Treating California’s Injured With Dignity And Respect

Serious Injury Attorney In San Francisco

For most, a serious injury is one that would demand a trip to the emergency room. While that is a fair definition, in the legal sense, a serious injury is far more catastrophic and painful and comes with significant, overwhelming difficulties.

At Abramson Smith Waldsmith LLP, we are catastrophic injury attorneys helping people in San Francisco and all across Northern California. Our clients come to us because of our reputation for experienced, professional legal counsel, and dedicated representation in and out of the courtroom. These are trying times, and we’ll help you pursue compensation the right way.

Causes Of Serious Injury

Common causes of serious injuries include:

Major car accidents: Whether involving cars, motorcycles or commercial trucks, these are often the high-speed, devastating collisions that cause massive damage to the vehicles and the victims.
Construction accidents: Construction sites are dangerous, with falling objects, heavy machinery and considerable safety risks to workers, such as falling from great heights and exposed electrical wiring.
Defective products: Defective products come in all forms: from industrial machinery and medical devices to everyday household appliances, children’s toys, furniture, tools and other consumer products. A single defect can turn an ordinary product into a serious hazard, causing fires, explosions, crushing injuries, electrocution or other catastrophic harm. Manufacturers, distributors and retailers have a duty to ensure the products they place into the stream of commerce are reasonably safe. When dangerous products injure consumers, workers or families, we fight to hold the responsible companies accountable.
Premises liability: Property owners and businesses have a duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for those who enter their property. Catastrophic injuries in premises liability cases can result from falls, fires, structural collapses, falling objects, negligent maintenance, inadequate security and other dangerous conditions that could and should have been prevented.
Public entity negligence: Cities, counties and other public entities are responsible for maintaining roads, bridges, sidewalks, public buildings and other public infrastructure in a reasonably safe condition. When dangerous conditions are ignored or large public projects fail, the consequences can be devastating, leading to serious injuries or loss of life.
Workplace accidents: Workplace injuries often involve more than ordinary job-site risks. Defective equipment, unsafe worksites, negligent subcontractors, dangerous property conditions and third-party misconduct can expose workers to catastrophic harm. These accidents frequently involve construction sites, industrial settings, transportation incidents and heavy machinery.

Catastrophic injuries are different from ordinary injuries because their effects are often permanent. You may face lifelong medical care, lost earning capacity, chronic pain and significant changes to your quality of life. Pursuing full accountability is critical to securing the resources needed for the future.

Frequently Asked Questions About Serious Injuries

Any catastrophic injury will take up all your attention and time to recover physically. You cannot understand what the next step is from a procedural or legal perspective because you’ve never been in a situation just like this. But our attorneys have, and we can help you get the answers you need.

What qualifies as a serious injury in a personal injury case?

Serious or catastrophic injuries do not look the same in every case, but often share common characteristics: long recovery and permanent or life-altering consequences. Examples include:

Amputations: Loss of a limb is always a catastrophic injury because it permanently changes a person’s ability to interact with the world. A lost limb typically means the regular use of a prosthetic, which must go through updates and changes from time to time. Many amputees require ongoing rehabilitation and lifetime medical care.
Spinal cord injuries: Spinal cord injuries can affect nearly every part and function of the body, like sensation, motor function and essential bodily functions. These injuries often require surgery, extensive rehabilitation and lifelong medical care.
Burns: Third-degree and other severe burns can cause permanent disfigurement, nerve damage, and significant physical and emotional trauma. Treatment frequently involves surgeries, skin grafts, rehabilitation and ongoing monitoring.
Crushing and orthopedic injuries: Multiple fractures, crushing injuries and compound fractures can lead to chronic pain, limited mobility, permanent impairment and lengthy recovery periods requiring extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation.

How is compensation calculated for catastrophic injuries?

Compensation in a catastrophic injury case is based on both the financial and personal losses caused by the injury.

Economic damages include measurable losses such as medical expenses, future medical care, lost wages, loss of earning capacity and rehabilitation costs. Noneconomic damages compensate for the human impact of the injury, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, physical impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Because catastrophic injuries often require lifelong treatment and dramatically alter a person’s future, these cases demand a thorough evaluation of both current and long-term damages. As the victim of the accident, you have the right to pursue the full amount of compensation for what you suffered. Our role is to present clear and compelling evidence showing the full extent of how the injury has affected every aspect of your life.

Do serious injuries require an attorney?

You are not legally required to hire an attorney for a serious injury claim, but catastrophic injury cases are often highly complex and aggressively defended by insurance companies and corporate defendants.

Insurance carriers typically rely on experienced legal teams, medical experts and investigators whose goal is to minimize the value of a claim. Without experienced representation, victims may not fully understand the long-term value of their case or the future medical and financial consequences of their injuries.

Catastrophic injury cases often involve extensive medical evidence, expert testimony, future care planning, lost earning capacity and complicated damages calculations. Having an experienced attorney can make a significant difference in protecting your rights and pursuing the full compensation needed for your future.

Call For A Free Consultation

Our team is ready to listen to you about your case. We help clients with injury compensation, long-term disability claims and all the most painful of injuries. We listen to our clients and pursue damages in the right way, the way you can be confident in. Call us for a free consultation at 415-421-7995 or toll-free at 866-399-3548 or send an email using this online form.