Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer in Los Angeles

Who is liable for a spinal cord injury?

Often several parties, each with its own insurance. Identifying every responsible party early is what determines whether the cover available matches what the injury costs:

• The at-fault driver in a car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian or bicycle collision.
• An employer, if the at-fault driver was working.
• A vehicle or component manufacturer, if something failed.
• A contractor or property owner, if the hazard was theirs, such as a fall or a construction site.
• A public entity, if the road or premises were dangerous, under Government Code section 835. These claims carry the six month deadline.

California follows pure comparative fault, so a share of blame reduces a recovery and does not end it. Insurers often blame degenerative change, which shows on the imaging of most adults. The answer is the comparison: what the person could do before and what they can do now, prior records showing no treatment for the area, and a treating surgeon’s opinion on what the incident actually caused. A pre-existing condition made symptomatic by someone else’s negligence is compensable in California.

How is a lifetime of spinal cord injury care costed?

A life care planner, usually a rehabilitation professional, works from the treating clinicians’ opinions and sets out what will be needed each year:

• Mobility: the wheelchair and its replacement cycle, and a modified or accessible vehicle.
• Medical needs: equipment, daily supplies, therapy and attendant or nursing hours.
• Foreseeable complications: hospital stays for urinary infections or pressure sores.
• The home: accessible housing and home modification.

An economist then converts that schedule into a present-day figure, and a vocational consultant addresses the work the person can no longer do. Those three documents are the backbone of the claim. Whether the injury is complete or incomplete and what function rehabilitation will restore are not known at the first offer.

What insurance may pay in a spinal cord injury case?

Minimum liability limits are $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident since 1 January 2025. A serious spinal case frequently reaches more than one layer of cover:

• The at-fault driver’s liability policy, and any umbrella or excess policy above it.
• An employer’s or commercial policy behind a vehicle driven for work.
• Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and medical payments coverage.
• A property owner’s or contractor’s policy, a manufacturer, or a public entity.
• Health insurance, Medi-Cal and Medicare, which pay treatment and may claim reimbursement later.

Those reimbursement claims can be negotiated and reduced, and doing it well changes thousands of dollars in the family’s pocket. The order in which the policies are resolved matters.

What compensation can you recover for a spinal cord injury?

• Medical expenses, past and future, including surgery, rehabilitation, equipment, accessible housing and attendant care.
• Lost earnings and loss of future earning capacity.
• Family caregiving. A relative who gives up work to care for the person provides services with a real market value, and that care can be claimed when it is documented.
• Pain, suffering and emotional distress, and the loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive damages under Civil Code section 3294 where the defendant acted with malice, oppression or fraud.
• Wrongful death damages under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 when an injury proves fatal.

No outcome can be promised. The value turns on the injury, the prognosis, the care needed, the insurance available and the evidence on fault.

How long will a spinal cord injury case take?

Longer than most, for a good reason. The claim cannot be valued until the medical picture is stable enough for a reliable prognosis, which on a spinal injury is rarely inside a year. The alternative is settling on guesswork, and a settlement cannot be reopened.

How long do you have to file a spinal cord injury claim?

• Two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
• Three years for property damage, 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.

In a case this serious the date is worth confirming in the first week.

How much does a spinal cord injury lawyer cost in Los Angeles?

No fee unless there is a recovery. Broukhim Legal PC takes spinal cord injury 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 Business and Professions Code section 6147 requires, and it explains how the costs of running the case are handled. Your first conversation is free, confidential and carries no obligation.

Personal injury lawyers across Los Angeles County

Broukhim Legal PC represents people with serious injuries 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 what happened for a free case review.

Meet your Los Angeles spinal cord 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