Encino Catastrophic Accident Lawyer

Reviewed by Adrianos Facchetti, Esq., California State Bar No. 243213 (verify license).

If you suffered a catastrophic injury, you’re probably dealing with more than medical bills. You may be unable to work, relying on family for daily help, and unsure what care you’ll need in the years ahead. For broader injury claims in the area, our Encino Personal Injury Lawyer resource explains how California injury cases usually work.

You don’t have to sort this out alone. An Encino Catastrophic Accident Lawyer looks beyond the bills you have today and focuses on what your injury may cost over your lifetime. The Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti offers a free consultation to help you understand your options.

Legal Help After a Life-Changing Accident in Encino

Families that are facing a major accident will need to deal with a hospital stay, a rehab plan, and loss of income all at the same time. Legal assistance in this situation will include a few aspects:

• Gathering evidence early before vehicles and videos are fixed or deleted
• Figuring out who might be involved and what insurance policies could be applicable
• Using doctors and other specialists to make future estimates of expenses and loss of earning capacity
• Handling insurance correspondence to give the family more free time to recover
• Preventing a quick settlement without considering long-term consequences

There is a special timing aspect in this situation. In the case of an accident resulting in a major injury, it will take several months to understand all the details of the health situation. Making a settlement before it becomes obvious whether a person will be injured permanently or not is a big mistake.

What Makes an Injury Catastrophic?

There’s no single legal definition. In practice, an injury is usually considered catastrophic when it causes long-term or permanent harm that changes how a person lives or works.

Examples include:

• Traumatic brain injuries, which can affect memory, focus, mood, and personality
• Spinal cord injuries, including partial or complete paralysis
• Severe burns that require grafts or multiple surgeries
• Amputations or loss of use of a limb
• Serious internal injuries to organs
• Severe orthopedic injuries, such as crushed joints or complex fractures that don’t fully heal
• Permanent disability that limits work or independence
• Long-term cognitive or physical impairment

Some of these, especially brain injuries, don’t always show their full effect right away. Symptoms can become clearer over weeks or months, which is another reason ongoing medical documentation matters.

Accidents That Can Cause Catastrophic Injuries

Severe injuries can come from many kinds of incidents in and around Encino, including:

• Car accidents on Ventura Boulevard or the US-101 Ventura Freeway
• Truck accidents, including crashes near the I-405 and US-101 interchange
• Motorcycle crashes
• Pedestrian accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Construction accidents on residential or commercial job sites
• Falls caused by dangerous property conditions
• Defective product incidents
• Fatal accidents, which may lead to wrongful death claims

The type of accident often shapes who may be responsible. If a commercial vehicle was involved, our Encino truck accident lawyer guide covers the added evidence and insurance issues. If the injury happened because of an unsafe property condition, our Encino premises liability lawyer resource explains how property-related responsibility is reviewed.

Why Catastrophic Accident Claims Require More Care

In a typical injury case, most costs are already known when the claim is made. In a catastrophic case, many of the biggest costs haven’t happened yet.

A claim may need to account for:

• Future medical care, including surgeries, specialists, and medications
• Rehabilitation, such as physical, occupational, or speech therapy
• Home modifications, like ramps, widened doors, or accessible bathrooms
• Assistive devices, such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, or mobility aids
• In-home or long-term care
• Lost earning capacity, meaning income the person can no longer earn over their career
• Pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life
• Impact on the family, including a spouse’s loss of companionship in some cases

These future costs are usually estimated with help from medical experts and, in more serious cases, a life care plan. That’s a detailed projection of the care and costs a person is likely to need over time.

A few practical issues also come up more often in these cases:

• Policy limits. The at-fault party’s insurance may be too small for a lifetime of care, so other coverage, like your own underinsured motorist coverage or another responsible party, may matter.
• Liens. Health insurers, Medi-Cal, or Medicare may have a right to be repaid from a settlement. Those need to be identified before any money is distributed.
• Capacity to make decisions. If a brain injury affects the injured person’s ability to manage their own affairs, a family member may need legal authority to act for them.

Evidence That Can Strengthen a Catastrophic Injury Claim

The more severe the injury, the more difficult the insurer will be about reviewing the information. Some examples of evidence that might be useful in a catastrophic personal injury case include the following:

• Police report or incident report
• Pictures and/or video of the scene, vehicles involved, and property conditions
• Statements from witnesses
• Medical records beginning on the date of the accident
• Reports from specialists such as a neurologist, orthopedic surgeon, or other physician
• Results from imaging such as MRIs and CT scans
• Wage information from the employer and tax records
• Reconstruction of the accident if fault is disputed
• Future care and earning capacity by experts
• Letters and emails from the insurance company

Some types of information only last for a short time period. For example, vehicles are either repaired or scrapped, hazards to property are removed, and many times surveillance cameras overrecord their tapes. In a catastrophic personal injury case, it makes sense to act quickly in collecting any information that can help demonstrate how the accident occurred.

It also makes sense to maintain a daily diary of symptoms and restrictions.

California Deadlines and Fault Issues

Most personal injury cases in California usually need to be filed within a period of two years according to the California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. However, exceptions are allowed based on circumstances such as when the victim of injuries is a minor.

In case the case involves a public entity such as a vehicle operated by a public agency or a dangerous condition on public property, filing a formal claim within six months is normally required according to the California Government Code § 911.2.

California law employs comparative fault. If the injured party is also responsible, any compensation will be decreased by the same percentage, but not eliminated. In high-stakes cases, insurance companies will aggressively argue on the issue of fault, which makes the evidence very important.

Since it takes time to gather evidence in most cases of injuries, it is advisable that you get your case assessed earlier on before the deadline comes. Families facing a fatal accident will definitely require guidance from the Encino wrongful death lawyer resource.

Free Case Review for an Encino Catastrophic Accident Claim

If you have been injured in an accident at Encino or anywhere in the San Fernando Valley area, the Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti will provide a free case review and discuss how the accident occurred, who may be at fault, and the evidence that needs to be protected.

Our attorneys will examine medical documentation, police reports, correspondence from insurance companies, and the future requirements your family will face. We represent these cases under contingency fees, which means there is no up-front cost and no legal fees unless we get compensation for you. Nothing specific can be said about a particular case without first reviewing the facts.