Amputation Injury Lawyer in Los Angeles

Who is liable for an amputation injury in California?

Often more than one party, and each can bring its own insurance:

• A negligent driver, where the amputation came from a crash.
• A machine or equipment manufacturer, where a machine had no guard or a part was defective.
• A contractor or subcontractor, including the general contractor responsible for site safety and the company whose maintenance had been subcontracted.
• A property owner who left a dangerous condition.
• A public agency, for a dangerous condition of public property under Government Code section 835. These claims carry the six month deadline.
• A third party at work. If the amputation happened on the job, workers compensation is not the end of the road. The machine has a manufacturer, other companies may have created the hazard, and those are separate claims. A Cal/OSHA citation in the file helps support them.

How is the lifetime cost of an amputation proved?

An insurer values an amputation as a closed expense: the hospital, the surgery and a prosthesis. That is how a lifetime case ends up priced as a one-year event. A functional limb is replaced every few years for as long as the person lives, and more often for a child who is still growing. Between replacements come new sockets whenever the limb changes volume, liners that wear out in months, repairs, and often a second device for work, sport or water. Over forty or fifty years, that is the largest item in the file, and the one that rarely appears in a first offer.

Around it sits everything else: phantom limb pain and residual limb pain, revision surgery, the hip and back that wear from walking differently for decades, therapy, an adapted vehicle and changes to the home. Psychological adjustment is part of the loss too, and it is routinely understated. The claim is built with a life care planner, an economist and a vocational evaluator who says what work the person can do today, what it pays and what training is realistic, including for someone who works in Spanish.

What insurance pays after an amputation injury?

• The at-fault party’s liability policy, and any umbrella or commercial policy above it. California’s minimum auto liability limits are $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, far short of lifetime costs.
• Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, when a crash caused the amputation and the other driver has too little insurance or none.
• Workers compensation, if the injury happened at work. It pays treatment and part of lost wages without proving fault, but nothing for pain and suffering.
• Health insurance, which pays treatment as it happens and may later claim reimbursement from the settlement.

What compensation can you recover after an amputation?

• Medical expenses, past and future, including surgery, revision surgery, therapy and every prosthetic replacement.
• Lost earnings and loss of future earning capacity.
• Home and vehicle modifications and other costs of an adapted life.
• Pain, suffering and emotional distress, including phantom limb pain, and the loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive damages under Civil Code section 3294 where the defendant acted with malice, oppression or fraud.

A case’s value cannot be known before the medical picture and the life care plan are clear. It turns on the injury, the care still to come, the available insurance and the strength of the evidence on fault.

How long do you have to file an amputation injury claim?

• Two years from the date of injury to file an injury lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
• Three years for property damage only, under Code of Civil Procedure section 338.
• Six months to present a written claim if a public entity is involved, under Government Code section 911.2. This shorter deadline governs.

California applies pure comparative fault, so partial blame reduces a recovery and does not bar it. Other facts can shorten or extend these periods, so have your date confirmed at the start.

How much does an amputation injury lawyer cost?

No fee unless there is a recovery. Broukhim Legal PC takes amputation cases on a contingency fee, so there is nothing to pay up front and the fee is paid out of what is recovered. If nothing is recovered, no fee is owed. The fee agreement is put in writing and signed before any work starts, as California law requires, and the costs of running the case are explained in that same agreement rather than left to the end. Your first conversation is free, confidential and carries no obligation.

Personal injury lawyers across Los Angeles County

Broukhim Legal PC represents people injured throughout Los Angeles County from its office at 550 S Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. Each city page sets out the courthouse an incident in that city is filed in, how a claim against that city is presented and the deadlines that apply:

See all locations we serve, or tell us about your injury for a free case review.

Meet your Los Angeles amputation injury lawyer

Bejan Broukhim, Founder and Lead Attorney
State Bar of California, license number 183036

Bejan Broukhim brings years of California legal experience to injury and mass tort cases and personally reviews each one. He earned his J.D. at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, served as a judicial extern in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Van Nuys Superior Court, and appeared in preliminary hearings as a certified law clerk with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Every case is prepared from day one as though it will go to trial.

Office: 550 S Hill Street, Suite 1390, Los Angeles, CA 90013, serving all of Los Angeles County and California. Get directions