Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Serving Wheeling and the Ohio Valley

Life-Changing Injuries Require Experienced Legal Representation

A catastrophic injury can affect every aspect of your life. Beyond the immediate physical trauma, these injuries often require extensive medical treatment, long-term rehabilitation, lifestyle adjustments, and ongoing financial support.

At Bordas & Bordas, we represent individuals and families whose lives have been permanently altered by serious injuries caused by negligence. Our attorneys have the experience, resources, and dedication necessary to handle complex catastrophic injury claims arising from motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, workplace accidents, defective products, and other preventable incidents.

When the stakes are this high, you need a legal team prepared to pursue the full compensation necessary to protect your future.

What Is Considered a Catastrophic Injury?

A catastrophic injury causes long-term or permanent impairment and significantly impacts a person’s ability to work, care for themselves, or enjoy daily life.

Unlike many personal injury cases, catastrophic injury claims often involve substantial future damages, including ongoing medical treatment, rehabilitation, home modifications, assistive equipment, and diminished earning capacity.

Because these cases require a detailed understanding of both current and future losses, Bordas & Bordas works with medical professionals, life-care planners, economists, and others to fully assess the impact of an injury and pursue compensation that reflects a client’s long-term needs.

What Are the Most Common Types of Catastrophic Injuries?

Catastrophic injuries are severe injuries that can cause permanent or long-term disability, significantly affect a person’s ability to work or live independently, and require extensive medical treatment or ongoing care.
Common types of catastrophic injuries include:
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI): Serious brain injuries can affect memory, cognition, communication, behavior, mobility, and a person’s ability to perform everyday activities.
Spinal cord injuries: Damage to the spinal cord can cause partial or complete paralysis, loss of sensation, chronic pain, and other lifelong complications.
Severe burns: Serious burns can cause permanent scarring, disfigurement, nerve damage, limited mobility, and the need for multiple surgeries or long-term treatment.
Amputations and loss of limbs: Losing a limb can affect mobility, employment, independence, and quality of life and may require prosthetics, rehabilitation, and ongoing medical care.
Severe orthopedic injuries: Complex fractures, crushed bones, and serious injuries to joints or other parts of the musculoskeletal system can result in permanent limitations, chronic pain, or disability.
Organ damage: Serious trauma can damage the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, or other internal organs and may require surgery, long-term treatment, or lifelong medical monitoring.
Vision or hearing loss: Trauma that causes permanent blindness, impaired vision, deafness, or significant hearing loss can dramatically change a person’s ability to work and perform everyday activities.
Permanent nerve damage: Serious nerve injuries can result in loss of movement or sensation, chronic pain, weakness, and other lasting impairments.

The effects of a catastrophic injury often extend far beyond the initial medical emergency. An injured person may need surgeries, rehabilitation, assistive equipment, modifications to their home, help with daily activities, and medical care for years or even the rest of their life.

When a catastrophic injury is caused by someone else’s negligence, a personal injury claim should account not only for the losses the injured person has already experienced, but also for the long-term medical, financial, and personal impact of the injury.

How Is a Catastrophic Injury Claim Different From Other Injury Claims?

Catastrophic injury claims are different from many other personal injury claims because the consequences of the injury may last for years or for the rest of a person’s life. The claim must account not only for what the injury has already cost, but also for how it may affect the injured person and their family in the future.

A catastrophic injury claim may involve significant future medical expenses, rehabilitation, long-term care, lost earning capacity, permanent disability, pain and suffering, and changes to the injured person’s ability to work, live independently, and participate in everyday life.

These cases can also require more extensive investigation and expert analysis. Medical professionals may help establish the injured person’s prognosis and future treatment needs, while vocational and economic experts may be needed to evaluate the effect on employment and future earnings. In some cases, other experts may be needed to calculate the cost of long-term care or necessary accommodations.

Because the future consequences can represent a significant portion of a catastrophic injury claim, it is important to understand those needs before resolving the case. Once a claim is settled, an injured person generally cannot return later to seek additional compensation because their care became more expensive than expected.

A Wheeling catastrophic injury lawyer can investigate the full impact of the injury and build a claim that considers both the losses an injured person is experiencing today and the needs they may have in the future.

What Compensation May Be Available?

Catastrophic injuries often result in substantial financial and personal losses that continue for years after the initial accident.

Depending on the circumstances, compensation may be available for:

Medical expenses
Future medical treatment and rehabilitation
Lost wages
Loss of future earning capacity
Home and vehicle modifications
Long-term care expenses
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Permanent disability
Loss of enjoyment of life

Every catastrophic injury case is unique. Our attorneys work diligently to identify and document every category of damages so that our clients can pursue the full compensation they need for the future.

How Long Do I Have to File a Catastrophic Injury Claim in West Virginia?

In West Virginia, you have two years to file a Catastrophic Injury claim. 
However, if the catastrophic injury was caused by medical negligence, West Virginia has a separate statute that applies. Under the medical negligence statute, the deadline remains two years from the date of the medical injury or the date it was discovered. Not that the law adds a 10-year limit from the date of the actual occurrence.
In most West Virginia personal injury cases, you generally have two years to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for a catastrophic injury. However, the deadline can vary depending on how the injury occurred and the circumstances of the case.
If the catastrophic injury was caused by medical negligence, different rules apply. Under West Virginia’s Medical Professional Liability Act, a medical malpractice claim generally must be filed within two years of the date of the injury or within two years of when the injury was discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered. West Virginia law also generally imposes a 10-year limit from the date of the medical injury, subject to certain exceptions.
Other circumstances can also affect the time available to bring a claim, including the age of the injured person and the type of party responsible for the injury.
Even when you have two years to file a lawsuit, waiting can make a catastrophic injury case more difficult to investigate. Evidence can be lost, video footage may be erased, and witnesses can become harder to locate. These cases may also require time to investigate the cause of the injury and understand its long-term medical and financial consequences.
Because the applicable deadline depends on the type of claim, it is important to speak with a West Virginia catastrophic injury lawyer as soon as possible. An attorney can determine which statute of limitations applies and take steps to preserve evidence and protect your right to seek compensation.

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Talk With a Wheeling Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

At Bordas & Bordas, we represent individuals and families whose lives have been permanently altered by serious injuries caused by negligence. Our attorneys have the experience, resources, and dedication necessary to handle complex catastrophic injury claims arising from motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, workplace accidents, defective products, and other preventable incidents.

When the stakes are this high, you need a legal team prepared to pursue the full compensation necessary to protect your future. Our Wheeling office is staffed with legal professionals who help injured people understand their rights and pursue compensation from those responsible for their injuries. 

Contact Bordas & Bordas to speak with a Wheeling catastrophic injury lawyer and schedule an initial consultation.