Back injuries are some of the most painful and damaging injuries that a person can suffer. If you’ve ever endured even minimal back pain, you know how hard it is to function with a strained or aching back. Your back affects every movement you make: your spine connects your joints, arms, legs, and head. If you’ve suffered a severe back injury from an accident, seek help from a St. Louis back injury lawyer.
If someone else's negligence caused an accident and injured your back, you likely deserve compensation for your losses. If you've never been involved in a legal process before, you may have no idea how to file a compensation claim. That's where the St. Louis back injury lawyers at the Bruning Law Firm come in.
Table of Contents
- The Bruning Law Firm Can Help You
- Common Causes of Back Injuries in St. Louis
- What Are the Common Types of Back Injuries After an Accident?
- What Damages Can You Get for Back Injuries in St. Louis?
- How Will a Back Injury Lawsuit Work?
- Why Do You Need a St. Louis Back Injury Lawyer?
The Bruning Law Firm Can Help You
Dealing with a back injury can hurt and tax you, especially when someone else's negligent behavior caused your injuries. At Bruning Law Firm, our focus is on helping our clients tackle problems that they could not handle alone. From negotiating for settlements to filing a claim and calculating the worth of a personal injury case, we bring knowledge and experience to every interaction with our clients, so they don't have to worry about anything other than getting better.
Though the team at Bruning Law Firm has more than 35 years of experience and millions in recovered awards, we cannot guarantee any specific outcomes. However, we can guarantee that our team will approach every case with the same integrity and vigor as we have for every case we've ever represented.
Here are just a few examples of the results we have secured for our clients in the past:
- $50 million in a defective product case
- $15.5 million in a premises liability case
- $4.5 million in a medical malpractice case
- $2.5 million in a major manufacturer liability case
Call us now for your free case evaluation. We’re standing by to help you.
Common Causes of Back Injuries in St. Louis
It’s not uncommon for people to suffer severe injury or death after an accident. In fact, in Missouri, 16.8 percent of preventable deaths were caused by motor vehicle accidents and 14.1 percent from falls. Motor vehicle accidents and falls are common causes of severe back injuries, which lead to severe pain and long and difficult recoveries.
Back injuries are common. An estimated two million back injuries occur each year in the U.S. By some estimates, 8 percent to 15 percent of all back injuries result from trauma such as a fall or car accident. If you’re dealing with back pain and a traumatic accident injured you, you are not alone. Seek help for your pain and begin your road to recovery.
The most common causes of back injuries include:
- Work-related injuries such as chronic pain from sitting or standing in poor positions or injury during exercise.
- Falls at work or elsewhere
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Big commercial truck accidents
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- Sports accidents
Seeking compensation following a back injury helps ensure you have the support you need.
What Are the Common Types of Back Injuries After an Accident?
There are many back injuries that you may experience after an accident. Some are more severe than others, but regardless of the injury, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible. When left untreated, any back injury can lead to severe complications.
The most common types of back injuries include:
- Strains. These occur when a person makes a jerky movement and causes a small tear in the back muscle, leading to light bleeding and swelling.
- Sprains. Sprains result from excessive stretching of the muscles along the vertebrae and are more common after improper lifting or sports movements.
- Herniated Discs. When the discs in your vertebrae bulge out of their spot, they can compress the nerves surrounding the spine and cause pain, numbness, and tingling.
- Spondylolisthesis. This type of injury results when a vertebra slips out of the natural curve of your spine, often as the result of a fall or other traumatic event that caused the fracture of the vertebrae’s “wings.”
- Compression Fractures. These small fractures in the vertebrae usually result from a traumatic injury that causes severe damage to the spine’s bone.
- Sciatica. Although often caused by aging or congenital defects, sciatica can also result from a traumatic injury and usually manifests as pain, tingling, numbness, and cramping in the lower back, legs, and feet.
- Torticollis. This condition usually results in neck and head pain and a stiff neck and is generally caused by bad posture, though it can also result from whiplash (a sudden jerking of the neck) in an accident.
- Spinal Cord Injuries. This severe injury usually results from trauma and occurs when spinal cord nerve connections are disrupted, often resulting in severe consequences such as paralysis.
- Sacroiliitis. When one or more of your sacroiliac joints inflame, often from damage in an accident, you’ll experience sacroiliitis, causing severe pain in your lower back and buttocks.
- Cervical Impingements. When one or more vertebra is blocked, you may experience cervical impingement, resulting in pain and a loss of mobility in the affected area.
There are many ways an accident can affect your back. It’s always best to seek medical attention right away. Getting immediate care can also help you build a personal injury claim. You’ll need documentation detailing the severity of your injuries and the long-term consequences they may have on your life.
What Damages Can You Get for Back Injuries in St. Louis?
The victim may seek compensation from the at-fault party for damages in a personal injury claim. Damages include economic and non-economic losses from the accident and your injuries.
You can seek compensation for multiple damages in St. Louis, including:
- Medical expenses for emergency room visits, surgeries, operations, ongoing therapy, medication prescriptions, the purchase of medical equipment (e.g. a wheelchair or crutches), etc.
- Property damage expenses if you need to repair or replace your vehicle, phone, or other significant property.
- Income loss for the time you took off from work to recover.
- Loss of earning capacity if your injuries render you incapable of returning to work in the same position or capacity as before.
- Scarring, disfigurement, and humiliation from your injuries.
- Emotional trauma and distress.
- Loss of life enjoyment.
- Loss of consortium (relationship) with a close family member.
- Pain and suffering in general.
You may recover compensation for other types of damages as well. A back injury lawyer will look closely at your case and guide you in setting a sufficient compensation amount.
How Much Compensation Can I Get for a Back Injury?
The compensation you can recover after a back injury varies considerably depending on your accident and injuries. Overall, back injuries cost the United States about $50 billion per year because of treatment expenses, lost work, lost productivity, and other costs.
Some of our back injury claims amount to millions of dollars in compensation for victims like yourself. Others settle for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The most important factors in determining the amount of compensation you can recover include:
- The severity of your injuries.
- The long-term effects your injuries will have on your life.
- The accident circumstances, including who caused it and how.
You’ll need evidence to substantiate your losses to claim the proper amount. Working with a back injury lawyer helps ensure that you get sufficient evidence to recover the compensation you deserve.
What Type of Evidence Do I Need for a Back Injury Claim?
Once you’ve decided to work with a back injury lawyer, they will help you gather various types of evidence to build a strong case against the defendant.
The main types of evidence you’ll need include:
- Medical bills and records detailing the extent and cost of your injuries.
- Eyewitness testimony (preferably written) from those who witnessed the accident.
- A police report if the police came to the accident scene.
- Photos or video footage from the accident scene.
- Expert testimony from medical professionals who can predict how your back injury will affect your life in the future.
- A personal journal detailing how you suffered physically, mentally, and financially since the accident.
- Documentation of lost wages and days off of work.
- Testimonials from friends and family who can corroborate your personal and financial losses and their effects on you.
- Receipts for repairs or replacement of damaged property like your car.
Gathering these pieces of evidence can sometimes be complicated. You may struggle to get in touch with the hospital or the police department, and you may have no idea where to find medical professionals who can testify to the long-term effects of your injuries. An experienced back injury lawyer can help you gather this evidence and ease your stress as you prepare your claim for compensation.
How Will a Back Injury Lawsuit Work?
Once your lawyers gather sufficient evidence, they will file a complaint against the defendant, demonstrating that the defendant’s actions caused your back injury. Your lawyer will send this complaint to the defendant and their insurance company, demanding compensation.
Once you file the complaint, the defendant must respond by either offering a settlement or denying your claim. Depending on their response, you may enter into settlement negotiations and reach a favorable settlement for both parties. If you do not agree, your lawyers may gather more evidence by requesting documents from the other party’s lawyers and taking interrogatories (written questionnaires) and depositions (verbal statements) from involved parties and/or witnesses.
If you can't settle in good time, you can file your claim in court. After each side presents its case, the court will issue a verdict. If the court decides in your favor, the at-fault party or their insurance company must compensate you what the court ordered.
Why Do You Need a St. Louis Back Injury Lawyer?
If you pursue a personal injury claim against the at-fault party after suffering a back injury in an accident, seek support from a St. Louis back injury lawyer. At The Bruning Law Firm, our dedicated team of lawyers has decades of experience helping people fight for the compensation they deserve.
Our attorneys are determined to seek justice for each of our clients. We know how hard it is to reclaim your physical, mental, and financial stability following a severe back injury, and we want to help. We will gather evidence and negotiate with the defendant’s insurance company on your behalf for a fair settlement offer.
A majority of our cases settle out of court in a short amount of time so that you can get back to living your full life as soon as possible. If a St. Louis accident injures you, causing a back injury, don’t hesitate to ask The Bruning Law Firm lawyers for help. Call us at (314) 735-8100 for your free consultation today.
The Bruning Law Firm
The Bruning Law Firm, St. Louis Office
Address: 555 Washington Ave Ste 600A,St Louis, MO 63101
Phone: (314) 735-8100
Client Testimonial
"AJ and team were so delightful to work with. They were very responsive to all emails and phone calls. I always knew which step we were on in the process of getting my lawsuit settled. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the amount the settlement was for was twice that of the original coverage of the insurance company. I don’t know how they did it but I am very pleased with the service they provided. Hands down easiest process, and people to deal with. 100% recommend if you have a personal injury case to be worked. Hopefully I won’t need their services again, but if I do I won’t hesitate to call." - Amanda W.
Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
February 2020
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