When someone tells you they have a spinal cord injury, the conversation stops. Everything changes. I’ve sat across from hundreds of families in Dallas who thought they knew what hard looked like until this happened. A car accident on I-35. A construction site fall in Deep Ellum. A medical mistake at one of our hospitals. Then suddenly, they’re talking about wheelchairs, catheters, and whether they’ll ever work again.
My name is on the door at this law firm, and I’ll tell you something most lawyers won’t say up front: spinal cord injury cases are different. They cost more to prove. They take longer to settle. Insurance companies fight harder because they know what’s at stake. But when someone can’t walk anymore, or can’t feel their hands, or needs round-the-clock care for the rest of their life, that’s when you need a spinal cord injury lawyer who knows how to build these cases from day one.
Why Dallas Spinal Cord Injury Cases Require Specialized Legal Help
You can’t treat a spinal cord injury case like a regular personal injury claim. The medical costs alone run into millions. I’m talking about emergency surgery at Parkland or Baylor, months of inpatient rehab, custom wheelchairs that cost as much as a car, home modifications, lost income for 30 or 40 years, and full-time care that runs $200,000 per year or more.
Most lawyers in Dallas handle car accidents and slip-and-falls. They settle fast and move on. But with spinal cord injuries, if you settle too early, you leave money on the table that you’ll need five years from now when complications develop. The insurance company knows this. They’ll offer you $500,000 hoping you don’t realize your actual damages are $15 million.
Here’s what I do differently as a spinal cord injury lawyer in Dallas:
- I don’t settle until we know the full extent of your injuries and future needs
- I work with the best spinal cord specialists in Texas to document every aspect of your injury
- I hire life care planners who calculate what you’ll actually need for the next 40 years
- I bring in vocational experts who show exactly how much income you’ve lost
- I build relationships with the rehab staff at places like Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation so I understand what recovery really looks like
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(214) 855-1420Spinal Cord Injury Law: Understanding Your Legal Rights in Texas
Texas law gives you two years from the date of your accident to file a lawsuit. That sounds like a long time when you’re in the ICU worried about whether you’ll ever walk again. But here’s the problem: building a strong spinal cord injury case takes time.
I need medical records from every doctor. I need accident reconstruction experts to prove fault. I need economists to calculate lifetime damages. I need to document how this injury affects every single aspect of your life. Starting late means rushing through work that should be done carefully.
The other side knows this too. Defense lawyers and insurance adjusters will drag their feet during your recovery, then suddenly push for a quick settlement right before the statute of limitations expires. They’re betting you’ll panic and take whatever’s on the table.
As your spinal cord injury lawyer, I start building your case while you focus on rehab. I preserve evidence before it disappears. I interview witnesses while memories are fresh. I document your injuries with the right experts before insurance companies can argue you were getting better.
Car Accident Spinal Cord Injuries on Dallas Roads and Highways
Dallas has some of the most dangerous highways in America. I-35E where it splits near downtown. The High Five interchange. LBJ Freeway during rush hour. Every year, people suffer spinal cord injuries when 18-wheelers jackknife, drunk drivers cross the center line, or someone texts their way through a red light.
The physics of these crashes are brutal. Your spine isn’t designed to handle sudden compression or rotation. One moment you’re driving to work, the next moment you feel nothing below your waist. I’ve handled spinal cord injury cases involving:
- Rear-end collisions that compress the cervical spine
- T-bone accidents that cause rotational injuries
- Rollover crashes where the roof collapses
- Pedestrian accidents on streets like Greenville Avenue or Lower Greenville
- Motorcycle accidents that lead to complete or incomplete spinal cord damage
Here’s what makes car accident spinal cord injury cases complicated: Texas is a proportionate responsibility state. That means if you’re found even 1% at fault, your compensation gets reduced. Insurance companies will argue you were speeding, not wearing your seatbelt, or looking at your phone. They’ll hire experts who claim your spinal cord injury existed before the accident or wasn’t as severe as you say.
I fight these arguments every day. I get the black box data from commercial trucks. I subpoenaed cell phone records that prove the other driver was distracted. I work with biomechanical experts who explain to juries exactly how the impact caused your spinal cord injury.
Workplace Spinal Cord Injury Claims: When Workers’ Comp Isn’t Enough
Construction workers fall from scaffolding in Uptown. Warehouse workers get crushed by forklifts in South Dallas. Office workers slip on wet floors and hit their spine on concrete. When you get hurt at work in Texas, workers’ compensation usually covers your medical bills and partial wage loss. But here’s the catch: workers’ comp doesn’t come close to covering the true cost of a spinal cord injury.
Workers’ comp might pay $800 per week while you were making $2,000. It won’t cover pain and suffering. It won’t adequately compensate you for losing the ability to play with your kids or enjoy your life. And if the injury leaves you paralyzed, the lifetime income loss alone could be $3 million or more.
That’s where a spinal cord injury lawyer comes in. I look for third-party liability. Maybe the equipment manufacturer sold a defective ladder. Maybe a subcontractor created the dangerous condition. Maybe the property owner knew about the hazard and did nothing. When we can prove someone other than your employer caused your spinal cord injury, we can file a separate lawsuit that recovers full damages.
I’ve handled workplace spinal cord injury cases involving:
- Falls from heights in construction zones across Dallas and Fort Worth
- Equipment malfunctions that crush or strike workers
- Electrical injuries that damage the spinal cord
- Vehicle accidents on job sites
- Confined space accidents in industrial settings
Medical Malpractice and Surgical Errors Leading to Spinal Cord Damage
Sometimes the spinal cord injury happens in an operating room. A surgeon nicks the spinal cord during back surgery. An anesthesiologist positions a patient incorrectly, cutting off blood flow to the spine. A hospital fails to diagnose a spinal infection that causes permanent damage.
Medical malpractice cases involving spinal cord injuries are among the hardest to win in Texas. You need expert witnesses willing to testify against other doctors. You need to prove the medical provider fell below the standard of care. You need to show the negligence directly caused the spinal cord injury.
I work with medical experts from places like UT Southwestern and Mayo Clinic who review these cases. They look at surgical notes, imaging studies, and nursing records to determine what went wrong. They explain to juries why a reasonable doctor would have done things differently.
These cases matter because when you go to a hospital for help and come out with a spinal cord injury, someone needs to be held accountable. Not just for you, but for the next patient who might suffer the same mistake.
Premises Liability: Property Owner Negligence Causing Spinal Injuries
You’re walking through a parking garage downtown, step on an oil slick, and fall backward onto concrete. You dive into a hotel pool without realizing it’s only three feet deep. You’re shopping at a store when boxes fall from a high shelf and strike your spine.
Property owners in Dallas have a legal duty to keep their premises reasonably safe. When they fail and someone suffers a spinal cord injury, they’re liable for damages. But proving these cases requires showing three things:
- The property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition
- They failed to fix it or warn visitors
- Their negligence directly caused your spinal cord injury
I’ve recovered compensation for spinal cord injuries that happened at apartment complexes in Lakewood, shopping centers in Plano, restaurants on McKinney Avenue, and office buildings throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Each case requires documenting the hazard, finding out how long it existed, and proving the property owner’s negligence.
Assault and Intentional Acts: Civil Claims for Spinal Cord Injuries
Most spinal cord injury cases involve accidents. But sometimes, someone intentionally hurts you. A bar bouncer uses excessive force and slams you to the ground. You get attacked in a parking lot with inadequate security. A domestic violence incident leaves you paralyzed.
Criminal charges might go forward, but that doesn’t compensate you for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. That’s where civil litigation comes in. As a spinal cord injury lawyer, I can file a lawsuit against:
- The person who hurt you
- Property owners who failed to provide adequate security
- Businesses that overserved alcohol to someone who later caused your injury
- Employers who negligently hired or supervised violent employees
These cases send a message that violence has consequences beyond jail time. They also provide financial resources for your recovery and future care.
Product Liability: Defective Products Causing Spinal Damage
Sometimes a defective product causes a spinal cord injury. A car’s seatbelt fails during a crash. A ladder collapses. An ATV rolls over because of poor design. A pharmaceutical causes spinal damage as a side effect the manufacturer knew about but didn’t disclose.
Product liability cases let us sue manufacturers, distributors, and retailers when their products cause harm. Texas law allows recovery for:
- Design defects that make products unreasonably dangerous
- Manufacturing defects where something went wrong in production
- Failure to warn about known risks
I work with engineers and product safety experts who test these products and explain to juries what went wrong. These cases often involve large corporations with teams of lawyers, but they also tend to settle well when the evidence is clear because companies don’t want publicity about their dangerous products.
Catastrophic Injury Compensation: Calculating Your Full Damages
When I take a spinal cord injury case, I’m not thinking about next month. I’m thinking about the rest of your life. Here’s what goes into calculating fair compensation:
Economic Damages:
- All past and future medical expenses (surgery, rehab, medications, equipment)
- Lost wages from the accident date forward
- Lost earning capacity for your entire career
- Home modifications (wheelchair ramps, accessible bathrooms, widened doorways)
- Vehicle modifications for wheelchair access
- 24-hour care costs if needed
- Future surgeries and complications
Non-Economic Damages:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Mental anguish
- Loss of companionship and consortium
- Disability and disfigurement
In Texas, there are no caps on economic damages in most personal injury cases. For non-economic damages, caps only apply in medical malpractice cases. This means in a car accident case, we can seek full compensation for every dollar of harm.
I hire life care planners who meet with you, review your medical records, and create a detailed plan for everything you’ll need for the next 30, 40, or 50 years. Economists then calculate what those services cost in today’s dollars and what they’ll cost with inflation.
Insurance companies hate this level of detail because it’s hard to argue with. But it’s exactly what we need to get you fair compensation.
Types of Spinal Cord Injuries We Handle
Not all spinal cord injuries are the same. The level of injury determines what function you lose:
Cervical (Neck) Injuries:
- C1-C4: Usually causes quadriplegia (paralysis of all four limbs), requires ventilator -C5-C8: May retain some arm function but lose hand and leg function
Thoracic (Mid-Back) Injuries:
- T1-T12: Usually causes paraplegia (paralysis below the waist), may affect trunk stability
Lumbar and Sacral (Lower Back) Injuries:
- L1-L5, S1-S5: May affect legs, bowel, bladder, and sexual function
Complete vs. Incomplete:
- Complete: No function below the injury level
- Incomplete: Some function remains, many different patterns
Each type of spinal cord injury has different medical needs, different costs, and different effects on your life. I work with specialists who understand these distinctions and can explain them to insurance adjusters and juries.
What to Do Right After a Spinal Cord Injury Accident
The hours and days after your accident affect both your medical recovery and your legal case. Here’s what you need to know:
Get Medical Help Immediately:
- Call 911, don’t try to move
- Spinal cord injuries get worse if you move wrong
- Time matters for treatment options
Document Everything:
- Take photos of the accident scene if possible
- Get names and phone numbers of witnesses
- Keep all medical records and bills
- Write down what happened while it’s fresh in your memory
Don’t Give Statements:
- Insurance adjusters will call you in the hospital
- They’re looking for statements they can use against you
- Politely decline to give recorded statements
- Tell them you’ve hired a spinal cord injury lawyer
Call a Lawyer Fast:
- Evidence disappears quickly
- Witnesses move or forget details
- Companies destroy documents after a certain time
- Starting early gives us the best chance to build a strong case
Why Choose Our Dallas Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm
I’ve practiced law in Dallas for years. I’ve handled spinal cord injury cases that went to trial and cases that settled for millions. I’ve sat with families at Parkland Hospital waiting for surgery results. I’ve been to rehab facilities, watching clients relearn how to feed themselves. This work changes you.
When you hire me as your spinal cord injury lawyer, you get:
Personal Attention:
- I handle your case personally, not a paralegal or junior associate
- You have my cell phone number
- We meet as often as you need to stay informed
Resources to Fight:
- I advance all costs for experts, investigations, and litigation
- You don’t pay anything unless we win
- I have relationships with the best medical and economic experts in Texas
Trial Experience:
- Insurance companies settle better when they know you’ll go to trial
- I’ve tried cases to verdict in Dallas County and throughout Texas
- Juries respond to spinal cord injury cases when they see the full picture
Track Record:
- Multiple seven-figure settlements and verdicts
- Recognition from legal organizations and peers
- Relationships with rehabilitation facilities, spinal cord specialists, and other professionals who help our clients
Serving Dallas and Surrounding Communities
I represent spinal cord injury victims throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, including:
- Dallas (Downtown, Uptown, Deep Ellum, Oak Lawn, Lake Highlands, Pleasant Grove)
- Fort Worth
- Arlington
- Plano
- Frisco
- McKinney
- Richardson
- Irving
- Garland
- Mesquite
- Carrollton
- Denton
Whether your accident happened on Central Expressway, at Dallas Love Field, in a hospital in Las Colinas, or at a construction site in Addison, I can help.
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Free Consultation for Spinal Cord Injury Cases
You’re dealing with enough right now. Medical appointments. Insurance calls. Figuring out how to pay bills when you can’t work. The last thing you need is to worry about whether you can afford a lawyer.
That’s why I offer free consultations for spinal cord injury cases. We’ll sit down (or I’ll come to you if you can’t travel), talk about what happened, review your options, and discuss whether you have a case. No pressure. No obligation. Just honest advice from a spinal cord injury lawyer who’s been doing this work for a long time.
If you hire me, you pay nothing up front. I work on contingency, which means I only get paid if I win your case. My fee comes from the settlement or verdict, not from your pocket.
Contact a Dallas Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Today
If you or someone you love suffered a spinal cord injury in Dallas, time matters. Evidence disappears. Witnesses forget. Companies destroy records. The sooner we start building your case, the better your chances of fair compensation.
Call me today for a free consultation. Let’s talk about what happened, what you’re facing, and how I can help. You’ve got enough to worry about. Let me handle the legal fight while you focus on your recovery.