Lakeland Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys
If you suffered spinal cord injuries in a serious accident, your life can change forever. Spinal cord injuries can impact everything: where and how you can work, how you spend your leisure hours, and even your ability to perform daily tasks.
If you suffered spinal cord injuries in an accident in Lakeland, you may deserve compensation for your injuries. Contact the Lakeland spinal cord injury lawyers, Frank and Jennifer Fernandez at the Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys to learn more about your rights.
The Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys: Supporting Lakeland Spinal Cord Injury Victims Pursuing Compensation
At the Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys, we want to win—and we do. We have successfully handled thousands of personal injury claims throughout the Tampa area, and we are ready to provide the same high level of professional legal help to Lakeland spinal cord injury victims. We have helped recover more than $100 million in compensation for our clients. Frank and Jennifer Fernandez care about every client who comes through the doors of the firm, and want them to win. Our results come from extensive knowledge of Florida law and years of experience, as well as our deep dedication to our clients.
In one notable spinal cord injury claim, we recovered more than $236,000 for a Florida accident victim who suffered a pars fracture of her spine in a T-bone auto accident. We also have experience handling a wide range of other personal injury claims from accidents that could result in spinal cord injuries, including car and boat accident claims, premises liability claims, and negligent security claims.
At The Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys, you can rest assured that Frank and Jennifer Fernandez will take your Lakeland spinal cord injury claim seriously from day one.
We help conduct a comprehensive investigation into the conditions that led to your spinal cord injury and pursue all potentially liable parties.
When you partner with Frank and Jennifer Fernandez, we will conduct a thorough investigation of your accident to determine how it happened and all parties that may have contributed to your injuries. In many spinal cord injury cases, more than one party was responsible for the accident. Identifying more potentially liable parties can make it easier for a spinal cord injury victim to obtain the full compensation they deserve.
We will help you understand the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Frank and Jennifer Fernandez have the experience to know the compensation you deserve. We start by looking at your injuries and then determine all of the costs and impacts they may have: from the immediate medical expenses and long-term income loss to the pain suffering you have faced from your accident. Identifying all the parties who share liability for your accident, we pursue every dollar we can for you. Once we fully analyze your case, we can offer you a better understanding of the compensation you really deserve for your injuries. This can make it easier for you to determine when to accept a settlement and when to go to court to keep fighting for the compensation you deserve.
We will support you at every step of the process.
At the Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys, we know bringing a Lakeland spinal cord injury claim can be a stressful ordeal. On your own, you may struggle to determine what to do next, how much compensation you deserve, and when you should accept a settlement offer. You may have questions about other things that might affect your claim, from what you can safely post on social media after your accident to how, to what you can say to an insurance adjuster. We work with our clients to ensure that they have a complete blueprint of how to move forward after their accidents to maximize the compensation they can seek through their spinal cord injury claims and avoid pitfalls that could negatively impact a claim.
Understanding Spinal Cord Injuries
The spinal cord, which bears responsibility for transmitting nerve signals throughout the body, controls movement, feeling, and much of your organ function.
Complete versus Incomplete Spinal Cord Injuries
Complete spinal cord injuries involve a complete loss of feeling and ability to control movement below the injury. A complete spinal cord injury will probably cause lifelong paralysis. Incomplete spinal cord injuries, on the other hand, can occur in varying degrees. If you have an incomplete spinal cord injury, you may lose some movement and feeling below the site of your injury, but not all. Victims with incomplete spinal cord injuries may improve in function and feeling over time, while victims with complete spinal cord injuries frequently suffer a complete, lifelong loss of function and feeling.
The Location of Spinal Cord Injuries And Different Impacts
Spinal cord injuries that result in full paralysis usually break down into two categories. Paraplegia usually involves limitations to the legs and pelvic organs, while tetraplegia, or quadriplegia, usually includes the hands and arms and the area below your waist. Which of these effects you experience depends on where you sustained the spinal cord injury.
Challenges Ahead For Lakeland Spinal Cord Injury Victims
Spinal cord injuries can result in serious, ongoing challenges for Lakeland victims. Spinal cord injuries often cause:
- Loss of mobility below the site of the injury, including loss of all voluntary motor function in the case of complete spinal cord injuries
- Decreased organ function below the site of the injury
- Chronic pain below the site of the injury
These challenges can impact every area of the victim’s life. Loss of motor function, especially in quadriplegia, can cause the victim to require assistance with daily self-care tasks, including bathing or even simply eating. Victims may lose the ability to perform their normal job duties, especially if they previously worked in a highly active profession. Lakeland spinal cord injury victims may also face serious challenges related to their previous leisure activities and hobbies, which can cause significant loss of enjoyment of life, especially in the days immediately following the injury. Some spinal cord injury victims also often experience decreased sexual function that can permanently impact their intimate relationships.
Common Causes of Lakeland Spinal Cord Injuries and Who Bears Liability
Spinal cord injuries can occur due to accidents that involve substantial force to any part of the spine. However, some accidents can prove more common in Lakeland than others.
Lakeland Auto Accidents
Auto accidents often result in serious injuries. Due to its location on I-4, between Tampa and Orlando, Lakeland sees heavy vehicle traffic, which can raise the risk of auto accidents. High speeds on I-4 can worsen the severity of many auto accidents, resulting in serious injuries like spinal cord injuries for many victims.
In an auto accident, if a negligent driver’s behaviors behind the wheel led to the accident, they will bear liability for the accident. This may include a distracted driver, one traveling well over the speed limit, or one who chose to ignore the rules of the road, including tailgating, aggressive driving, or failing to yield while merging into traffic. Other parties may be liable as well. Make sure to work with an experienced attorney to identify all potentially liable parties.
Lakeland Boating and Water Accidents
Throughout Polk County, visitors and residents can find many opportunities to engage in a range of water sports: boating, fishing, water skiing, kayaking, and swimming. Unfortunately, these fun water activities come with a risk of spinal cord injuries. Diving into shallow water, ignoring boating rules and regulations, or a boating accident can all result in serious injuries for the victims, including spinal cord injuries.
In a water or boating accident, the party that bears liability is one that failed in its duty of care to others using the area recreationally, professionally, or for transport.
The liable party may include:
- A commercial property owner who failed to post “shallow water” warnings for swimmers, boaters, and divers
- The owner or operator of a boat who chose to operate their vessel negligently on the water
- Someone who allowed debris to collect around the water, leading to an accident
- A boat rental company that failed to adequately maintain its boats, resulting in a serious accident
If you suffered a spinal cord injury in a boating accident or on the water, The Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys can help give you a better idea of the compensation you deserve for your injuries and who may share liability for your specific accident.
Premises Liability Accidents
There are many historic sites to be seen in Lakeland, and Polk County as a whole, including impressive architecture that visitors arrive eager to check out. While sightseeing is a common pastime, it can also pose some dangers if premises owners fail to maintain their properties. While historic buildings may be exempt from certain maintenance requirements, to preserve their original state, property owners still must follow basic safety precautions to make the area as safe as possible for visitors. If a visitor suffers a slip and fall that results in a spinal cord injury, the premises owner may bear liability for those injuries. Sometimes, a business operating on the property, but that does not own the property, may also share liability for a slip and fall or falling object accident.
What Compensation to Expect from a Lakeland Spinal Cord Injury Claim
After a Lakeland spinal cord injury, most people want to know how much compensation they can expect to recover compensation for their injuries. You may have immense medical bills related to your accident: in the first year of treatment alone, you may face between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in medical costs, as you work to treat your injuries. You may lose your ability to work in your previous profession altogether, losing a crucial source of income to pay your bills.
How much compensation should you expect for a Lakeland spinal cord injury? It depends on the severity of your injury, and the kinds of expenses and impacts you have experienced from it.
Your Lakeland spinal cord injury medical expenses.
After your accident, medical expenses related to your spinal cord injury will typically form the foundation of your spinal cord injury claim. Spinal cord injuries can mean immense medical costs: emergency medical care, surgeries and procedures, a stay in a long-term care facility or a long stay in the hospital, and even an in-home caregiver to help provide necessary care once you come home.
You may also need considerable durable medical equipment, including a wheelchair to help you get around. Some spinal cord injury victims may need an exoskeleton, technology developed in 2014 that can help paralyzed victims go up stairs, walk, and move around more independently. All those medical costs can add up substantially, especially in the first year after the accident. Medical expenses typically constitute the bulk of a spinal cord injury victim’s recovery.
Compensation for wages lost due to your Lakeland spinal cord injury.
Wage loss after spinal cord injuries may vary depending on the severity of your injuries and the type of work you usually perform. If you retain the use of upper-body, for example, you may have the capacity to return to a desk job within a few weeks or months of your injury. On the other hand, if you have a job that requires heavy lifting or time on your feet, you might not be able to return to work at all.
You can claim compensation for the immediate wages lost due to your injuries and compensation for lost earning potential. Lost earning potential accounts for the earnings you could have expected to make as you advanced in your career, but for the spinal cord injury. Claiming compensation for lost earning potential may help provide you with much-needed funds to go back to school or obtain certifications to find a new career.
Compensation for pain and suffering.
Spinal cord injuries are painful, traumatic, and can change your life completely. As part of your spinal cord claim, you can claim compensation for both the physical suffering and emotional anguish you have experienced from the spinal cord injury. These are, naturally, more subjective losses that can be harder to pin a dollar figure on. An attorney can help you calculate compensation for pain and suffering.
Do You Need a Lakeland Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer?
If you suffered a spinal cord injury due to the negligence of another party, get an experienced Lakeland spinal cord injury lawyer to help you pursue the compensation you deserve. Contact Frank and Jennifer Fernandez at the Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys today at (863) 230-8361 for your free consultation.