Amputation Injury Lawyers

Experienced Amputation Injury Lawyers

Losing a body part can lead to life-long difficulties for both victims and their families. It can generate years of physical and psychological struggles requiring extensive rehabilitation and daily life adjustments. Simple tasks such as buttoning a shirt or walking become challenging and frustrating, and costly medical bills can be upsetting and stressful.

Many victims of traumatic accidents have suffered serious life changes due to the loss of:

An upper limb including fingers, a hand, wrist, forearm, upper arm, shoulder blade or collar bone;
A lower extremity including toes, a foot, lower or upper leg, or pelvis;
Facial parts including eyes and eyelids, ears, a nose and lips; or
Skin due to degloving (skin separation).

We Can Help

At Robinson Calcagnie, Inc., we know what it takes to hold other party’s accountable for traumatic amputation injuries caused by their negligence or other wrongdoing. For more than three decades, our attorneys have worked closely with amputee clients to help recover damages for their pain, suffering, economic losses and life changes.

If you or a family member lost a limb in an accident due to the negligent actions of another, it’s important to secure quality medical care and support services to aid in your recovery. It’s also important to contact a lawyer before speaking to the potentially liable party’s insurance company. Anything you say to the insurance company may be used against you later and could limit or prevent you from recovering the compensation for your injuries that you deserve.

If a lawyer determines you have a claim and your case settles or goes to trial, you may receive compensation for:

Economic losses due to past and future medical bills;
Lost wages and earning capacity;
Physical disfigurement, mental impairments and disability;
Pain and suffering;
Adverse life changes; and
Punitive damages, if the responsible party engaged in reprehensible conduct.

In addition, most states allow claims for “loss of consortium” which is meant to provide compensation to a non-injured spouse for the loss of love, affection, companionship and comfort that their injured spouse was able to provide them before they had their injury.

Successful Amputation Recovery

$30.8 Million Verdict in Anderson v. Snow Valley, Inc.

In the fall of 1998, 42-year-old ski lift mechanic Craig Anderson lost both legs while performing maintenance on a chairlift at Snow Valley Ski Resort in Running Springs, California. Anderson was hired by Snow Valley, LLC, earlier that year to work on the resort, which was owned by Snow Valley, Inc. On November 6, as Anderson and his crew began repairing a chairlift, a supporting chain slipped, forcefully pulling ground cables with it. Anderson’s legs became entangled in the cables, resulting in injuries that required amputation above both knees. Anderson and his wife claimed that the owner of the lift – Snow Valley, Inc. – was negligent for failing to record a similar accident in 1990, and failing to implement additional safety precautions to prevent reoccurrences. Robinson Calcagnie, Inc. partners Jeoffrey Robinson and Allan Davis represented the Andersons. Approximately two years before the trial, the Andersons settled with Lift Engineering & Manufacturing for $1 million. A San Bernardino jury found Snow Valley, Inc., to be 100 percent liable and awarded the Andersons $30,856,317.

$22 Million Settlement in Lincoln v. Parker, Novartis

In 2008, founding and senior partner Mark P. Robinson, Jr. negotiated a $22 million settlement for a 17-year-old Plaintiff, an avid surfer who suffered severe injuries after being struck by an intoxicated driver in Newport Beach, California. On the night of August 10, 2006, the then 15-year-old Plaintiff was in the bike lane helping push his friend’s stalled car to the side of a road when he was struck by a vehicle driven by the Defendant who was intoxicated and driving a car provided to her by her employer, pharmaceutical company Novartis. The impact severely crushed the Plaintiff’s left leg, resulting in more than 30 surgeries and eventual amputation. Three years after his amputation, the Plaintiff was able to surf again.

Schedule Your Free Consultation Today

Contacting our office soon after the accident helps us to better preserve evidence, medical records, and witness information. It also helps ensure the lawsuit is filed within the deadline set by your state’s statute of limitations. To schedule a free, confidential consultation to learn about how we can help you or a family member, please contact us toll free at (888) 348-8855 or by using our online form. If you would like to schedule an in-person consultation but are unable to visit one of our local offices, we can schedule a time to meet you at your home, hospital or other convenient location.

Amputation Defined

Amputation is a surgical or traumatic separation of a body part due to serious nerve or tissue damage. When the damage occurs in blunt trauma situations such as in an auto or industrial accident, the injury almost always warrants immediate emergency treatment due to bleeding, pain, shock, and to help save any detached limbs.

Although each amputation is unique, most fall under one of three categories: complete, incomplete or degloving:

If a body part is fully severed, such as when a power tool severs a limb, the amputation is considered complete.
If a body part remains partially attached, such as when a leg is crushed in a car accident, the amputation is incomplete.
Degloving happens when the skin –including nerves, blood vessels and muscles – is separated from the body tissue underneath, sometimes to the bone. It can occur in any type of forceful incident such as in an explosion, car or machinery accident.

What Causes Amputations?

One of the leading causes of amputation is trauma, which happens when the body suffers serious injury due to sudden physical force. This type of limb loss generally occurs in places that most of us frequent on a daily basis like our place of employment, on the road, or at home.

The most common traumatic amputations result from:

Workplace accidents when employees use potentially hazardous equipment such as fork lifts, trash compactors, saws and presses, grinders, conveyors, pulleys, food slicers and other industrial machinery;
Auto accidents that cause crushing, pinning, severing, burning, degloving or broken bones that don’t heal;
Truck, bus and train accidents that cause passengers to be ejected, crushed, burned or tossed violently throughout the cabin;
Pedestrian accidents when people are hit by cars or large vehicles while crossing the street, walking on sidewalks, standing at intersection curbs, or waiting at public transportation stops;
Burns resulting from electricity, chemicals, and thermal sources such as fire and hot oil; and
Defective products such as faulty power tools, kitchen appliances, gas grills, or car parts that malfunction or explode.

If you or a family member has suffered an injury resulting in an amputation, please don’t hesitate to call us today at (888) 348-8855. We are here to provide the legal support you need while undergoing the difficult recovery process.

Long-Term Recovery and Care

Amputation recovery can be extensive, expensive and extremely challenging. Life will be drastically different than it was before, especially if the loss was caused by a traumatic event. Families may also struggle with the change and difficult path of recovery.

The recovery generally requires ongoing pain management for wound healing, inflammation, scar formation, nerve degeneration, and lack of blood flow to the area where the body part was severed. Most amputees also experience “phantom pain,” a sensation that is perceived as coming from the missing body part. This can be difficult to treat and generally lasts for years, if not a lifetime. If a prosthesis is used to replace a missing part, the amputee may experience pain for an indefinite period of time due to pressure, friction and skin breakdown. Future surgeries may also be required to treat painful abscesses, arthritis, scar formation, burning, and nerve and tissue problems.

Life After Amputation

Most amputees struggle with a multitude of physical, emotional and social adjustments that may take years to effectively manage. The life of an amputee generally requires professional services including physical and occupational therapy, counseling, medical treatment and basic rehabilitation education. The road to recovery can be long and difficult, and usually entails a five-stage grieving process similar to when someone loses a loved one.

Some of the most common struggles experienced by amputees include:

Dealing with anxiety, frustration, and the guilt of asking for assistance from family members;
Learning to use leg or arm prostheses;
Re-learning basic tasks such as walking, bathing, dressing, cooking and eating;
Adapting to being wheel-chair bound;
Learning new methods of transportation such as using a modified car or riding the bus;
Modifying the home with ramps, wider entrances, and lower cabinets and counters;
Managing economic losses due to changes in employment and professional status;
Adjusting to a new family role due to a shift in responsibilities; and
Adapting to social situations that may involve stares, discrimination, comments, and unwanted sympathy.

Don’t Hesitate – Contact Our Injury Lawyers Today

If you or a loved one suffered an amputation due to someone else’s negligence or other wrongdoing, please contact us today at (888) 348-8855 or by completing the form below. Initial consultations are always confidential and free. We can also arrange to meet at a convenient location if you prefer an in-person consultation but cannot travel to our Southern California office. We are here to help protect your legal rights and advocate on your behalf.

Amputee Support and Resources:

The Amputee Coalition empowers those affected by limb loss through education, advocacy and support to help ensure they live life to the fullest. The organization also raises awareness about limb loss prevention practices.

The National Amputation Foundation (NAF) supports new amputees through an Amp-to-Amp program to help with the journey and adjustment to normal life. When feasible, an amputee organization member visits the new amputee.

Wiggle Your Toes empowers those who have lost a limb to move forward, take action, and get back to the life they want. The organization offers limb loss educational information and community events.