Albuquerque Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Catastrophic injuries are severe, life-altering injuries. Often, they involve spinal cord damage, brain injuries, or the loss or loss of use of a limb. They are disabling and can stop you from doing a job ever again. They may result in a need for lifelong care or a long period of rehabilitation.

Albuquerque Catastrophic Injury Attorney

At the Branch Law Firm, our experienced Albuquerque catastrophic injury lawyers are ready to help you pursue damages for catastrophic injuries caused by someone else in a Albuquerque car accident, an incident involving a defective product, or another harmful event.

Claims Based on Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries often arise without warning, leaving an accident victim no time to prepare for the expensive medical and therapy bills that are likely to follow. Someone who suffers catastrophic injuries may be permanently disabled for life and unable to go back to work or have other means of paying bills. The family of someone with catastrophic injuries may face significant stress from needing to care for the accident victim while also taking on additional work so that they can pay for a lifetime of the accident victim’s care.

Many different kinds of accidents can cause catastrophic injuries, including car accidents, trucking accidents, medical malpractice, dangerous drugs, oil and gas accidents, or nursing home abuse. In many of these types of situations, you may be able to recover damages for catastrophic injuries by proving someone else’s negligence.

Negligence requires you to show that the defendant owed you a duty of care, the defendant breached the duty, and the defendant’s breach resulted in your damages. For example, in an Albuquerque trucking accident case, it may be important to show the truck driver’s negligence. A truck driver can breach the duty to use reasonable care in many different ways, including by speeding, weaving, overloading the truck, failing to check blind spots, failing to react appropriately to a truck that is jackknifing, or driving while fatigued or intoxicated. Often, there are multiple victims in truck accidents, and it is important to hire a catastrophic injury attorney in New Mexico who understands how to investigate all of the causes of a trucking accident and bring in the parties that should be held accountable, which may include an employer, a third-party loader, or a truck manufacturer.

When catastrophic injuries occur on the job, an employee may be limited to workers’ compensation benefits with regard to remedies from an employer. However, these benefits may not be sufficient to cover the full range of harm caused by catastrophic injuries arising out of an oil and gas accident or a workplace toxic tort. In some cases, you may be able to bring a third-party claim. The third-party claim may be based on negligence, strict liability, or another theory. For example, if you are a construction worker who fell from the second story of a construction site as a result of a defectively designed safety harness, you might have a strict liability claim against the manufacturer of the safety harness that could be presented through a product liability lawsuit.

When an Albuquerque personal injury lawyer raises the theory of negligence, it is possible that the defendant will argue that your recovery should be limited because you were also negligent. New Mexico is a pure comparative fault state, which means that an accident victim’s recovery is reduced by an amount equal to their degree of fault, no matter how great it may be. Unless the parties settle, the jury will determine the damages and percentages of fault for each party. If the damages are $800,000, for example, and you are found to be 50% at fault, while the other negligent party is 50% at fault, you can recover $400,000 from the other party.

If you successfully establish liability for catastrophic injuries, you will be entitled to recover compensatory damages. These can include loss of past and future income, past and future medical rehabilitation expenses, and pain and suffering. When calculating pain and suffering damages, the jury will consider a range of factors, including the extent to which the injury affects your relationships, how it limits your lifestyle or daily living, how it affects you over the long term, how it affects the pleasure that you experience in your life, and whether it affects your sleep and comfort. Each plaintiff is different, and an experienced attorney will try to draw out the varied ways in which the catastrophic injuries have altered your daily life in order to paint an accurate and compelling picture for the jury or insurance adjuster.

Hire a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer in New Mexico to Assert Your Rights

The Branch Law Firm provides strong, skillful representation to people who suffer catastrophic injuries in New Mexico due to the fault of another person or business. We represent victims in Albuquerque, Roswell, Clovis, Las Cruces, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Los Alamos, Alamogordo, Farmington, Las Vegas, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Taos, Belen, and Los Lunas, among other cities. Call us toll-free at (505) 243-3500 or use our contact form to set up an appointment.