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A spinal cord injury caused by someone else’s negligence can support a claim for every cost it brings, from surgery this month to home care decades from now. At Mickey Keenan, P.A., our Tampa spinal cord injury lawyer team builds each claim around the life you had planned and the one you are living now.
If you or your spouse is still in the hospital, you can get answers without leaving the room. Dial (813) 871-1300, and our attorneys will explain what a claim could cover at no cost to you.
A Former Insurance Defense Lawyer Now Working for You
Spinal injury claims often come down to one number: what the insurer believes your future care will cost. Mickey Keenan once helped insurance companies reach that number, so he knows the costs adjusters leave out, like home remodeling and paid caregivers. Our Tampa spinal cord injury attorney team now puts that insight to work for injured Floridians.
Our firm brings more than 20 years of experience to injury claims, and we belong to the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Our clients talk directly with their attorney, even getting Mickey’s personal cell phone number, so questions about your claim never sit waiting in a general inbox.
Our results include a $550,000 settlement we secured for a client hurt in a slip and fall at a retail store. Results may vary. Prior case outcomes do not guarantee similar results.
No upfront fees, you pay nothing unless you win. We work on contingency and collect a fee only if you recover money. When an insurer will not offer a fair value for a paralysis claim, we prepare the case for a jury at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse in downtown Tampa. Before you sign anything, let us look over the insurer’s first offer.
How Does the Severity of a Spinal Cord Injury Affect Your Claim?
The severity of a spinal cord injury shapes the value of your claim, because it decides how much future care, lost income, and home support the claim must cover. Your treating physicians’ findings on the level and permanence of the injury become core evidence, since they show what the injury means for your work, your home, and your future. Severity affects several parts of the claim, including:
- Future Care: The cost of therapy, equipment, and attendant help over a lifetime.
- Earning Ability: Whether you can return to your job, or to any job.
- Home and Vehicle Changes: Ramps, lifts, wider doorways, and adaptive driving controls.
- Permanent Injury Proof: After a car crash, Florida requires proof of a permanent injury before you can recover pain and suffering damages, under Florida Statutes Section 627.737.
Your doctors’ evaluations in the weeks after the injury, and the records those visits create, often become some of the strongest evidence in the claim.
How Do Spinal Cord Injuries Happen Around Tampa?
Most spinal cord injuries we see come from crashes, falls, and other incidents caused by someone else’s negligence. The cause decides which laws and insurance policies apply. Negligent causes we investigate include:
- Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents
- Rideshare collisions
- Pedestrian and bicycle wrecks
- Slip and fall accidents on unsafe property
- Falls from defective ladders or scaffolding
- Assaults in places with poor security
Each of these causes points to different evidence and different insurance coverage, so identifying how and where the injury happened is our first step.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Spinal Cord Injury in Tampa?
The person or company whose negligence caused the injury is responsible, and a spinal injury case can involve multiple responsible parties. A vehicle owner who lends a car to a careless driver may also share liability, though Florida limits how much an individual owner must pay, under Florida Statutes Section 324.021.
Those limits apply only to individual owners, not businesses, and they do not cover an owner’s own carelessness, such as lending the vehicle to someone unfit to drive. That situation may support a negligent entrustment claim, meaning a claim that the owner was careless in handing over the keys.
Because the individual owner’s limit may fall well below the cost of lifelong spinal care, we examine every decision that contributed to the injury. Depending on the facts, potentially liable parties may include:
- At-fault drivers and the owners of their vehicles
- Trucking companies responsible for driver safety and vehicle maintenance
- Property owners and managers responsible for keeping their premises reasonably safe
- Makers of defective seat belts, airbags, or vehicle parts
- Cities or counties responsible for road design and upkeep
Under vicarious liability, which means one party answers for another’s actions, an employer may be responsible for harm an employee causes while working. Commercial insurance often has higher limits than personal auto coverage, which can make a difference when an injury requires care for years. We also check whether the at-fault driver was working at the time of the crash, because that can bring an employer’s policy into the claim.
Proving What Caused the Harm
Our spine injury lawyer team’s first move is to request the records that tell the story while they still exist. That can mean crash reports from the Tampa Police Department or Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, store or traffic camera video, vehicle data, and medical records. Witness names go on the list too, since people move and phone numbers change.
Imaging matters just as much. We compare MRI and CT scans taken before and after the event, which can help show that the injury followed the incident and answer other explanations the defense may offer. We gather your earlier medical records, since the defense often asks whether the injury existed before the incident.
What Can a Florida Spinal Cord Injury Claim Recover?
A spinal cord injury claim can recover past and future financial losses, along with money for pain and lost independence. We document every category with bills, pay records, and testimony from your treating doctors, and depending on the case, damages may include:
- Emergency treatments, surgery, and hospitalizations
- Inpatient rehab and ongoing physical therapy
- Wheelchairs, lifts, and adaptive vehicles
- Home and bathroom modifications
- In-home nursing and attendant care
- Lost wages and lost future earning ability
- Pain, suffering, and mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
For car accidents, the first dollars usually come from your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) policy. PIP pays 80% of reasonable medical bills, up to $10,000 if a qualified provider finds an emergency medical condition or $2,500 if not, and only if you get treatment within 14 days of the wreck, under Florida Statutes Section 627.736. A single spinal surgery can cost many times that limit, so the larger claim runs against the at-fault party.
Future care is often the largest part of a spinal cord injury claim, so we document it item by item. Bring hospital discharge papers to a free case review to learn which losses may apply to your family.
Professionals Who Help Us Account for Every Loss
No single bill shows the full cost of a spinal injury, so our spinal injury lawyer works with life care planners to estimate the cost of needed equipment, therapy, and in-home help, then consults economists to calculate those future expenses in today’s dollars. Our network also includes professionals such as:
- Accident Reconstruction Engineers: They use scene data, vehicle damage, and video to show how the injury happened.
- Neurosurgeons and Rehabilitation Physicians: Your treating doctors document the injury and the future care you will need.
- Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors: They assess which jobs you can still do and how your earning ability has changed.
- Occupational Therapists: They evaluate your home and price the ramps, lifts, and bathroom changes you need.
Their reports turn estimates into documented numbers. Ask our team which professionals your case needs, and we will explain what each one adds to the claim.
How Should You Handle Insurance Calls After a Spinal Injury?
Keep insurance calls after a spinal injury short, and let our team handle the details. Adjusters for the at-fault party often reach out within days of the injury, sometimes while you are still in the hospital. Requests that come up again and again include the following:
- Recorded statements about how the injury happened
- Blanket medical authorization forms
- Questions about the scene, your speed, or what you saw
- Photos or posts from your social media accounts
A blanket authorization gives an insurer access to years of medical records, including records unrelated to this injury. Step one after you hire us is simple: give the caller our office number. After that, adjusters direct their calls to us, and you can put your energy into rehab.
Florida’s Filing Deadline for Spinal Injury Lawsuits
You generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a spinal cord injury lawsuit in Florida. That limit comes from Florida Statutes Section 95.11.
Families bringing a wrongful death claim after a fatal spinal injury face a two-year limit as well, counted from the date of death. The estate’s personal representative, the person who handles the loved one’s affairs, brings that claim for the family.
Claims against a city, county, or state agency carry separate written notice rules before any lawsuit, under Florida Statutes Section 768.28. Our Tampa spinal cord injury lawyer team calculates each deadline on the first day we take your case.
FAQs: Tampa Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
We frequently field these questions when families start weighing a spinal injury claim.
Do Old Back Problems Stop You From Filing a Claim?
Old back problems do not stop you from filing a spinal injury claim in Florida. Florida law lets you recover when someone’s negligence makes an existing condition worse. Your medical records from before and after the injury show that change, and the at-fault party answers for the difference.
Will Medicaid or Health Insurance Take Part of Your Settlement?
Health insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid can often claim part of a settlement as repayment, called a lien, for bills they covered because of the injury. We negotiate those liens, and a lower lien leaves more money for your care.
What if an At-Fault Driver Carries Little Insurance?
Florida does not require most drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage, so a spinal injury claim can quickly outgrow the other driver’s policy. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy may fill that gap, under Florida Statutes Section 627.727.
Can Your Spouse Recover Losses Caused by Your Injury?
Your spouse can recover losses caused by your injury through a loss of consortium claim, which covers lost companionship, lost help around the home, and changes to the shared life you had before. The court values that claim separately from yours. Your spouse’s claim generally follows the same two-year deadline as your own.
How Long Does a Spinal Cord Injury Case Take?
A spinal cord injury case takes as long as treatment lasts and the insurer’s response allows. Cases that go to trial take longer. We hold off on settlement until doctors can describe your long-term needs, because a signed release cannot be reopened later.
Can You Recover if You Were Partly at Fault?
Being partly at fault can lower your award, but it only blocks recovery if a jury finds you more than 50% responsible, under Florida Statutes Section 768.81. Florida reduces damages by your share of fault, so a driver found 10% at fault would still recover 90% of the total. Scene evidence helps us answer disputes over who caused the crash.
Can Our Tampa Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Meet You Outside Tampa?
Our Tampa spinal cord injury lawyer team can meet you outside Tampa at our offices in Riverview, Largo, and The Villages in Oxford. When travel is hard after a spinal injury, we can also meet by video.
Call Our Tampa Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Team to Protect Your Future Care
A spinal cord injury rewrites plans you made years ago, and the claim you build now pays for the care you will need later. Mickey Keenan, P.A., would be glad to hear your story and give you an honest assessment of where your case stands. For a free consultation with our Florida spinal cord injury attorney team, call (813) 871-1300, day or night.