Spine injuries are among the most serious and life-altering injuries a person can suffer. Unlike a sprain or strain that heals with time, a true spine injury, particularly one involving disc damage, vertebral fractures, or spinal cord trauma, can permanently change the way a person lives, works, and moves. Many of these injuries require surgery, including spinal fusion, and many leave the victim with chronic pain, reduced mobility, or permanent disability for the rest of their life.
If you or a family member has suffered a spine injury due to someone else's negligence, you need a lawyer who understands both the medicine and the value of the case. Spine cases are complex. The insurance companies and defense lawyers on the other side know that the difference between a six-figure case and a seven or eight-figure case often comes down to how the medical evidence is developed, presented, and tried. The catastrophic injury attorneys at Collins Law Group have a long track record of taking serious spine cases to verdict and securing the compensation our clients need to rebuild their lives.
A selection of recent spine injury results obtained by Collins Law Group:
DuPage County jury verdict in a rear-end crash that caused four spine surgeries. After State Farm refused to pay fair value on the underlying injury claim, we sued the carrier for insurance bad faith and won.
Settlement for a client who suffered catastrophic spine injuries in a head-on collision and required fusion surgery.
Settlement against a commercial trucking defendant in a crash that caused fusion-level spine injuries to our client.
Settlement following a semi-truck collision that resulted in spine injuries requiring surgical repair.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. For additional case results across the firm's practice areas, see our Case Results page.
The spine protects the spinal cord, which carries every signal between the brain and the rest of the body. When the spine is damaged, the consequences can range from chronic pain and limited mobility to total paralysis. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, there are approximately 18,000 new spinal cord injuries in the United States each year, and roughly 300,000 Americans currently live with one. That figure does not include the much larger population of people who suffer disc injuries, vertebral fractures, and other structural spine damage that, while not necessarily severing the cord, can still require surgery and result in lifelong pain and disability.
Catastrophic spine injuries are different in kind, not just degree, from a typical neck or back strain. They are diagnosed with imaging that shows actual structural damage: herniated or extruded discs, fractured vertebrae, ligament tears, or spinal cord compression. These injuries often cannot be resolved without surgery, and even after surgery, many victims are never the same.
The spine cases we handle most often involve high-energy trauma. The following are the leading causes of serious spine injuries we see in our practice:
Commercial trucking and semi-truck crashes. Collisions involving tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles routinely cause catastrophic spine injuries. The mass and force involved in a truck crash can crush vertebrae, herniate multiple disc levels at once, and damage the spinal cord. These cases often involve federal motor carrier regulations, hours-of-service violations, and corporate defendants with significant insurance coverage available to compensate victims.
Car, rideshare, and other motor vehicle crashes. Even at moderate speeds, rear-end and side-impact car accidents can cause serious cervical and lumbar disc injuries that require surgical repair. Rideshare crashes involving Uber and Lyft drivers raise additional issues regarding which insurance policies apply and how much coverage is available.
Serious falls. Falls from elevation, on dangerous stairs, or on improperly maintained property are among the leading causes of severe vertebral fractures and compression injuries, particularly in older adults. A catastrophic slip and fall in a nursing home, on a construction site, or due to a negligent property condition can fracture the spine and require multi-level fusion.
Defective and dangerous products. Vehicle defects, such as faulty airbags, defective seatbacks, and poor structural design, can directly cause spine injuries that a properly designed product would have prevented. Industrial equipment, ladders, and consumer products that fail under foreseeable use are also a frequent source of catastrophic spine cases.
Medical malpractice. Surgical errors, anesthesia errors, and medical negligence involving failures to diagnose conditions such as spinal cord compression, epidural abscess, or cauda equina syndrome can leave a patient with permanent paralysis. Surgery performed at the wrong level of the spine is one of the more common forms of spine-related malpractice.
Construction injuries. Crush injuries, falls from height, and being struck by heavy equipment on a job site frequently cause catastrophic spine damage. Many of these cases involve third-party liability.
The spine is made up of 33 vertebrae divided into the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), lumbar (lower back), sacral, and coccyx regions. Between each vertebra is a disc that absorbs shock and allows movement. Damage at any level can cause significant impairment, but the type and location of the injury drive both the treatment and the value of the case.
Spinal fusion is a surgical procedure in which two or more vertebrae are permanently joined together using bone graft, metal plates, screws, and rods. The goal is to stabilize the damaged segment of the spine, eliminate the movement that is causing pain or nerve compression, and prevent further injury. Fusion is typically recommended when more conservative care, including physical therapy, injections, and time, has failed to resolve the underlying structural problem.
Many of the catastrophic spine cases we try involve fusion surgery. A single-level cervical fusion is a major procedure. Multi-level fusions, lumbar fusions, and revision fusions are larger surgeries with longer recoveries and greater long-term consequences. After a fusion, the joined segment of the spine no longer moves, which often accelerates wear on the adjacent levels, a phenomenon known as adjacent segment disease. It is common for patients who have one fusion to eventually need additional surgery on the levels above or below.
Defense lawyers and insurance carriers routinely attempt to minimize the significance of fusion surgery. They argue that the surgery was elective, that the underlying degeneration was pre-existing, or that the patient should have recovered fully. We are familiar with these defense strategies and know how to counter them with the medical evidence, expert testimony, and trial preparation that catastrophic spine cases demand.
Any of these symptoms following a crash, fall, or other traumatic event should be evaluated immediately. Spinal cord injuries in particular are time-sensitive, and early intervention can affect the long-term outcome.
A serious spine injury rarely returns a person to their pre-injury baseline. Common long-term effects include:
Catastrophic spine injuries are among the most expensive injuries in the personal injury system. A single-level fusion surgery can cost upwards of $100,000 once the hospital, surgeon, anesthesia, hardware, and rehabilitation are accounted for. Multi-level fusions and revision surgeries cost significantly more.
Beyond the immediate medical costs, a spine injury victim typically faces lost wages during recovery, diminished earning capacity if they cannot return to their prior work, ongoing pain management, physical therapy, future surgeries, and in the most catastrophic cases, lifetime attendant care and home modifications. A life care plan prepared by a qualified expert in a serious spine injury case can easily project several million dollars in future costs. When a spine injury results in death, families may also have a wrongful death claim.
These figures are why proper case preparation matters. The insurance company's first offer is rarely close to what the case is actually worth. Without an attorney who knows how to document the full extent of the injury and the full economic and non-economic damages, a spine injury victim and their family can be left holding bills the negligent party should be paying.
If you or a family member has suffered a catastrophic spine injury because of someone else's negligence, you need an experienced trial lawyer in your corner from the beginning. Call Collins Law Group at (630) 527-1595 for a free evaluation of your case. We handle catastrophic spine injury cases throughout Illinois on a contingency basis. There is no fee unless we win.
Spine injury cases frequently overlap with the following practice areas:
"*" indicates required fields
