Spinal cord injury is among the most devastating trauma one can suffer. Each year, more than 17,000 cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) are diagnosed – the majority caused by vehicle accidents. For more than 50 years, the NYC spinal cord injury lawyers at Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green have provided superior representation to victims of catastrophic harm. We work with the industry’s best experts to ensure clients receive the financial recovery they deserve.
Whether resulting from a car crash, a slip and fall, or the negligence of another party, victims should not have to face their burdens alone. Explore your options for legal recourse by speaking with a New York City spinal cord injury lawyer at Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green. With a powerful, results-driven legal ally in your corner, you can optimize your chances of a successful settlement.

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NYC Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers

When the spinal cord is torn, ruptured, bruised or otherwise injured, it can shut down the communication system to certain parts of the body, resulting in weakness of the limbs, loss of physical sensation, paralysis, neuropathic pain, bladder and bowel dysfunction as well as a life-threatening over-activity of the Autonomic Nervous System.
Your ability to access the best possible long-term treatment depends, to a great degree, on your ability to pay for it. Insurance company offers are often grossly inadequate to cover continuing rehabilitation care and diminished earning capacity, which is why many victims turn to a skilled spinal cord injury attorney for help. Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green leverage extensive expertise in complex personal injury litigation and counsel victims on the soundest strategies for holding liable parties responsible.
Our legal team understands the medical and rehabilitation complexities involved in spinal cord injury claims and works closely with your medical team to properly calculate the full value of your lawsuit.

While dollar amounts will vary from case to case, spinal cord injury compensation will factor in:

  • Past, present and future medical expenses
  • Rehabilitation
  • Lost income
  • Reduced earnings capacity
  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional damages
  • Punitive damages (if applicable)

The Importance of Legal Representation 

After suffering a spinal cord injury, you may hear from the insurance company of the party responsible for your situation. The insurer may offer what sounds like a reasonable settlement. Never accept a settlement without consulting an attorney. There is no going back after agreeing to a settlement, no matter how much future care and help it turns out you need.  

The insurance company wants to settle what is likely a complicated and expensive case cheaply and quickly. The hard truth is that they do not care about you, the long road ahead, or what your long-term treatment may entail. They simply want to close your claim.  

A spinal cord injury lawyer will determine a fair amount of compensation based on the facts surrounding your specific case. We know how to negotiate with insurance companies or litigate a case if the insurer fails to agree to a reasonable settlement.   

Your lawyer works in your best interests. We investigate each case exhaustively and identify all potential defendants. We may hire expert witnesses, such as accident reconstruction specialists, to determine who was at fault for a motor vehicle accident causing a spinal cord injury. Medical experts provide testimony as to the extent of your physical limitations, your prognosis, the type of ongoing and future treatment you will need, and other detailed analyses.

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injury

According to the Mayo Clinic, SCI can result from injury to the ligaments, vertebrae, or discs in the spinal column or the spinal cord. An estimated 70% of all traumatic spine injuries are caused by motorcycle and motor vehicle accidents.
Other causes of spinal cord injury include:

  • Falls from heights, such as at a construction site
  • Assault or acts of violence, i.e. stabbing or gunshot wounds
  • Recreational sports accidents (football, horseback riding, snowboarding, diving into shallow water)
  • Diseases such as cancer or osteoporosis that can damage the spinal cord

The average health care costs and living expenses directly attributable to SCI depend on the level of impairment, but research shows that paraplegics will spend $520,000 on medical bills in their first year alone and $67,000 for each subsequent year. The astronomical expenses associated with this injury underscore the need to work with a reputable spinal cord injury law firm that has a proven track record.
At Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green, our case results speak for themselves. We devote all our energy and resources to seek justice for clients who were wrongly injured because someone else did not act responsibly.

Why Choose Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb, Green & Bagley, P.C.

When choosing a New York spinal cord injury lawyer, look for an attorney with a great deal of experience in this area of the law to represent you. At Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb, Green & Bagley, P.C., our track record is second to none when it comes to spinal cord injury verdicts and settlements.  

Recently, a jury awarded a $2.1 million jury verdict for our client, a private waste hauler, who slipped and fell on a decrepit steel plate on a Brooklyn city sidewalk. Other settlements and award results we have obtained for clients in spinal cord injury cases include: 

  • $6.5 million settlement: After a construction accident, the plaintiff sustained multiple herniated discs and required the implantation of a spinal cord stimulator, as well as a series of epidural steroid injections. The Court agreed with our arguments that the defendant building owner and general contractor were liable as a matter of law under Labor Law Section 240(1) and granted summary judgment to the plaintiff on liability. 
  • $4.980 million: In a Brooklyn motor vehicle accident, the plaintiff was a front-seat passenger in a vehicle that was rear-ended by the defendant. The plaintiff sustained a tear to the posterior tibial tendon, an ankle injury, and a spinal injury. After the jury heard the evidence, they were convinced that the defendant was negligent and awarded this substantial verdict. 

At Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb, Green & Bagley, P.C., our experienced New York spinal cord injury lawyers can hold those responsible for your injury accountable and help you receive the maximum compensation you deserve. 

Symptoms of Spinal Cord Injury

The severity of SCI is classified as complete, where all sensation and motor function below the site of injury is lost, or incomplete, in which some sensation is retained. National statistics on spinal cord injury show that incomplete tetraplegia (affecting all four limbs) is the most frequent neurological result followed by incomplete paraplegia, complete paraplegia, and finally complete tetraplegia, also called quadriplegia.
Signs and symptoms of spinal cord injury following an accident include:

  • Problems with balance
  • Tingling sensation in your hands, toes and feet
  • Partial numbness in your extremities
  • Severe pain or pressure along your neck, back or head
  • Loss of sensation in any part of your body
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Altered ability to feel heat or cold
  • Bladder control problems

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Establishing Negligence 

To establish negligence in a personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed them a duty of care. For example, if the injury occurred due to a motor vehicle accident, the plaintiff must show that the defendant had a duty of care to obey the rules of the road. If a slip and fall accident resulted in a spinal cord injury, the plaintiff must prove that the property owner failed to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition. 

The plaintiff must establish that the defendant breached that duty of care. Perhaps the driver of the other vehicle ran a red light, hitting and injuring the plaintiff, or the property owner did not repair an obvious hazard or failed to post warning signs or cordon the area off. That breach of the duty of care must be the direct cause of the spinal cord injury. 

Finally, the plaintiff must prove that they suffered financial and personal damages because of the spinal cord injury inflicted by the defendant’s negligence. Such damages may include things like their medical expenses, lost wages, loss of property and pain and suffering.

Statute of Limitations

In New York, the statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit is three years from the injury date. However, if the spinal cord injury resulted from medical malpractice, the statute of limitations is 30 months, or 2.5 years, from the injury date or the date the injury was discovered.  

In addition, if a governmental agency was involved, the statute of limitations is just 90 days to file a notice of claim and one year and 90 days to file a lawsuit against a New York city or municipality.  

Failing to file a personal injury lawsuit within the specific time according to the situation generally means your case cannot go forward. 

When to File a Claim 

While you should consult a New York spinal cord injury lawyer as soon as possible after your accident, you may not want to file a claim immediately. Your attorney will guide you as to the best time to file a claim based on the particulars of your injury as long as it is within the statute of limitations. For instance, the true financial impact of a spinal cord injury may not be apparent in the immediate aftermath of the accident.  

Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuits and Settlements

Whether a trip and fall at a grocery store or a rollover collision were the cause of your injury, our attorneys understand enormous hardships placed on victims and their families, as hospital bills pile up and disabling complications impact quality of life. As tempting as it may seem to take a settlement offer, never sign any insurance papers without first consulting counsel at our firm.
Our lawyers carefully weigh input from your doctors, medical experts, lifecare planners and accident reconstructionists to assess the full value of your personal injury claim. A spinal cord injury settlement reflects the gravity and life-long implications of the injury, and account for in-home nursing care, loss of companionship and projected medical bills over the plaintiff’s lifetime.

Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm New York Trusts

If you or a loved one have suffered a spinal cord injury, we invite you to reach out for a confidential consultation in our New York office. Keep in mind that you have a limited amount of time to pursue fair compensation before the statute of limitations expires. Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green operate on a contingency-fee basis and look forward to serving your legal needs.

Most of us are lucky enough to go through life without ever paying mind to the continuous stream of messages between brain and body—unless we or a loved one suffers a spinal cord injury.

The message stream between brain and body is conducted via the spinal cord? A central bundle of nerves within the spinal column.

The flow of two-way messages contains the sensory information and instructions that control all of our bodily functions, including:

  • Muscle control
  • Breathing
  • Blood pressure and blood flow
  • Bladder and bowel movements
  • Sweating
  • Digestion
  • Sexual function

When the spinal cord is injured it can, in essence, shut down the communication system to the parts of the body networked to the site of the injury. It can also result in some abnormal muscle behavior, activities, and sensations above the point of injury, such as neuropathic pain, spastic movementand a life-threatening over-activity of the Autonomic Nervous System.

Spinal cord injuries can be devastating. Those that can be healed often require a great deal of time and rehabilitation. Those that cannot be healed forever alter and even shorten lives. Your ability to recover, and the degree to which you can recover, depends a great dealon your access to the best possible treatment?both for your immediate and long-term care. It is possible that you will see incremental improvements continue for several years.

Nearly 70% of all back and spine injuries occur because of car, motorcycle, and other motor vehicle accidents. Victims in these accidents often suffer traumatic brain injuries as well.

Other common causes include:

  • Sports injuries
  • Slips and falls
  • Assaults and fights

In many of these incidents and accidents, the injuries were caused because someone else did not act responsibly.

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Winning Compensation to Ensure Your Future

Your ability to access the best possible long-term treatment depends, to a great degree, on your ability to pay for it. Insurance company offers are often grossly inadequate to cover your long-term rehabilitation care and lost wages.

That is why many victims turn to personal injury attorneys for help. If your spinal cord injury was caused even in part by the negligence of another, you may be able to hold that party or parties liable.

A personal injury attorney who is experienced in prosecuting spinal cord cases understands the medical and rehabilitation complexities involved. He or she will assess your case and work closely with your medical team to ensure that you win all of the financial resources you will need, including:

  • Medical expenses
  • Rehabilitation
  • Lost income
  • Reduced earnings capacity
  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional damages
  • Punitive damages (if applicable)

If you or a loved one has suffered a spinal cord injury, you should talk to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible, because rehabilitative care needs to begin immediately. In addition, you only have a limited amount of time to pursue fair compensation before the statute of limitations expires. In most cases, our personal injury attorneys will not charge for their services unless and until they successfully settle or prosecute your case.

Call now for a FREE consultation!

Additional Spinal Cord Injury Resources:

1. United Spinal Association, Spinal Cord Injury Resource Center http://www.spinalcord.org/
2. NationalSpinalCordInjuryStatisticalCenter, Spinal Cord Injury Facts and Figures at a Glance https://www.nscisc.uab.edu/PublicDocuments/fact_figures_docs/Facts%202012%20Feb%20Final.pdf
3. Shepherd Center, Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation https://www.shepherd.org/patient-programs/spinal-cord-injury
4. Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, What is my injury all about, and what is meant by complete vs. Incomplete http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.mtKZKgMWKwG/b.4514603/k.77E9/Spinal_Cord_Injury_Types.htm