Spinal Injury Lawsuits

Whether a spinal injury results from a car accident, a slip and fall, or some other cause, the impact on the life of the injured person can be substantial—especially with outcomes like permanent disability or paralysis. This article takes a close look at the kinds of legal issues that may come up when a personal injury case involves spine injuries.

What Is a Spinal Cord Injury?

Spinal cord injury occurs when there is any kind of damage to the spinal column, or "backbone," or to the tissue or nerves housed there. The spinal cord carries messages back and forth between the brain and body, so any injury to any part of this crucial lifeline can have serious effects, including:

• temporary or permanent disability
• full or partial loss of motor control, body function, and sensation, and
• paralysis in the lower parts of the body (paraplegia) or in all four limbs (quadriplegia).

How Do I File a Spinal Cord Injury Case?

A "personal injury case" over spine injuries can mean:

• an insurance claim filed under the liability policy of the person or business that caused the underlying accident, or
• a personal injury lawsuit filed in court against the person or business that caused the accident.

These two options aren't mutually exclusive, of course. An injured person can start by filing an insurance claim, and if they can't reach a fair injury settlement with the other side, they can escalate things by taking the matter to court via a personal injury lawsuit.

What Are the Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injury?

Spinal cord injury is usually the result of a traumatic blow or impact to the spine. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, the leading causes of spinal cord injury are:

• motor vehicle accidents (responsible for around 37% of spinal cord injuries)
• falls (32%)
• acts of violence, such as gunshot wounds (15%), and
• recreational sports activities (8%).

Spinal cord injury can also be caused by medical errors that occur during surgery and other procedures involving the back and the neck. In some of these cases, a spinal cord injury may have been avoidable, and the health care professional's error might rise to the level of medical malpractice.

What Are the Different Types of Spinal Cord Injury Claims?

The specifics of a spine injury case—including what the injured person needs to prove—depend on the nature and circumstances of the accident or incident that led to the injury. Let's look at a few possibilities.

Spinal cord injuries caused by negligence. Most spinal cord injury lawsuits (and most personal injury claims in general) are based on a legal theory called negligence. Simply put, this means the person who caused your accident didn't act with reasonable care—your injury happened when a car hit your motorcycle, or when you slipped and fell on a broken staircase, for example. Learn more about negligence and proving fault for an accident.

Spinal cord injuries caused by defective products. If your spinal injury was caused by a defective or dangerous product (faulty seatbelts or airbags that made injuries sustained in a car accident much worse, or a poorly-designed safety harness, for example), you may have a "product liability" case against the company that designed, manufactured, and/or sold the product. Learn more about product liability lawsuits.

Spine injuries caused by intentional action. If an assault or some other purposeful action causes a spine injury, there may be criminal charges against the attacker, and the injured person might have an intentional tort claim (a civil case) as well.

What Are Common Defenses to a Spinal Injury Lawsuit?

When insurance companies and defendants are faced with a spinal injury claim, they might try a number of tactics in an attempt to avoid or limit their liability.

Contributory and comparative negligence. It's not uncommon in spinal cord injury cases for a defendant to argue that the injured person's own carelessness contributed to the accident.

For example, since alcohol is a factor in many spinal cord injuries (about 1 in 4 cases according to the Mayo Clinic), a defendant might argue that the injured person's intoxication was the main cause of the accident and the resulting injuries. This defense is based on legal theories known as "contributory negligence" and "comparative negligence."

Assumption of the risk. If your spinal cord injury occurred while you were involved in a dangerous activity (like bungee jumping or skiing, for example), the defendant will likely raise the "assumption of the risk" defense, arguing that you chose to take part in an activity that was likely to cause you harm, so you're not entitled to compensation.

Learn more about defenses in personal injury cases.

How Much Is a Spine Injury Lawsuit Worth?

The general purpose of a monetary award in a spinal cord injury case (as with any personal injury lawsuit) is to compensate an injured person for the losses caused by the accident and injury (called "damages").

Because the spinal cord is responsible for movement and a wide range of bodily functions—like breathing, body temperature maintenance, bladder control, and sexual functioning—injury claimants can suffer a broad range of permanent and life-altering health problems. So damages in these kinds of cases typically go above and beyond reimbursement for medical bills and "pain and suffering," to include:

• the financial impact of the claimant's inability to work because of their injuries
• the cost of ongoing health care and rehabilitation
• the cost of assistive devices (like motorized wheelchairs), and necessary modifications to the claimant's home (like access ramps and stair lifts).

Learn more about damages and how much a personal injury claim is worth.

Do I Need a Lawyer's Help With a Spine Injury Lawsuit?

Since spine injury lawsuits almost always involve complex medical evidence and serious (if not life-altering) injuries, it's usually a good idea to at least discuss your situation with a lawyer. There's often too much at stake (and too much expertise required) to try handling this kind of injury case on your own. Get details on when you might need a personal injury lawyer, and how to find the right injury attorney for you and your case.