When someone else’s negligence causes you to suffer a spinal cord injury, the Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod & Baril, PLLC can help you recover the compensation you may be entitled to because of your diminished quality of life. We can help you build a strong claim by gathering evidence to show how your spinal cord injury occurred and identify the parties legally responsible for your damages.

Our team has years of experience helping individuals and their families in injury accident cases no matter how complicated. We offer a free legal consultation with a spinal cord injury lawyer in Murfreesboro.

Call the Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod & Baril, PLLC today at 865-546-1111 to schedule an appointment to speak with us about your spinal cord injury.

We Start by Investigating Your Case

We will conduct a thorough investigation of your case to determine how your spinal cord injury occurred. Some of the most common causes for spinal cord injuries include:

Motor vehicle accidents
Motorcycle accidents
Pedestrian or bicycle accidents

Determining what caused your spinal cord injury will help us know what type of evidence to collect.

Using Medical Records as Evidence

Your medical records will help to strengthen your claim because it will show the type and level of your spinal cord injury. Your medical records should also contain:

Your doctor’s or surgeon’s notes about your condition
Your treatment and rehabilitation plans
Your prognosis

Medical information about the severity of your spinal cord injury and the ongoing care you will require increases the value of your claim.

Besides information about your injury, the documents may also show how medical errors occurred if you believe that medical malpractice caused your spinal cord injury.

Collecting Additional Evidence to Support Your Claim

The other type of evidence we collect depends on the facts and circumstances of how your injury occurred. For instance, if you sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident caused by another driver, we would collect evidence such as:

A police report
Traffic camera video of the crash
Photographs of the accident scene
Pictures of the damaged vehicles
Eyewitness statements
The driver’s prior convictions of traffic violations

In some instances, we also use the opinions and findings of subject matter experts. For example, we may ask an accident reconstruction specialist to determine cause and fault for the crash.

Using Evidence to Prove Negligence

To prevail in your claim, we must prove the following four elements of negligence in your case:

Duty of care
Breach of duty
Negligence and causation
Damages

If, for instance, you sustained a spinal cord injury because of a drunk driver slammed into your vehicle, we must show how the driver had a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid causing you harm. But, the driver breached that duty of care by driving under the influence of alcohol. The driver’s negligent act of driving while impaired caused an accident. As a result, you suffered a spinal cord injury and other significant damages.

We will apply these elements of negligence to the specific circumstances of what caused your spinal cord injury.

Negotiating Your Claim with Insurance Companies

Once we identify the at-fault parties, we will file a claim with their insurance companies for compensation. Insurance companies use specific strategies and tactics to avoid paying out high claims. They count on injury victims accepting low settlement offers because of their immediate need for money to cover their financial losses.

Having a firm like the Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod & Baril, PLLC on your side protects your rights throughout the negotiation process and ensures you get a fair settlement offer. However, there are times when insurers will not offer fair settlements, and it may become necessary to file a lawsuit. We will discuss this with you before taking legal action to resolve the matter in court.

Getting Compensation for Your Injuries

Several factors go into determining the amount of compensation to pursue in your claim. One major factor is the severity of your spinal cord injury. Because of your injury and long-term recovery, you might pursue compensation for damages such as:

Home health care
In-patient rehabilitation
Prescription medication
Lost wages (present and future)
Loss of earning capacity

You might also pursue non-financial damages, including:

Pain and suffering
Permanent disability or disfigurement
Mental anguish
Emotional distress

Our goal is to help you pursue all of the compensation you are entitled to because of your injury.

Compensation for a Spinal Cord Injury in Murfreesboro, TN

Tennessee lifts the $750,000 cap on non-economic damages and increases it to $1 million when individuals suffer certain catastrophic losses or injuries. Among the injuries the state considers catastrophic is a spinal cord injury resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a spinal cord injury can cause incomplete paralysis (paraplegia) which affects the lower part of your body. A spinal cord injury can also cause complete paralysis (quadriplegia), which means the permanent inability to move your arms or legs.

If your spinal cord injury resulted in paraplegia or quadriplegia, we could help you pursue these additional non-economic damages.

Punitive Damages

You may be entitled to seek punitive damages against the party at fault for causing your injury. These type of damages are used to punish the at-fault party for reckless or malicious behavior that caused a serious or fatal injury. Punitive damages are also awarded to deter others from engaging in the same negligent behavior.

Call Ogle, Elrod & Baril, PLLC to Discuss Your Spinal Cord Injury Accident

We understand the financial and emotional hardships a spinal cord injury could have on you and your family. We are passionate about helping you pursue the compensation you deserve for your injury and losses. Call us at 865-546-1111 for a free, no-obligation case evaluation with a spinal cord lawyer in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.