If you suffered a severe injury that changed how you live, work, or care for yourself, you are not alone. A catastrophic injury can leave you facing considerable pain, stress, and financial uncertainty that affects your entire household.
With help from a catastrophic injury lawyer in Columbia at Shelly Leeke Law Firm, you can learn your rights and take steps toward rebuilding. Our Columbia personal injury lawyers bring more than 10 years of combined experience to every case, along with a no-win, no-fee guarantee that puts your needs first from the start.
Life After a Catastrophic Injury
Life after a serious injury is rarely simple. Even when treatment goes as planned, the day-to-day changes can catch you off guard. We have talked with many people in similar situations, and we hear the same kinds of challenges come up again and again. Here are some of the things you might be dealing with right now or could face in the months ahead:
- Adjusting to new physical limitations and mobility needs
- Managing chronic pain that affects focus, sleep, and daily comfort
- Attending regular appointments for physical therapy, counseling, or specialists
- Making changes at home, like installing ramps or hiring in-home care
- Facing mental and emotional strain, including anxiety, depression, or frustration
- Feeling isolated or disconnected from work, hobbies, or social life
- Taking on new financial pressures tied to medical costs or lost income
- Requiring help with transportation, especially for follow-up care
- Adapting to a new family dynamic or shifting caregiver roles
- Coping with uncertainty about the future, work, or independence
If any of this sounds familiar, please know that we understand what you are carrying. Our job is to help lighten the legal and financial weight so you can focus on what matters most. We build your case around what you are actually living through, not just what shows up in the paperwork.
Proving You Deserve a Settlement
An injury in itself is not enough to get you a settlement. To build a strong case for compensation, your catastrophic injury attorney in Columbia will need to show:
- How your accident and subsequent injury occurred
- Whose negligence caused the injury
- The consequences of those injuries, including medical treatment, ongoing care, and how your life overall has been affected
Proving Negligence
Proving negligence is essential to a successful case outcome. To be negligent, the at-fault party first had to owe you a duty of care, an obligation to maintain your safety. For example, every driver owes all other drivers on the shared road a duty of care to drive as safely as possible.
To fulfill this duty, each driver must follow lawful driving procedures, honor traffic laws, and avoid unsafe practices to ensure the safety of other drivers. Business owners owe their workers and customers a duty of care and must maintain safe properties and environments to prevent accidents.
Proving Causation
After establishing a duty of care, we must show how the at-fault party breached this duty, either through an action or failure to act. Then, we will show how this breach of duty, not something else, caused your accident.
For example, if you suffer from chronic neck pain, are rear-ended in a motor vehicle accident, and your condition worsens, the at-fault party’s insurance company will likely argue that your pre-existing condition caused your pain, not the accident. Next, your Columbia car accident lawyer will show how the accident and your injuries have left you with measurable losses.
Determining the Value of Your Case
Understanding what your case is worth means looking at how your injury has changed your life. A Columbia catastrophic injury attorney from Shelly Leeke Law Firm will carefully review the medical, financial, and personal effects of your injury and build a claim that reflects both what you have lost and what you will need to move forward.
Restoring Economic Losses
Economic losses include the direct costs tied to your injury. These can include emergency treatment, surgeries, hospital stays, therapy, and long-term care.
We also look closely at how your income has been affected. When the consequences of nerve damage after a South Carolina car accident require you to change careers or make job accommodations, that impact should be reflected in your claim.
Many clients also face additional expenses that do not always appear on medical bills. This might include the cost of durable medical equipment, traveling to and from appointments, or hiring someone to help with childcare or home tasks. We take all of these details into account so that your claim covers both the short-term and ongoing costs tied to your recovery.
Compensating Non-Economic Losses
Non-economic damages focus on what your injury has taken from your day-to-day life. This includes your ability to enjoy hobbies, attend family gatherings, and more.
Some injuries, such as the treatment of whiplash after a South Carolina accident, may not seem as severe on paper but still interfere with your routine and your relationships. These experiences matter, and your claim should reflect that. You may also be dealing with emotional distress, anxiety, or a loss of confidence as you adjust to new limitations.
These effects are real, even if they are harder to measure, and are outlined in the South Carolina Noneconomic Damage Awards Act of 2005. Our job is to listen to your experience and work with you to document what your injury has cost you emotionally, physically, and socially.
Pursuing Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are not awarded in every case, but they may apply when the at-fault party’s actions go far beyond ordinary negligence. Under South Carolina Code § 15-32-520, a court may give punitive damages when there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others or engaged in willful or wanton conduct.
Your catastrophic injury lawyer in Columbia will help you determine whether your situation meets the legal standard for punitive damages. If it does, we will collect and present the right evidence to support that in your claim. When appropriate, these damages can significantly increase your case’s value while making sure the responsible party is held fully accountable.
Legal Rights and Liability in Catastrophic Injury Claims
After a life-changing injury, knowing your rights is one of the first steps toward moving forward. You may not be sure who is responsible or how the legal process even works. Our team will walk you through every part of your case and help you understand where liability may fall and why acting quickly can make a real difference.
Who May Be Liable After a Serious Injury
Liability often extends beyond the person who directly caused the injury. Employers, product manufacturers, or even property owners may also be legally responsible depending on the circumstances. Your Columbia catastrophic injury attorney will investigate all possible parties and work to hold each one accountable so you can pursue the full compensation you are owed.
Why Fast Legal Action Protects Your Rights
Acting quickly helps preserve important details like witness statements, medical records, and accident reports. Under South Carolina Code § 15-3-530(5), you generally have three years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit.
The sooner your Columbia catastrophic injury lawyer gets involved, the better your chances of building a strong and complete case.
Why It Helps to Look Beyond the Obvious
Sometimes, the person directly involved in your accident is not the only one who may be responsible for your injuries. There could be an issue with the equipment you were using, the place where it happened, or even a company that should have taken better care of its property.
We can look at all the details so you are not missing out on compensation from someone else who played a part in what happened.
Common Challenges in Catastrophic Injury Cases
Even when liability is clear, catastrophic injury cases are rarely simple. Insurance companies often try to limit what they pay by questioning your injuries or stalling the process. Knowing what to expect can help you feel more prepared and make confident decisions about how to move forward.
Disputes About Long-Term Care and Prognosis
One of the most common challenges is when the other side tries to downplay the severity of your injury or argue that you will recover faster than expected. Your Columbia traumatic brain injury lawyer will work with your treating physicians and trusted experts to explain the long-term impacts clearly and help you stand your ground.
Insurance Company Delay Tactics and Defenses
Insurance companies often use delay tactics to wear people down. They may ask for unnecessary documents, dispute liability, or offer small settlements to pressure you into giving up.
We are familiar with these strategies and will step in to manage the communication so you are not stuck going in circles. Our goal is to keep your case moving and protect you from tactics that are designed to slow you down.
Low Settlement Offers That Miss the Big Picture
Another challenge we often see is when insurance companies make early offers that sound helpful but fail to reflect the full impact of your injury. These offers may only account for immediate bills and ignore long-term care, pain, or future income loss. We review every detail to make sure nothing is overlooked and push back if the offer falls short of what you need.
When Catastrophic Injuries Lead to Wrongful Death
Sometimes, a catastrophic injury becomes too much for the body to recover from. When a loved one passes away because of someone else’s careless or reckless actions, it leaves behind a lot of pain, questions, and stress that no family should have to carry on their own. If you are reading this because you are in that position, we are truly sorry for what you are going through.
A wrongful death claim is a way for your family to seek answers, support, and some sense of accountability. It can help with funeral costs, lost income, and other financial stresses that follow an unexpected loss. More than anything, it is about giving your family space to grieve while we focus on the legal side of things.
Your Columbia wrongful death lawyer will walk you through what to expect and take care of the details so you are not left figuring things out alone. We are here to listen, guide you at your own pace, and help your family get the support it needs, in a time when everything feels heavy.
How South Carolina’s Laws Can Affect Your Settlement
South Carolina is a modified comparative fault state as established by South Carolina Code § 15-38-15. This means victims seeking compensation must be less than 50% responsible for causing the accident that led to their injuries. If they are more than 50% responsible, they cannot collect a settlement.
If your level of fault allows you to pursue a claim, but you still hold some fault, the amount you collect is reduced in proportion to your percentage of fault. Simply stated, if your total settlement amount is $100,000 and you are 10% at fault for the accident, you collect $90,000.
You can be sure the at-fault party’s representatives will work hard to inflate your percentage of fault. Your lawyer, however, will investigate your accident thoroughly and gather the evidence to prove those insurance companies wrong.
Your Columbia Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Is Ready to Help
Experiencing a traumatic accident and sustaining a catastrophic injury will likely leave you with intense emotional distress, physical pain, and deep concerns for your future and your household’s financial security.
Your catastrophic injury attorney in Columbia from Shelly Leeke Law Firm is ready to take on some of that burden by helping you collect a settlement to restore your financial stability and provide access to the ongoing medical care and other support you need. You can contact us at any time and on any day of the week for a free consultation.
