Charleston Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers

Spinal cord injuries can dramatically change anyone’s life, as they often result in partial or complete paralysis and usually require extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation, and lifelong care. The pain and suffering and trauma that accompany a spinal cord injury cannot be understated, and when you need to claim compensation for the accident that caused your injury, a dedicated legal representative can help. Let our Charleston spinal cord injury lawyers at Rogers, Patrick, Westbrook & Brickman LLC guide you through that process.  

What Causes Spinal Cord Injuries in Charleston?

Various accidents and incidents can lead to spinal cord injuries. In Charleston, victims have commonly dealt with injuries resulting from auto accidents on congested highways like I-26 and I-526, slip and fall incidents at commercial properties, construction site accidents, and medical malpractice.

What Are the Long-Term Effects of a Spinal Cord Injury?

Spinal cord injuries typically result in permanent consequences. Depending on the location and severity of your injury, you may experience partial or complete paralysis, loss of sensation, respiratory complications, chronic pain, bladder and bowel dysfunction, muscle spasticity, sexual dysfunction, and psychological impacts, including depression and anxiety. As of early 2025, the lifetime cost of care for a severe spinal cord injury averages about $5.2 million, which accounts for immediate medical intervention, ongoing care, adaptive equipment, and home modifications. This massive financial burden can overwhelm many families, which is why many victims approach personal injury lawyers in an attempt to claim compensation for their injuries.

How Much Compensation Can You Receive for a Spinal Cord Injury Case?

The value of your spinal cord injury case can depend on numerous factors, including the severity and permanence of your injury, your age, pre-injury income, the impact on your ability to work, your projected future medical and care needs, the circumstances of the accident, your available insurance coverage, and the strength of the evidence that proves someone else’s hand in your accident.

You can use the compensation you receive from an insurance or personal injury claim to pay for the following expenses:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Rehabilitation costs
• Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
• Home and vehicle modifications
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Emotional distress

Successful Charleston spinal cord injury cases often pay out significant settlements due to the catastrophic nature of these injuries. In 2024, the average compensation awarded in spinal cord injury cases across the state reached $3.7 million—a 12% increase from the previous year.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Filing a Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit in South Carolina?

South Carolina law generally provides three years from the date of your injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, though several factors might alter this timeline. If a government entity caused your injury, the law may cut your deadline to just one year to file a notice of claim. For a medical malpractice case, if you only discover the injury or damage related to your injury after the fact, the three-year clock only starts when you discovered or should have discovered the harm that you suffered. 

How Do You Prove Negligence in a Spinal Cord Injury Case?

Recovering compensation in most spinal cord injury cases requires establishing four key elements of negligence:

• Duty of Care: The defendant owed you a legal duty to act reasonably. If you suffered an injury in a car accident, for instance, you can argue that the other drivers around you owed it to you to drive safely and obey traffic laws. 
• Breach of Duty: The defendant failed to meet this standard of care. In a car accident, if the other drivers sped, ran a red light, or failed to merge properly, they breached their duty of care. 
• Causation: This breach directly caused your injury. If the other driver’s lack of care directly led to the collision that caused your injury, you can use camera footage or black box evidence to prove that they collided with your vehicle. 
• Damages: You suffered actual damages as a result. You can use medical records, bank statements, and other documentation to prove the financial, emotional, and physical impact of your injury. 

To build a compelling negligence case, you will likely need a seasoned lawyer to conduct a thorough investigation and solicit professional testimony, particularly in complex scenarios like medical malpractice or product liability claims.

Why Do You Need a Dedicated Lawyer for Your Spinal Cord Injury Case?

Spinal cord injury cases involve considerably more complexity than other personal injury claims do, as they require thorough knowledge of spinal cord injury medicine, connections with medical professionals who can testify about your condition, the foresight to calculate the true lifetime cost of your care, the ability to navigate multiple insurance policies, the fortitude and skills necessary to negotiate with powerful insurance companies, the resources to fully investigate your accident, and the trial experience required to litigate catastrophic injury cases.

Lawyers who focus primarily on general practice law may lack the necessary knowledge and resources to maximize your recovery in these high-stakes cases. In fact, in 2024, clients with dedicated catastrophic injury lawyers received 42% higher compensation on average than did those who worked with general practice lawyers.

Find Hope and Justice With the Charleston Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers at Rogers, Patrick, Westbrook & Brickman LLC

When you need to confront the overwhelming challenges of a spinal cord injury, you need a dedicated legal team to maximize the chances of claiming the fair compensation that you deserve. Trust the Charleston spinal cord injury lawyers at Rogers, Patrick, Westbrook & Brickman LLC to bring their decades of catastrophic injury litigation experience to your case. As one of South Carolina’s largest plaintiff law firms, we have obtained billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for our clients, and we are committed to advocating for you. Call us at 843-727-6500 or fill out our online contact form for a free consultation. Our office locations in Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Aiken, and Columbia, South Carolina, gladly serve clients throughout South Carolina.