Do I Have a Spinal Cord Injury Case?

If someone else acts wrongfully and harms your spinal cord, you could potentially have a claim for damages against them. The important thing that you must be able to identify is who actually caused your damages. If more than one person or entity did, then you could possibly bring the case against one or all of them for the entire amount of your injuries. However, if you cannot identify anyone then you might be out of luck. Naturally, traumatic accidents, such as a motor vehicle crashes, might be easy to point to as the contributing factor for your spinal injury but other situations might be more difficult to explain such as medical malpractice actions. Therefore, you should not overlook the fact-intensive issue of identifying the person to blame.

The other significant issue that you have to consider when deciding if you have a spinal cord claim is whether or not you were at fault. Illinois has adopted modified comparative negligence laws. This means that if you the jury determines you were more than 50% responsible for the injuries then you cannot recover anything. On the other hand, if the jury determines that you were 50% or less responsible, then you still recover but your damages are reduced by your amount of responsibility for the incident.

The standard in civil cases for personal injuries is the same no matter what kind of cause of action you bring: a preponderance of the evidence. This generally means that you must convince the judge or jury that the defendant was more likely than not to have caused your harms and damages. This is a much more lenient standard than the one used in criminal actions. In that setting, the state must prove that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to a judge or jury.

For the former standard, a preponderance of the evidence, the understanding is that you must demonstrate that it is more than 50% likely that you are right. For the latter standard, beyond a reasonable doubt, the understanding is that the state must make its case by about 75% or 80%. Obviously, with the added consequences of criminal culpability (such as loss of freedom), the governments wants juries to be especially careful when convicting people. However, it also has the benefit of helping plaintiffs in civil cases by making their jobs just a little bit easier.