, the serious injury lawyer in a paralysis case will ask the jury for a specific dollar amount to compensate his client's general damages, a dollar figure which we urge is justified by the evidence of our client's loss of enjoyment of life. And then we might remind the jurors that the client would turn down every dollar we've asked for in a New York second if he could just get back the use of his limbs and the life he enjoyed before the accident which left him wheelchair bound or confined to his room in the convalescent center. Then again, sometimes the experienced catastrphic injury trial lawyer, perhaps on the basis of the responses of specific jurors in jury selection, or from their teary eyes during the "Day in the Life" video, may discuss with his client the option of not providing a specific dollar amount as our prayer for general damages. The experienced paralysis attorney might form the impression from juror responses during jury selection that one or some potentially influential jurors might be offended by his proposing a specific money damage amount as an attempt to usurp their role as jurors. Or from the tears in the eyes of the jurors during the "Day in the Life" video the experienced serious injury lawyer might suggest to his client that refraining from providing a specific monetary prayer for general damages might potentially lead to a jury assessment of general damages in an amount much larger than we would dare ask for, considering the risk of alienating the jurors, or considering the risk that by overplaying the general damage claim we might lose credibility on our other substantial claims for future medical expenses and future loss of earnings. If the client and attorney determine not to provide a specific dollar amount then the attorney will need to impassion the jury during closing arguments to want to fully compensate the client for his general damages. Experienced catastrophic injury trial lawyers know what they can't get away with, for example, "asking the jury to put themselves in the client's shoes." That is contrary to the law and could lead to a mistrial or a very negative "juror admonition" by the judge "to disregard the plaintiff's attorney's statement." The experienced serious injury trial attorney, however, understands how the same powerful approach can be accomplished within the letter of the law. It is acceptable, for example, to tell the jury that we, as your attorneys, have lived with this extraordinary burden of responsibility for our client these past two years, and that the burden do our very best to assure that our client will obtain full and complete justice has weighed heavily on our shoulders, but now, as we conclude our closing argument, we must shift the burden from our shoulders to the shoulders of the jurors, and then we might urge the jurors that we don't want them to award as general damages one penny more than is justified by their seriousness of the injury and our client's loss of enjoyment of life, but that we expect them to fulfill their duty also, not to award a penny less. Just as physicians will say that medicine is an art, indeed the work of the experienced spinal cord injury trial lawyer is an art. It is an art developed by experience trying the most complex cases in our legal system, and experience in presenting to settlement judges and juries the very best evidence in support of the client's claim, and then it is the impassioned arguments we make, essential to maximize our clients' recoveries.

Our California Paralysis lawyers Discuss Additional Causes of Action Which May Be Appropriate in Paralysis, Quadriplegia, Paraplegia and other Spinal Cord Injury Cases.

The Spouse of an Accident Victim Who Has Suffered Paralysis, Quadriplegia, Paraplegia or other Serious Spinal Cord Injury May Have and Wish to Assert A Claim for Loss of Consortium

In cases of spinal cord injury, paraplegia and quadriplegia, the spouse may have a claim for "loss of consortium." Damages for loss of consortium vary according to the specific case but may include the loss of the spouse's physical affection, companionship, sexual relations, physical and emotional support. A claim can be filed by the spouse and tried in the same case as the paralyzed accident victim's claim arising out of his or her physical injuries.

Close Family Members of the Paralyzed Accident Victim May Have A Claim for Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress.

Sometimes the spouse or other close family members may have another type of claim called "negligent infliction of emotional distress," which can arise when the claimant is closely related to person who sustained the spinal cord injury, was present at the scene of the "injury producing event" at the time of the event, was aware that the accident or incident was causing injury to their loved one, and as the proximate result, suffers emotional distress beyond that which would normally be anticipated to be experienced by a disinterested witness.

Our California Paralysis Attorneys and Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Provide Free Consultations to Accident Victims Who Have Suffered Quadriplegia, Paraplegia or Other Serious Spinal Cord Injury in Northern or Southern California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego Orange County Ventura Santa Barbara Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Berkeley Oakland or Sacramento in Car Motorcycle and Pedestrian Auto Accidents, Premises Liability Accidents Involving Falls on Commercial or Apartment Property, Medical Malpractice or Product Defects. We Welcome You to Contact Our Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers.

Our California spinal cord injury lawyers and paraplegia and quadriplegia attorneys provide free attorney consultations to all those who have suffered paralysis or have suffered other serious spinal cord injuries as the result of a car or motorcycle or pedestrian auto accident, or from a slip or fall in a commercial or residential apartment property, or from a structure, or machine or other product, medical malpractice, or as the result of any other negligent cause or intentional assault. We invite you to submit our "Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Case Evaluation Request" and our highly qualified and experienced catastrophic injury lawyers will call you to discuss your accident or incident resulting in your spinal cord injury, the nature and extent of your paralysis or other injuries, your medical care and prognosis, your medical bills, the loss of your employment income, your economic change in circumstances, your physical difficulties, and change in lifestyle. As the product of our interview we will be pleased to provide you the benefit of our initial impressions with regard to the viability of your liability case, and our recommendations. You are encouraged to submit the "Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Case Evaluation Request" for accidents occurring in any county in the State of California. Our California paralysis attorneys and paraplegia and quadriplegia lawyers represent clients in Southern and Northern California, from San Diego to Sacramento, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area Berkeley and Oakland, in Orange County Ventura Santa Barbara and Fresno as well as San Jose and Santa Clara County. Our case consultations are entirely free of charge and without any obligation whatsoever. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you.