How to Prove Liability in a Spinal Cord Injury Case

Spinal cord injuries are some of the most serious injuries involved in personal injury claims in California. These injuries can result in permanent disabilities, long-term medical care and drastic changes to a victim’s daily life. To pursue fair financial compensation for a spinal cord injury, the victim must be able to prove liability using compelling evidence.

What Does Proving Liability Mean?

Liability in a personal injury case means being held financially and legally responsible for someone else’s injuries and related damages. Under the rules of personal injury law, someone can be held liable for a spinal cord injury if that person committed an act or omission that caused or contributed to the injury.

Negligence and Spinal Cord Injury Claims in Los Angeles

Most spinal cord injury cases in California rely on proof of negligence. In personal injury law, someone is negligent if they act with less than the required standard of care.

Negligence has four key elements:

1. Duty of care: an obligation to act reasonably and prudently to avoid harming others or putting them at risk of suffering spinal cord injuries.

2. Breach of duty: the failure to meet the accepted level of care based on the circumstances, such as carelessness or recklessness.

3. Causation: a provable connection between the defendant’s breach of the duty of care and the plaintiff’s spinal cord injury.

4. Damages: proof of actual harm suffered by the victim because of the accident, such as medical care, surgeries, disability and lost wages.

While negligence is most common, other legal doctrines that may be used to establish a spinal cord injury claim include strict liability, product liability, breach of warranty and intent to harm.

Potentially Liable Parties

The parties that may be named as defendants in a spinal cord injury claim in Los Angeles, CA depend on the circumstances surrounding the harmful event. The at-fault or liable party may be one or more of the following:

• A motor vehicle driver
• A truck driver
• A company or employer
• A part or product manufacturer
• A property owner
• The government

It may be possible to hold more than one party accountable for a spine injury. Identifying all defendants for your claim can help you maximize your financial recovery.

Evidence to Prove Liability in a Spinal Injury Claim

Successfully proving liability in a spinal cord injury case requires enough evidence to meet the burden of proof. The evidence must demonstrate that the defendant is more likely to be responsible for the spinal cord injury than not, or liable with at least a 51 percent certainty. 

Common evidence used to prove a spinal cord injury case is:

• Accident and police reports
• Photographs and videos of the accident scene
• Eyewitness accounts
• Testimony from relevant experts
• Property maintenance records
• Safety tests and legal compliance history
• Medical records and injury documentation

Specific types of evidence may be more relevant than others based on the type of claim. A spinal cord injury from a motor vehicle accident, for example, will come with different evidence than one from a slip and fall.

Understand Your Rights After a Spinal Cord Injury With Help From a Los Angeles Attorney

A successful spinal cord injury case can lead to the financial recovery you need to pay for your related losses and move forward. As you seek justice for your back, neck or spine injury, contact an experienced personal injury attorney for assistance. A spinal injury lawyer in Los Angeles can gather the right evidence and present it with strong storytelling capabilities to establish liability for your injuries and achieve optimal results.