Kent County Spinal Injury Attorney
The lifetime medical bills associated with a serious spine injury often exceed $4 million. This figure does not include other economic losses, such as lost income and expensive physical alterations to living spaces. This figure also does not include intangible losses, like the almost unbelievable emotional distress a severe spinal injury causes.
Insurance companies are financially responsible for these and other costs, at least in most cases. Unfortunately, insurance companies care almost nothing about injury victims. They care about their profits. They are willing to hire teams of high-priced lawyers to protect those interests, even if that means cheating a spine injury victim out of fair compensation for the aforementioned losses.
Unlike corporate insurance adjusters, the compassionate Grand Rapids spine injury attorneys at Goodman Acker understand the pain and suffering these injuries inflict not only on victims, but also on their friends and loved ones. Many people on our legal team have endured a similar experience. This passion fuels our purpose. A spine injury lawyer cannot heal a serious back injury. But a lawyer can do the next best thing, which is to obtain the compensation these victims need and deserve.
Why Should You Choose Us?
No Grand Rapids spine injury lawyer can possibly match an insurance company’s financial resources. However, when it comes to legal teams, the whole is usually greater than the sum of its parts. That’s especially true if the right parts are in place, such as:
- Experience: The Goodman Acker team has over 150 years of combined experience. This number only tells part of the story. Our background includes considerable trial experience. So, instead of looking for an easy way out, we’re willing to go the distance for you.
- Accessibility: We have fully staffed offices throughout Michigan. Since physical mobility is an issue for spine injury victims, this physical accessibility is a big plus. Our Grand Rapids spinal cord injury lawyers are also professionally available. When you have questions or concerns about your case, your lawyer — not a less-experienced associate — addresses those needs.
- Dedication: This area might be the difference maker. Insurance company lawyers are dedicated to insurance company profits. That commitment is shallow. Our Grand Rapids spinal injury attorneys are committed to upholding the legal and financial rights of injury victims. That commitment runs deep.
We not only check all the boxes. Over the years, our team has achieved life-changing results for families just like yours. We’re confident that our proven methods will also produce results that exceed your expectations.
What Causes Spine Injuries?
Sudden and unexpected accidents or misdiagnosed medical conditions cause most of the spine injuries in Michigan.
Incidents like car crashes usually are not “accidents.” Driver error causes over 98 percent of the vehicle collisions in Michigan. Common driver errors include:
- Operator Impairment: When drivers are not at their best, mentally, physically, and otherwise, they are usually negligent when they get behind the wheel. Some kinds of operator impairment include alcohol or drug use, excessive fatigue, and a moderate or serious medical condition that impairs driving skills or causes a complete loss of consciousness.
- Aggressive Driving: Perhaps the most common, and most dangerous, kind of aggressive driving is speeding. Velocity decreases reaction time and therefore increases the risk of a wreck. Speed also multiplies the force in collisions, according to Newton’s Second Law of Gravity. Other kinds of dangerous aggressive driving include ignoring a traffic control device, changing lanes unsafely, and tailgating.
A combination of defective tires or other product defects and cloud-to ground lightning strikes or other extreme weather causes many other car crashes in the Wolverine State.
Generally, driver error breaches a driver’s duty of care. This duty requires motorists to drive defensively and avoid accidents if at all possible. If a breach of care causes injury, the tortfeasor (negligent actor) is responsible for damages.
Sometimes, the tortfeasor is a negligent property owner instead of a negligent driver. In Michigan, most property owners have a duty of care to ensure that visitors are reasonably safe. This duty includes a responsibility to promptly address fall risks, swimming pool drowning, and other injury hazards.
In addition to theoretical responsibility, a Grand Rapids spine injury lawyer must also prove practical responsibility. Negligent owners are only liable for damages if they knew, or should have known, about the injury-causing hazard.
“Smoking guns,” like restroom cleaning reports and swimming pool damage reports, are the best evidence of knowledge. Insurance company lawyers often hide this evidence as long as possible. So, if a spinal cord injury lawyer settles a case too early, the best evidence, and therefore maximum compensation, may be unavailable.
Other spine injuries are illness related. The high medical misdiagnosis rate often comes into play in these situations. Some commonly misdiagnosed conditions that could cause spine injuries include:
- Hospital Infections: Sepsis infections, the flesh-eating bacteria infections, frequently set in during surgical recovery, mostly because the medical care team relaxes a bit. These destructive infections occur suddenly and without warning. They usually devastate the spine or another body part before doctors are able to control them.
- Scoliosis: This umbrella term covers a wide range of spinal conditions that, if not promptly and properly treated, could cause serious spine injuries. Scoliosis symptoms include not only pain and other physical issues, but also loss of coordination and other mental deficiencies.
- Herniated Disk: Contrary to popular myth, the spine is not a single bone. Instead, it is a long chain of vertebrae and nerves. When a vertebra cracks, the hairline fracture pinches the nerve, causing extreme pain and eventually loss of function. Multiple treatment options are available, but not every treatment option helps every patient.
Instead of a duty of reasonable care, which was mentioned above, doctors and other professionals have a fiduciary duty. That’s a much higher standard. Not every driving mistake, such as driving 5 mph over the speed limit or swiping away a call on a cell phone, is a breach of duty. But because of the higher standard, doctors have almost no margin for error. Almost any medical mistake is negligence, or a lack of care.
How Does a Grand Rapids Spinal Injury Lawyer Obtain Compensation?
Compensation is available if a victim/plaintiff proves a lack of care by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. If two stacks of paper are side by side and someone moves one sheet from the left stack to the right stack, the right stack is taller. That’s a picture of a preponderance of the evidence.
A preponderance of the evidence is the minimum standard. Usually in life, minimum effort yields minimum results. To obtain maximum compensation, a spinal cord injury attorney must go the extra mile.
For example, medical bills establish a spine injury. An expert doctor’s interpretation of those medical bills establishes the full extent of injury, the victim’s pain level, the likelihood of future medical expenses, and other important points.
Frequently Asked Questions
A spinal injury lawyer is more than an effective advocate. A good spinal cord injury attorney is also an effective counsellor who proactively communicates with you.
The size of a spine injury settlement usually depends on the claim’s settlement value. To determine this value, which is like a home’s asking price, a lawyer adds up the victim’s economic losses and includes an additional amount for pain and suffering. Injury claim settlement negotiations, like home purchase negotiations, involve some give and take. A real estate agent advocates for home buyers, and a Grand Rapids spinal injury lawyer advocates for injury victims.
A spinal injury could be anything from the extreme, yet temporary, pain of a herniated disk to permanent and total paralysis. Severe injuries are more expensive to treat and cause more emotional distress. Therefore, the worse the injury, the higher the compensation, at least in most cases. Liability issues come into play as well. For example, if Bill sustained a spine injury in a car wreck that was partially his fault, he might be entitled to less compensation.
All spine injury victims in Michigan need good doctors and good lawyers. These professionals provide the means of recovery. Victims also need the will to recover.
Your doctor must focus on spine injuries and their treatments. If you have cancer, you should see an oncologist and not a general practice doctor. Likewise, if you sustain a spine injury, you need a spine injury lawyer, not a general practice lawyer.
The medical and legal means often go hand in hand. Attorneys have professional relationships with top-shelf doctors who, in most cases, charge nothing upfront for their professional services.
The means improves the will. If victims get prompt and proper medical treatment and have a powerful legal advocate, they feel better and are more likely to fully recover from even the most serious injury.
Schedule a No-Cost Evaluation with Our Grand Rapids Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Quite frankly, injury victims need money to put their lives back together after a serious injury or devastating medical condition. A partnership with an experienced spine injury attorney from Goodman Acker, P.C. is the best way, and usually the only way, to obtain this compensation. To begin the process with a free consultation, go online now or call us at 248-286-8100.
LEGALLY REVIEWED BY BARRY J. GOODMAN
Barry J. Goodman has devoted his professional life to keeping courthouse doors open for victims seeking justice. Always a tireless advocate for his own clients, Goodman sees his responsibility as a Detroit personal injury attorney in a broader sense as well. [ Attorney Bio ]
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