The Cochran Firm is home to some of the most experienced, accomplished spinal cord injury attorneys in the Philadelphia area. Attorney Robert Miller has received many awards and recognitions for his work in personal injury law and has a reputation across Pennsylvania and New Jersey for his successful outcomes in spinal injury cases.
The Cochran Firm understands the life-altering impact of a spinal injury. We know that gaining fair compensation is essential for a family to cope with the pervasive negative consequences to finances and other areas of life after a spinal injury.
Our dedicated team of Philadelphia spinal injury attorneys has the skills and resources to build a strong case for maximum compensation after a spinal injury in Philadelphia.
A spinal cord injury claim often brings a high compensation, but delaying legal action hurts your chances of being paid. If you or a close family member has experienced injury or you lost a loved one to death due to a spinal cord injury in Philadelphia, the time to take action is now. Call 800-969-4400 today to schedule a consultation with a spinal cord lawyer at The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia.
A Philadelphia personal injury case centered around a spinal injury can bring significant compensation. In Pennsylvania, you can seek three forms of compensation in a personal injury case: economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
Economic damages are the expenses and financial losses that have a demonstrable amount. Establishing a comprehensive financial goal for economic damages can be a long process, especially when a spinal accident victim faces the need for ongoing medical care, like future surgeries and therapy.
It may be necessary for your spinal injury attorney to work with medical professionals and other experts to identify what the long-term costs of care will be.
The other primary form of damages a Philadelphia spinal cord injury lawyer will help establish are non-economic damages. This can be a source of significant compensation. A spinal injury profoundly alters the quality of life of the injury victim and their loved ones. In Pennsylvania, common forms of non-economic damages include:
When a spinal injury has left a person unable to use the restroom unassisted or unable to participate in family life, an experienced Philadelphia spinal injury attorney can help maximize your compensation by including factors like these into the consideration of overall damages.
Finally, some spinal cord injury cases qualify for punitive damages. Punitive damages are a form of punishment for excessive or intentional negligence on the part of the responsible party. It’s less common to receive these in a personal injury case, but sometimes a judge will order them to be paid in addition to the amounts awarded for economic and non-economic damages.
You may know you’re entitled to money after a spinal injury, but you might be surprised by just how large a settlement you can gain when a Philadelphia spinal cord injury lawyer builds a case on your behalf.
For more information on how our team can consider all of your losses to maximize your potential compensation, call The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia at 800-969-4400 today.
Any successful spinal injury case depends on one key element — proving that the other party was negligent. Negligence is a concept in personal injury law that helps determine who is responsible for damages after an injury.
Negligence has four main parts:
Proving this four-part definition of negligence is necessary for winning any spinal injury case. However, how your attorney achieves this can vary widely based on the circumstances of your accident. When an injury is caused by a slip and fall accident, the steps to proving negligence look very different than in a case in which an injury resulted from an auto accident case.
The state of Pennsylvania only allows injury victims two years to initiate a civil case over a spinal injury. If you hope to successfully gain compensation, you need to begin speaking with a Philadelphia spinal injury attorney immediately so they have time to build your case.
The nature of a spinal cord injury means there’s a high likelihood of significant medical expenses and lost earning ability. It’s also common for a spinal injury victim to need assistive care to complete basic daily tasks like grooming and eating. The families of spinal cord injury victims often struggle to afford the costs of an assisted living facility or an in-home caretaker.
A Philadelphia spinal injury lawyer must thoroughly assess all considerations to establish a reasonable compensation goal. Factors that can impact the size of a case’s compensation goal include:
Ultimately, the ability of your legal team to craft a strong argument and consider all factors significantly impacts your outcome. Experienced spinal cord injury lawyers routinely recover compensation for hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of dollars.
Any form of spinal injury can lead to significant compensation. However, not all spinal cord injuries are alike.
The spinal column is responsible for many physical abilities and functions. Injury to this body part can have a wide range of outcomes. The severity of the injury and the chance of recovery can vary by case, and these factors have a direct bearing on compensation.
Individuals fortunate enough to make a full recovery after a spinal injury may still find themselves saddled with excessive medical debt and chronic pain that continues for a lifetime.
In many cases, a spinal injury brings a more tragic outcome. Some victims may find themselves paralyzed, with no hope of recovery, while others may experience impacted cognitive function, with serious consequences for speaking and thinking — not to mention how it can affect an individual’s personality.
Maximizing compensation requires working with an experienced team of spinal cord injury attorneys familiar with the different types of spinal cord injuries and how they occur.
Certain injuries are more common with a fall, while others are more likely to be sustained in a motorcycle accident. The more experience your attorney has with injury types, the more likely they are to know how to use the details of an injury to increase the compensation you're eligible to receive.
A spinal injury victim may be left with quadriplegia or tetraplegia, which involves paralysis of both the arms and legs. Paraplegia refers to paralysis of two limbs and most commonly impacts the legs.
There’s also a difference between complete and incomplete spinal cord injury, depending on whether the victim experiences complete or partial paralysis below the injury site. All these elements of an injury factor into compensation, so working with an attorney experienced in spinal injury cases is crucial.
At The Cochran Firm, we understand that a spinal cord injury impacts far more than your physical health alone. Recovering compensation begins with a consultation. Our spinal injury lawyers will focus on two main areas — the extent of the damages and how the party responsible can be held accountable for your losses.
A spinal injury attorney will work with you to understand:
Once our legal team has a full picture of the injury and its repercussions, we can work on a compensation plan. To navigate the complexities of personal injury claims, consulting a personal injury lawyer can be a crucial step. This typically involves either seeking compensation directly through the insurance policies of the parties involved or filing a personal injury lawsuit.
There are many ways a Philadelphia spinal injury attorney will work to create and strengthen your case. The legal team at The Cochran Firm may:
Every case consists of unique elements, which means that the steps a spinal cord lawyer will need to take to fight for your rights will depend on the circumstances of your accident.
For more specific answers to questions about your injuries and how you can go about gaining compensation, call 800-969-4400 to schedule a consultation with the Philadelphia spinal cord lawyers at The Cochran Firm in Philadelphia.
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No. Never speak with an insurance company until you consult with a spinal cord injury lawyer. Speaking to an insurance agent without representation is a mistake, as you can accidentally make statements that disqualify you from full coverage.
Yes. The average person cannot hope to achieve the same level of results made possible by the knowledge and resources of a team of experienced Philadelphia spinal cord injury lawyers. In nearly every case, working with a lawyer will significantly increase your compensation.
Yes. If a spinal injury resulted in the death of a child, parent, or spouse, a Philadelphia spinal injury lawyer could help you gain compensation by filing a wrongful death action.
The cost of a Philadelphia spinal cord injury lawyer depends on many different case-specific factors. The number of parties involved, the amount of work required to build a strong case, and whether a case goes to trial all impact the overall cost.
Many personal injury lawyers work on contingency. A contingency fee is rendered from the final compensation awarded and is only due if your attorney wins your case.
A spinal cord injury lawyer can use expert testimony for many different reasons. Attorneys use medical experts to establish the likely lifetime costs of care for an individual’s spinal injury, thereby increasing the potential compensation.
Lawyers also use accident reconstruction experts to determine fault, a crucial element of building a winning case. Your spinal cord injury lawyer will draw on whatever type of expert testimony can help strengthen your case.
There are countless ways of sustaining a spinal cord injury in Philadelphia. Common causes include slip and fall accidents, auto accidents, motorcycle accidents, birth injuries, and workplace injuries.
The cause of an accident is important because this determines whether your spinal cord injury lawyer will need to take action over personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, workers’ compensation, or some other type of claim.
The two best ways to protect yourself are to document everything and speak with a spinal cord injury lawyer in Philadelphia as soon as possible. Don’t admit fault, and don’t speak with an insurance company.
When an attorney has access to your case immediately, they can better protect your rights and ensure that the documentation needed for a winning case is created and collected.
Yes. The state of Pennsylvania observes a comparative negligence rule when it comes to ascribing fault. If you were partly to blame for the accident, both you and the other party are assigned a percentage of fault.
If you bear 50% or less fault, you can recover compensation. If you bear 51% or more, you cannot recover compensation. However, you should never admit fault for an accident, as this can jeopardize your chance of gaining compensation.
