Spinal Cord Injury and Paralysis

Why does the level of the injury matter so much?

Where the cord was injured determines what function remains. An injury in the cervical spine affects the arms as well as the legs and often affects breathing. An injury lower down affects the legs and trunk. Whether the injury is complete or incomplete determines how much signal gets through below the level.

In a legal case, this is the fact that sets the cost of care for the rest of a life. It is also the fact the defense will spend the most effort disputing at the margins. That is why the imaging, the neurological exams and the treating doctors’ notes matter from the first day.

What does a lifetime of care include?

A serious spinal cord injury case that is properly worked contains a life care plan built by a qualified professional. Done correctly, it accounts for:

• Attendant care, priced by hours per day at market rates, for a lifetime. This is usually the single largest line and the one most often understated.
• A power wheelchair, its replacement cycle, and everything that goes with it: the seating system, the cushion that prevents pressure injuries, the backup manual chair.
• Home modification. Ramps, widened doorways, a roll-in shower, a lift, sometimes a different house.
• An accessible vehicle, and its replacement cycle.
• Bowel and bladder management supplies, consumed daily, forever.
• The complications that are predictable in this population and expensive when they arrive: pressure injuries, urinary tract infections, autonomic dysreflexia, spasticity management, shoulder degeneration from years of wheelchair propulsion.
• Therapy, equipment maintenance, medications, and periodic physician management.

Then an economist reduces the plan to present value, and a vocational expert addresses what work, if any, remains available. A case presented without this work asks a jury to estimate. Section 41.0105 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code also limits recovery of medical expenses to amounts actually paid or incurred, which affects how your bills are proven.

Commonly covered expenses and damages include:

• Attendant and nursing care
• Durable medical equipment and replacement cycles
• Home modification and accessible transport
• Lost earning capacity
• Pain, mental anguish and physical impairment

How is lost earning capacity measured?

The question is not what the person was earning. It is what the person could have earned across a working life, and what remains available now.

For a young person with decades of work ahead, this figure can rival the care number. Pay records, tax returns, training, licenses and the plans the person had for their career all help show what was lost. If you were about to start a new job or finish a degree, keep the proof of it.

How do you prove how the injury happened?

The mechanism matters. Spinal cord injuries come from high-energy events: highway collisions, commercial vehicle crashes, falls from height on construction sites, and being struck. Those cases carry physical evidence that does not survive casual delay.

That evidence includes vehicle electronic data, the vehicle itself, scene conditions, equipment, and surveillance footage on a short retention cycle. Your family is in a hospital during the window when that evidence is available. A preservation letter sent in the first days is frequently the difference between proving the mechanism and arguing about it.

You can help, even from the hospital. Write down the names of witnesses and first responders, and keep photographs of the scene and the injuries. Hold on to damaged clothing, helmets and equipment exactly as they are. Do not let a vehicle be sold or scrapped before you have advice,

You generally do not have to give a recorded statement to another party’s insurer. Your own policy may require you to cooperate with your own insurer.

Where does the money for a lifetime of care come from?

Cases of this size often exceed a primary policy. Excess and umbrella layers, employer coverage, commercial policies on a vehicle, and the injured person’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may all be in play. Sometimes they sit across policies the injured person did not know existed. Identifying every layer early shapes the strategy for the whole case.

If you were hurt at work, the employer’s insurance status matters. Under Section 408.001 of the Texas Labor Code, workers’ compensation benefits are generally the exclusive remedy against a subscribing employer and its agents and employees. The statute states one exception. It allows exemplary damages for the surviving spouse or heirs of the body where death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the employer or by the employer’s gross negligence. If the employer does not carry workers’ compensation, Section 406.033 of the Texas Labor Code bars it from defending on contributory negligence, assumption of the risk or the negligence of a fellow employee.

How long do you have to file?

In most cases, under Section 16.003(a) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, suit must be brought within two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury. Exceptions can shorten or extend that period, so ask about your dates early. The deadline for saving the evidence is usually far shorter than the legal one.

Primary sources

• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 16 (limitations)
• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 41 (damages)
• Tex. Lab. Code ch. 406 (workers’ compensation coverage; non-subscribers)
• Tex. Lab. Code ch. 408 (workers’ compensation benefits; exclusive remedy)

Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.

This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.