an injured man talking to a catastrophic injury lawyer

Have you suffered potentially life-altering injuries in Oklahoma? If so, you could be facing years of ongoing medical expenses, lost future earning capacity, pain, and suffering. You should not have to bear these long-term consequences on your own. You may have a right to pursue compensation if someone else’s negligence caused your catastrophic injuries. You will need an experienced catastrophic injury attorney in Oklahoma to have the best chance of obtaining fair compensation. Fortunately, help is available.

The Oklahoma personal injury attorneys at Ryan Bisher Ryan & Simons have extensive experience handling catastrophic injury cases and can guide you through the legal process. Contact our experienced team today for a free legal consultation with a catastrophic injury lawyer.

What Is a Catastrophic Injury?

A catastrophic injury is any injury that can have severe, long-term, and life-altering consequences. The term is a way to distinguish especially serious injuries from those that will eventually heal or leave a patient with only minor or temporary impairments.

Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Injuries sustained by accident victims that are often categorized as catastrophic include:

  • Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
  • Spinal cord injuries (SCIs), particularly those that cause paraplegia or quadriplegia
  • Amputations
  • Third- and fourth-degree severe burns covering large parts of the body
  • Permanent loss of vision (blindness)
  • Permanent hearing loss
  • Internal organ damage requiring permanent medical care
  • Multiple fractures resulting in long-term impairment
  • Nerve damage causing permanent loss of function
  • Severe facial trauma requiring reconstructive surgery

Common Causes of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries can happen as a consequence of any traumatic event. Common causes include:

Long-Term Effects of Catastrophic Injuries

One of the defining aspects of a catastrophic injury is the long-term effects it has on a patient’s life. The injuries frequently require expensive ongoing care in the form of surgeries, hospitalizations, and rehabilitation. They often lead to impairments affecting a patient’s mobility or cognitive ability. The impairments can affect accident victims’ ability to work, live independently, or care for themselves. They can also negatively affect their quality of life.

Who Can Be Held Liable for a Catastrophic Injury?

Many different parties could be legally liable for a catastrophic injury in Oklahoma, including:

  • Someone who causes a serious accident, like a careless driver or a property owner who fails to fix a property hazard promptly
  • The employer of an at-fault person, if that person was on the job at the time of the incident
  • A company that manufactured a defective product such as defective medical devices or dangerous drugs

In some cases, multiple parties may be partly at fault for a serious accident. Since Oklahoma personal injury law holds defendants liable only for their own portion of fault, recovering maximum compensation requires taking legal action against each responsible party that was partly to blame. An experienced personal injury attorney will seek to identify every person or business that contributed to your catastrophic injuries and include them in your personal injury claim.

Compensation Available for Catastrophic Injuries

If someone else is to blame for the catastrophic injuries you suffered, they could owe you compensation for your:

  • Past and future medical needs
  • Lost income and reduced future earning capacity
  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress
  • Reduced quality of life

You could also be entitled to punitive damages if the person who hurt you was engaging in particularly egregious, reckless, or malicious conduct.

How a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Can Help

A catastrophic personal injury attorney can help you pursue maximum compensation by:

  • Investigating the cause of your injuries and everyone who may be to blame
  • Working with specialists in medicine, economics, and financial planning to understand the long-term effects of your injuries and their costs
  • Calculating the full amount of compensation you have a right to seek under the law
  • Negotiating with the at-fault parties’ insurers for a fair settlement
  • Taking your catastrophic injury case to trial if the liable parties refuse to agree to a reasonable settlement

Most catastrophic injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. They only receive a legal fee if they secure a settlement or court award for the client. If the personal injury lawyer wins the case, the attorney receives an agreed-upon percentage of the amount obtained for the client.

Statute of Limitations for Catastrophic Injury Claims

Under most circumstances, Oklahoma’s statute of limitations on catastrophic injury claims allows two years from the date of an accident or one year from a deliberate act of violence to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Why Choose Ryan Bisher Ryan and Simons?

Choose Ryan Bisher Ryan & Simons as your catastrophic injury attorneys because:

  • We have decades of experience representing personal injury victims in complex personal injury cases.
  • We have recovered millions of dollars for our Oklahoma clients, including $6,645,000 for a client who was seriously injured in a gas leak explosion.
  • We don’t back down from a fight and are prepared to take your case to trial if that is the best way to maximize your financial recovery.

As one satisfied former client said, “They were always so helpful, never too busy to talk to me. They were really concerned about ME.“

FAQs

Still have questions about catastrophic injury claims in Oklahoma? The legal team at Ryan Bisher Ryan & Simons has the answers you are seeking.

How much is a catastrophic injury case worth?

Every catastrophic injury case involves unique circumstances affecting the value of the case. Generally speaking, the value is determined by factors such as the victim’s age at the time of their injuries, the extent of their impairment, and their future medical treatment and other care expenses.

What if I was partially at fault?

Oklahoma’s modified comparative negligence law will apply to your case if you were partially at fault for your injuries. Under Oklahoma law, you can still recover compensation as long as you were not more than 50 percent to blame for what happened. However, any compensation you receive will be reduced in proportion to your share of fault.

How long will my case take?

How long your case takes to conclude will depend on a number of factors. These include the severity of your injuries, how long it takes your condition to stabilize, whether other people admit fault for your injuries, and how willing their insurance providers are to settle. If a personal injury case goes to trial, it is likely to take one to two years.

Should I accept the insurance company’s first offer?

Do not accept an insurance company’s settlement offer without having a serious injury lawyer review the offer first and discuss whether it is fair. Generally, it is best to wait until you have reached maximum medical improvement and the full extent of your medical expenses is known before settling a case. Once you sign a settlement agreement releasing the insurance company from further liability, the case is concluded. If you accept a settlement offer without legal guidance, you may walk away with far less than the full value of your case.

Contact an Oklahoma Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Today

Have you or someone you love suffered a life-altering injury in Oklahoma? Then contact the dedicated team at Ryan Bisher Ryan & Simons for a free consultation with an Oklahoma City catastrophic injury lawyer. Our law firm has proven experience handling complex severe injury cases. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can start pursuing the compensation you need to rebuild your life.

 

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