Major Accident Personal Injury Lawsuits

Major accident personal injury lawsuits often involve injury from motor vehicle accidents such as car accidents, truck accidents or motorcycle accidents, but they may also include motor vehicles striking pedestrians and bicycle riders. Car-on-pedestrian accidents and car-on-bicyclist accidents often cause serious injuries, including broken bones, internal injuries, degeneration of the cervical and lumbar spine, loss or impairment of limbs, and spinal injuries which can take a long time to heal.

Ken Ralidis handles all kinds of major accident and personal injury cases and lawsuits, including major spinal damage. However, not all motor vehicle accidents cause injuries which are immediately apparent. Very often, the initial diagnosis by a doctor or clinic are “soft-tissue” in nature, which do not involve broken bones but which rather constitute damage to muscles or ligaments. As a result, the diagnoses may include “sprains” or “strains”. Many lawyers don’t know the difference between sprains and strains, and this can lead to undervaluing your case. Also, soft tissue cases can be far more devastating than many lawyers realize. We take all soft tissue cases seriously.

Strains are generally overstretching or tear injuries to tendons, which are the tissues that connect your muscles and bones, or to muscles. Strains which are mild are characterized by small tears in the muscular fibers, and most often the visible manifestation is swelling and mild pain. Moderate strains result in more obvious tears to the fibers, causing more tenderness, pain and bruising, but also limitations on mobility. Severe strains often involve complete tears of the muscle and may require surgery, and often cause serious impairment of mobility.

Sprains involve injuries to ligaments, which are the fibers connecting various bones together in your joints. Mild sprains are often treated with anti-inflammatory medications, including Flexeril and Tylenol. But severe sprains may require injections of steriods such as cortisone, to ease pain, or even surgery.

Sprains and strains can occur together. In the spine, they can occur in: (1) the head and neck area (cervical spine), also resulting in shoulder pain; (2) upper chest and upper back, which can sometimes be felt lower in the back and in abdominal muscles (thoracic spine); (3) mid-to-lower back (lumbar spine), also often felt extending to painful hips or legs; and (4) the hips and pelvis (sacral spine), which often radiate pain to the thighs and legs.

Challenges in personal injury accidents of all types, and especially in slower-impact accidents resulting in soft tissue diagnoses, are that insurers are well aware that the costs of pursuing a court case may exceed the potential recovery, especially if lawyers are not conversant enough with slow-impact medical literature. This firm often handles lower-impact motor vehicle personal injury cases and a typical insurer response is to offer a token sum based on the incorrect assumption that minor accidents cannot cause moderate or serious injuries. But we push back hard and are usually able to obtain more realistic settlements, and we are also willing to take these cases to trial.

All too often, insurers convince attorneys that because an accident or personal injury victim is older, that they have pre-existing conditions which prevent them from recovering in an auto accident or similar personal injury case. This is false and a trap for the uneducated. Almost anyone over 40 years old has degenerative conditions, even disc bulges and spinal issues such as stenosis or narrowed disc spaces. But insurer experts should not get anywhere with arguments that accident-caused pain and suffering is due to pre-existing conditions, because if the conditions were not symptomatic before the accident (i.e., not causing pain or mobility problems), then the degenerative conditions clearly did NOT cause the pain and suffering. This firm aggressively counters such cookie-cutter arguments and we are strong advocates for those injured in motor vehicle accidents.

This firm has often obtained results for clients 10-25 times the initial offer in soft tissue cases. For example, we had a client who had multiple pre-existing spinal injuries, as he had fallen into a construction hole, and had several prior motor vehicle accidents. However, we turned a $1,500 offer into a $75,000 settlement.

If you have a case and possible lawsuit similar to this, contact Ken Ralidis at 213.251.5480 today to see how he can help you get the compensation you deserve. We have often obtained results for our clients that are 10-25 times what the initial offer was. Don’t just settle for any attorney that may not have the experience, or a big law firm that doesn’t have the time or resources for a case like yours. Reach out to Ken Ralidis for his experience and the personal attention he offers. We can help you win your case!