Artesia Catastrophic Injuries Lawyer
Catastrophic injuries typically reshape a person’s and family’s life for years to come, sometimes forever. The legal claim that follows has to account for everything that lifetime will require, from ongoing care to the income that’s been lost for good. Stout & Stout represents catastrophically injured people in Artesia and throughout New Mexico, working to hold every responsible party accountable for their role in the accident. Reach out to our Artesia personal injury attorney today to schedule your free consultation.
Working With Stout & Stout After a Catastrophic Injury
Families dealing with a catastrophic injury are already carrying enough. The firm they hire should take the legal weight off their shoulders. Here’s what our team offers clients in these situations:
- You pay nothing to start and nothing in attorney fees unless we win your case. Even then, the fee comes out of your recovery, not out of your pocket.
- Our firm brings more than 70 years of combined experience representing injured clients, including those with catastrophic injuries.
- We serve our clients in English and Spanish, because when the stakes are this high, nothing about your case should ever be lost in translation.
Your family’s focus belongs on getting better. Ours belongs on making sure the responsible parties are held accountable.
Why Artesia Catastrophic Injury Claims Need an Attorney
A catastrophic injury, like a brain injury, spinal cord damage, amputation, or severe burns, creates a claim with very high stakes for everyone involved. In cases like this, the early decisions really matter.
- The full cost of a catastrophic injury includes a lifetime of care, such as surgeries, equipment, home modifications, and the income a career would have produced. Calculating that takes medical and economic experts, and an attorney brings them in to make sure your claim is valued appropriately.
- Insurance companies respond to catastrophic claims by moving fast, often offering settlements before the full extent of the injury is known. An attorney helps you slow things down and make sure you aren’t accepting a settlement offer too quickly.
- These injuries often involve multiple responsible parties, and it’s not always easy to identify each one. Your lawyer will conduct a thorough investigation and pursue full accountability.
When you’re dealing with such serious injuries, the outcome of the case is critical. Don’t try to handle it alone.
How Stout & Stout Investigates Artesia Catastrophic Injury Cases
The strength of a catastrophic injury case comes down to what can be proven, and that proof has to be gathered while it still exists. Our investigation starts as early as possible, securing accident reports, photographs, camera footage, and physical evidence, and speaking with witnesses before memories fade.
From there, we work with the professionals these cases require, such as medical experts who can explain the full extent of the injury, life care planners who project decades of future needs, and economists who calculate what the injury will cost in lost income and care over a lifetime.
By the time we sit down with an insurance company, the case is documented well enough to support the number we’re asking for and prepared well enough to go to trial if they won’t pay it.
What Is Considered an Artesia Catastrophic Injury?
New Mexico law has no strict statutory definition of a catastrophic injury. The term generally refers to any severe trauma that causes long-term or permanent disability, like an injury that significantly changes a person’s ability to live, work, or function independently.
What often separates catastrophic injuries from other serious injuries is the long-term or permanent impact they have on a person’s life. Catastrophic ones generally require lifelong medical care and leave lasting physical, cognitive, or psychological impairments. Injuries commonly treated as catastrophic in personal injury claims include:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) resulting in permanent cognitive, behavioral, or physical impairment, memory loss, or loss of motor function
- Spinal cord injuries causing partial or complete paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia
- Severe burns, like third-degree ones covering large areas of the body or requiring extensive skin grafts and long-term wound care
- Amputations, including the traumatic or surgical loss of a limb
- Serious organ damage that causes life-threatening internal injuries, often caused by blunt trauma in a crash
- Permanent blindness or deafness, which significantly impacts a person’s quality of life and independence
- Complex bone fractures requiring surgical hardware or joint replacement, or resulting in chronic mobility problems.
Your catastrophic injury case isn’t valued just by the medical bills you’ve received. You must also consider what the injury will cost over a lifetime.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Catastrophic Injury in New Mexico?
Catastrophic injuries happen in many ways, and the cause determines who can be held responsible. Depending on the facts, liable parties may include:
- A negligent driver, and in truck cases, the carrier that employed them
- A company or contractor whose safety failures caused a workplace or oilfield accident
- A property owner who allowed a dangerous condition to exist
- A manufacturer, when a defective product or vehicle component caused or worsened the injury
- A government entity, when a dangerous road condition played a role
Each additional responsible party may have separate insurance coverage or other financial resources available to satisfy a judgment or settlement.
How Long Do You Have to File a Catastrophic Injury Claim in New Mexico?
New Mexico generally gives you three years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Three years sounds like a long time, but catastrophic cases are extensive and require a lot of investigation and negotiating. Also, claims against government entities have far shorter notice deadlines, sometimes just months. The safest approach is to involve a lawyer early to make sure you don’t miss your chance to file a lawsuit if needed.
Talk to an Artesia Catastrophic Injury Lawyer About Your Family’s Options
A catastrophic injury claim is settled once, and it has to be enough for the care ahead, the income lost, and the life your family is rebuilding. Before you accept anything from an insurance company, find out what your claim is actually worth from a firm that knows how to calculate it. Stout & Stout offers free consultations in English and Spanish, and you owe us nothing unless we recover for you. Your family has enough to carry right now. Let us help you with the complicated legal aspects. Contact us today to schedule your initial consultation.