Spinal Cord Injuries

Welcome to The Rodgers Law Firm

When someone suffers a debilitating spinal cord injury, the victim and every member of the victim’s family lead totally different lives. No amount of money can compensate for the victim’s personality changes and the limitations in daily activities imposed on every family member and family friend following such injury.

The victim’s and the family’s suffering caused by the injury may be further burdened by intense feeling of anger, frustration, and resentment because the injury could have been easily avoided if the person at fault, the wrongdoer, had only been more careful.

We at the Rodgers Law Firm in Fort Worth, Texas understand the devastation and losses caused by spinal cord injury.

That's why we are here – to do everything we can to help our clients get the answers, the assistance, and the compensation that they are entitled to under the law.

We handle spinal cord injury cases throughout the Metroplex, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton, Burleson, Cleburne, Decatur, Weatherford, Haltom City, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, Azle, Mineral Wells, Sherman, and Denison.

If you have a family member or friend that has suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident – due to medical mistake, car wreck, large truck collision, defective consumer product, airplane crash, or any other type of spine injury causing accident - contact us for a free, no obligation consultation. We will meet with you at our office or any location convenient to you.

In a free, no obligation consultation with us, you may evaluate first hand our capabilities to help you and other family members work through the legal, economic and emotional hurdles faced when a family member sustains such a devastating injury.

The following pages of detailed information will give you insights into the depth of our technical capabilities in handling spinal cord injury cases.

Example of Spinal Cord Injury Case Handled By Our Law Firm

Intersection Collision Causes Partial Paralysis and Loss of Bodily Functions
Delayed Onset of Symptoms for10 Months
Surgery 18 Months Later
Bank Employee
Fort Worth, Texas

Witnesses said the other driver was traveling at least 50 mph when he ran a red light and collided with our client’s car. The force of the impact was so great that it spun her car completely around several times. Her car was a total loss.

She initially thought she was lucky to have only relatively minor bruises, soreness, and stiffness. Ten months later she visited her gynecologist complaining of continuing low back pain for the past week. The pain soon subsided, then returned, and began recurring on an intermittent basis.

Eight months later the symptoms had progressed to the point that she was experiencing numbness in her buttocks and perineum and acute urinary retention and constipation. The expert medical disagnosis was disc herniation in her low back resulting from the car accident 18 months before.

Back surgery was not able to repair the damage, and she was left permanently disabled, unable to continue working as a bank officer, with loss of feeling in her pelvic area that greatly affecting her marriage, and having to self-administer enemas and catheters.

The major medical issue in the case was to prove that the ten-month delay in onset of pain symptoms followed by the further delay in onset of numbness and loss of body functions triggering the surgery eight months later was causally related to the car wreck. We were able to do so. The case settled prior to trial. (C40B)

Overview of Spinal Cord Injuries in Texas
The spinal cord is the bundle of nerves that transmits information between the brain and the rest of the body.

Each year in the United States, more than 11,000 people suffer from an accidental spinal cord injury (SCI), not including those who die in the accident. There are currently 250,000 people in the United States living with SCI.

SCI affects young adults the most, with 55% of sufferers being between the ages of 16 and 30. The average age of a victim is 32. About eighty percent of victims are male.

When SCI occurs, the nerves transmitting information to and from the brain are damaged. SCI starts with a sudden, traumatic blow to the head, neck or back that fractures or dislocates vertebrae, thereby crushing the nerve cells (axons) carrying signals along the spinal cord. The effects of SCI depend on the location and severity of the injury.

The spinal column has four sections, the Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar, and Sacral, running from the top to the bottom. The higher the injury is located along the spinal cord, the more tragic the consequences. SCI in either the Cervical or Thoracic regions usually results in some form of paralysis, while SCI in the lower parts of the Lumbar or Sacral areas may cause numbness and or loss of bowel or bladder control.

Usually the nerves above the point of injury continue to function normally, and the nerves located at or below the point of injury do not. This means that the higher the location of the injury, the more severe the consequences.

SCI can damage a small number of nerves or many. SCI effects are either “complete” or “incomplete”. A complete injury leaves no feeling or voluntary movement on either side of the body. An incomplete injury leaves some sensation or partial movement. The victim of a complete SCI lacks sensory and motor function below the injury. The victim of an incomplete SCI retains some sensory motor function below the injury.

Usually, some swelling of the spinal cord occurs after the injury that affects many of the body’s functions. As the swelling subsides, some functions may be regained over time, including walking, blood pressure, body temperature, sexual function, bowel and bladder control, and feeling.

“Quadriplegia” and “paraplegia” are the terms indicating the type of paralysis suffered after the initial recovery period. Less than one percent of those hospitalized with SCI completely recover. The order of occurrence of the most common SCI conditions are incomplete quadriplegia, followed by complete paraplegia, then complete quadriplegia, and then lastly, incomplete paraplegia.

Many SCI victims have secondary complications including pain, respiratory and heart problems, bladder and bowel dysfunction, pressure sores, respiratory complications, urinary tract infections, spasticity, and scoliosis.

Currently, there is no cure for the effects of SCI. The goal of treatment is to minimize any further injury.

Because of the very high cost of lifetime care required for a SCI victim, the wrongdoers responsible for the injury usually fiercely contest SCI claims even if the wrongdoer is clearly at fault. The insurance companies want to keep the compensation paid to victims to an absolute minimum.

Losing the Right to Make the Claim
You must file your Texas spinal cord injury suit within a certain time period or else you will lose your right to pursue your claim. In many cases, the suit must be filed within two years from the date of the accident.

Simply contacting the person or business responsible for the accident or contacting their insurance company about the accident is not enough to stop the running of the two year period.

Cases involving federal and state governmental entities as defendants are governed by a different limitations procedures and periods. Claims against federal government entities are controlled by the Federal Tort Claims Act, which provides:
“A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.”

Texas governmental entities are controlled by the Texas Tort Claims Act. The claim procedures in this Act must be followed. It requires that written notice, often using mandatory forms supplied by the agency involved, be given to the agency against whom the claim is being made within time periods shorter than a year after the accident, often as short as six months. Certain exceptions do exist in unique circumstances, but they require the analysis of a qualified attorney to determine if they are applicable.

There are other reasons to act quickly. Key witnesses may disappear, witnesses’ memories may fade, and vital documents may be lost. Sometimes it takes months of investigation to determine who the true defendants are that are legally responsible for the accident. It is crucially important that you do not delay in consulting with an attorney.

Contact us for a free no-obligation consultation as soon as possible to ensure that you retain your right to pursue your claim.

Ask Us for a Second Opinion if Another Attorney Has Declined To Represent You
Attorneys regularly decide whether the case that they are reviewing does or does not meet all the requirements to be a viable, sound case. Making this determination is not an exact science. Based on different experiences and analytic abilities, one attorney may turn down the opportunity to represent a client and another attorney may decide to take the case.

The second reviewing attorney saw something the first reviewing attorney may have overlooked. The first attorney may have decided that liability was not clear, that the damages were not large enough, there was not available insurance coverage or other sources to pay the money damages, or that there were other problems in seeking a recovery.

We would welcome the opportunity to review your case even if another attorney has turned the case down. There is no charge or obligation for our review.

You may contact us at the following phone numbers at any time:

Office: toll free: 1-866-560-1075

local: 817-717-4080

Copyright 1994 - 2007 Clifford B. Rodgers.
Last Modified July 6, 2007.