A family sits in an intensive care waiting room, feeling helpless, as their son fights for his life on a ventilator, wondering what his future will hold, while the insurance company and the trucking company responsible for the collision plans their legal defenses.

A once productive 50 year old worker, lays in bed at home, wondering how he is going to make his mortgage payments following a serious injury on the job-site; wondering how his children’s college tuitions will be paid, while the employer’s HR department coordinates with the workers compensation insurance company and its lawyers to minimize available benefits and plan for his departure from their company

 A mother of 3 children, ages 8, 12, and 15, leaves home for an evening trip for groceries, and never makes it back home alive, when she runs head-on into a drunk driver who crosses the double yellow line on a two lane highway after leaving a local drinking establishment, intoxicated.

 A restaurant worker is injured in an automobile collision, suffers back and neck injuries, but has no insurance to pay for medical treatment, and needs money to pay rent and buy food for the next three of being out of work due to injuries.

 A disabled vehicle is stopped ahead.   A woman on her way home stops, waiting to get around the vehicle, and is hit at full speed by a texting at-fault driver.  Her life will never be quite the same.

Tragic situations like this create chaos, hurt and confusion for lots of people.    We are here to help.

We meet with you and your family and make an initial assessment of our your immediate financial, medical and psychological needs.   We use our network of medical and client funding partners to ensure that you and your family do not go without food, housing, or medical care.   Once an injured person is at maximum medical improvement (MMI), doctors release the patient from care. We ensure that your physicians document such important considerations such as physical restrictions and reasonably foreseeable future medical needs.   In some instances, when because of injuries, a person is no longer able to be employed in his or her occupation, or can no longer work at all, we make arrangements for a vocational assessment.

Substantial future medical needs must be documented by a treating physician.   A life care planning experts is hired to meet with physicians, the injured person, and family members to develop a yearly plan for all reasonably anticipated medical needs, including doctors’ appointments, testing, durable medical equipment, and medicines.   Because the life care planner projects a stream of future medical needs, an economist must be employed to evaluate the amount of a lump sum payment that will be needed to fund these needs over the person’s anticipated life span.

Lost future earnings are also considered, and worked into the economic loss report generated by an economist.   Like future medical needs, the economist must determine how much money would be needed in the present to account for such factors such as inflation, wage increases and cost of living increases.

Because catastrophic losses take months, sometimes years to properly assess and develop; and are very expensive, we sometimes partner with other law firms who have specific expertise in areas such as products liability and medical malpractice.

We stay involved and actively involved in all catastrophic injury and wrongful death matters.   We often visit families in their homes to get a feel for what life is like with a severely disabled person in the household.   In preparation for settlement conferences (mediation), we employ trained videographers to walk with the injured person and their family on a typical day, to show what life is like, post injury.

We want to tell you and your family’s story thoroughly and effectively.    If there is a dangerous practice or product that can be changed or eliminated, we push the issues with the defendants and the industry when we are able, to effect systemic change from the top of the corporate ladder; to minimize the possibility that it will happen again.   We coordinate with licensing authorities, when appropriate, to ensure that appropriate enforcement and disciplinary actions are taken against at fault defendants who have violated industry applicable regulations, ordinances or statutes

A person should not suffer or catastrophic injury or wrongfully die in vain.   While it is our goal to maximize financial recovery, if we are able to effect systemic change that makes society more safe, we will do it.

Please call us if we can help.   (843) 991-5639 is Jody McKnight’s direct dial number.   Call 24/7 in emergencies. We are here for you.