Irving Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Trusted catastrophic injury lawyers with over 13 years of experience.

Our Irving, TX catastrophic injury lawyer at Kelso Law PLLC has spent 13 years representing seriously hurt clients across North Texas, with verdicts and settlements that reflect the real cost of permanent injuries.

Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Irving, TX

A catastrophic injury is an injury so severe that it permanently affects the victim’s ability to work, live independently, or function as they did before. There is no single statute that defines the term, but courts and insurers generally treat injuries like spinal cord damage, traumatic brain injury, severe burns, amputations, blindness, and multi-organ trauma as catastrophic. The defining feature is permanence and the lifelong cost that comes with it.

These cases differ from standard injury claims because the damages are projected over decades. Future medical expenses, attendant care, home modifications, and lost earning capacity often dwarf any past medical bills, which makes accurate damage modeling one of the most important parts of the case.

Types of Catastrophic Injury Cases We Handle in Irving

Severe injuries arise from many sources, and each type of incident requires a different investigative path. Some cases hinge on accident reconstruction, others on hospital records, surveillance video, or product testing. Below are the catastrophic injury cases we most commonly handle for Irving clients.

• Spinal cord injuries. Damage to the spinal cord causes partial or total paralysis and triggers hidden costs insurance won’t cover. We work with life-care planners to project the full cost of attendant care, equipment, and home modifications over the client’s lifetime.

• Traumatic brain injuries. TBIs from car wrecks, falls, and assaults often produce cognitive, behavioral, and personality changes that don’t show up cleanly on imaging. We use neuropsychological testing and qualified witnesses to document the actual impairment.

• Severe burn injuries. Third- and fourth-degree burns require multiple surgeries, long-term wound care, and sometimes years of reconstructive treatment. We can coordinate deferred-payment plastic surgery consultations while the case is pending.

• Amputations and crush injuries. Loss of a limb in a vehicle crash, workplace incident, or machinery failure permanently affects work capacity. We pursue both the responsible party and any product manufacturer when defective equipment is involved.

• Wrongful death. When catastrophic injuries prove fatal, surviving family members can pursue both a survival action for the decedent’s pre-death suffering and a wrongful death claim for their own losses.

• Pedestrian accidents. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle at moderate speed often suffers multi-system trauma, including head, pelvic, and orthopedic injuries. We move quickly to secure scene evidence and traffic data.

• Motorcycle crashes. Riders thrown from a bike at highway speeds frequently sustain spinal, brain, and orthopedic injuries simultaneously. We push back hard against the bias that adjusters bring to these claims.

• Rideshare accidents. Serious crashes involving Uber or Lyft drivers trigger layered insurance, and the available coverage depends on the driver’s app status at the moment of impact.

• Construction and workplace injuries. Falls from height, electrocutions, and equipment failures cause some of the most severe injuries we see. Construction site violations often point to third-party defendants outside the workers’ comp system.

• Medical malpractice causing permanent injury. Anesthesia mistakes, surgical errors, and missed diagnoses can leave patients with lasting neurological or physical damage that requires lifelong care.

Why Choose Kelso Law PLLC for Catastrophic Injury in Irving, TX?

Trial Record That Drives Real Settlement Value

Insurance carriers value cases based on what the lawyer across the table is willing to do at trial. Our founder has tried more than 25 cases to jury verdict, including an $8 million verdict in a Dallas County premises matter. Our Irving personal injury lawyer has handled severe injury claims throughout North Texas. Rhiannon Kelso has recovered millions of dollars for clients dealing with permanent harm. She holds memberships in the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Dallas Bar Association, and she earned her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh with the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in her graduating class.

Resources to Match the Stakes

Catastrophic injury cases are expensive to litigate. Life-care planners, accident reconstructionists, vocational economists, and medical witnesses all cost money, and our firm advances those costs so clients don’t have to. We work on contingency, meaning no fee unless we recover. Bilingual representation is available in English and Spanish when you meet with our Irving catastrophic injury lawyer.

Understanding Catastrophic Injury Cases

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Catastrophic Injury Cases

Texas allows recovery of both economic and non-economic damages, plus punitive damages in cases involving gross negligence. Catastrophic cases typically involve all three categories, and the economic numbers alone can run into seven or eight figures depending on the client’s age, injury, and pre-injury earning capacity. Damages may include:

• Past and future medical bills, including surgeries, rehabilitation, and ongoing therapy
• Lost wages and diminished future earning capacity are calculated through work-life expectancy
• Attendant care, in-home nursing, and assisted living costs
• Home and vehicle modifications for accessibility
• Physical pain and mental anguish, both past and future
• Disfigurement and physical impairment
• Punitive damages where the defendant acted with gross negligence

Liability requires proving duty, breach, causation, and damages. Texas applies a modified comparative fault rule under which a plaintiff found more than 50% responsible recovers nothing. That makes early investigation and fault allocation critical, especially in cases with multiple potential defendants.

Important Aspects of Your Catastrophic Injury Case

A few practical realities define how these cases proceed. Knowing them at the outset helps clients avoid mistakes that hurt the value of their claim.

• The two-year statute of limitations applies in most personal injury matters and runs from the date of injury
• Insurance adjusters often push for recorded statements and quick releases before the full medical picture is known
• Some serious injuries don’t fully present for days or weeks after the incident
• Settling too early can foreclose recovery for complications that emerge later
• Government defendants are subject to sovereign immunity rules with much shorter notice deadlines

Catastrophic Injury Case Timeline

These cases take longer than standard injury claims because the medical course must stabilize before damages can be accurately calculated. Most resolve within 18 to 36 months, though some run longer when the client is still receiving major treatment.

• Investigation, evidence preservation, and provider coordination in the early months
• Maximum medical improvement, the point at which doctors can project future needs
• Damages modeling with life-care planners and economists
• Demand letter and pre-suit settlement negotiations
• Lawsuit filing, discovery, depositions, and mediation
• Trial or final settlement

Settlement remains possible at any stage, which our Irving catastrophic injury lawyer will help with. Carriers often increase offers significantly once they see a fully prepared case heading toward a jury.

What to Bring to Your Catastrophic Injury Consultation

You don’t need a complete file to meet with us. Anything you have available makes the first conversation more productive, but we can subpoena most records ourselves.

• Police reports, incident reports, or workplace injury documentation
• Hospital records, imaging studies, and discharge paperwork
• Photographs of the scene, your injuries, and any equipment involved
• Insurance information for every party, including your own coverage
• Recent pay stubs and tax returns showing pre-injury earnings

Consultations are free and confidential, and there is no obligation to retain us afterward. Most clients leave the first meeting with a clearer sense of whether they have a viable claim and what the next steps look like.

Texas Legal Resources for Catastrophic Injury

Several public resources can help you understand how Texas handles serious injury claims. None of these resources can replace a conversation with our Irving catastrophic lawyer, but they’re useful starting points if you want to read the law directly.

• Texas CPRC Chapter 41. Damages, including caps on exemplary damages and the standards for gross negligence.
• Texas CPRC Chapter 33. The modified comparative fault rule governs how fault is allocated.
• Texas CPRC Section 16.003. The two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims.
• NHTSA injury data. Federal crash and severe injury statistics.
• CDC traumatic brain injury data. Causes, prevalence, and outcomes of TBIs nationally.

Texas negligence law follows a 51% modified comparative fault rule, and the deadline to file most personal injury lawsuits is two years from the date of injury.

Reach Out to Kelso Law PLLC to Schedule a Consultation

Catastrophic injuries change everything about a family’s future. We can help you understand what compensation is available and what it takes to actually recover it. At Kelso Law PLLC, our catastrophic injury attorneys offer free, confidential consultations with no obligation. Contact us today to schedule a consultation with our Irving catastrophic injury lawyer!

Catastrophic Injury Statistics in Irving

Irving recorded 76 suspected serious injury crashes and 91 people with suspected serious injuries in 2024, according to TxDOT crash data. Fourteen of those crashes were fatal. Those numbers sit inside a broader Dallas County picture where over 900 serious injury crashes occurred in a single year, and a statewide total of 14,905 suspected serious crashes across Texas. The CDC injury center reports that falls and motor vehicle crashes remain the leading causes of traumatic injury nationwide, and Irving’s highway corridors contribute heavily to the local count. For a city of roughly 260,000 people, 76 crashes producing life-altering injuries in one year reflects what our personal injury lawyer team in Irving sees in practice: catastrophic cases are not rare here.

Mistakes That Can Damage Your Catastrophic Injury Claim

Catastrophic injury cases in Irving carry enormous financial stakes. A single mistake early in the process can reduce the value of a claim by hundreds of thousands of dollars or destroy it altogether. Below are the most common errors our Irving catastrophic injury lawyers see the most:

• Giving a recorded statement before you understand your injuries. Insurance adjusters call within days of an accident, sometimes while you are still hospitalized. They ask for a recorded statement and frame it as routine, but it is not. Anything you say can be taken out of context and used to minimize your claim. You are under no legal obligation to provide one, and doing so before your medical picture is clear almost always hurts the case.
• Settling before your condition stabilizes. This is the most financially damaging mistake in catastrophic cases. Our brain injury attorney will tell you that TBI symptoms can evolve for months or even years. Spinal cord damage, severe burns, and amputations all require extended treatment timelines. Once you accept a settlement, you cannot go back for more. We do not recommend resolving any claim until the treating physicians can project a reliable picture of full recovery needs.
• Gaps in medical treatment. Missing appointments or stopping treatment because you feel better gives the insurance company ammunition. They argue that if you were truly injured, you would not have skipped four weeks of physical therapy. Consistent treatment protects both your health and your legal position.
• Posting on social media. A single photo of you at a family gathering can be used to argue you are not as injured as you claim. Insurance defense teams routinely monitor claimants’ accounts. Avoid posting anything about your activities, health, or the accident until the case is resolved.
• Not preserving physical evidence. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses typically overwrites within 30 to 90 days. Vehicle data recorders get destroyed when a car is scrapped. Scene conditions change. We move quickly on truck accident cases and other high-severity crashes to secure this evidence before it disappears.
• Missing the two-year filing deadline. Texas imposes a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims. That window feels long until you account for surgeries, rehabilitation, and the time needed to calculate lifetime damages. Filing late means losing the right to sue entirely, which is why our Irving catastrophic injury lawyer urges people to file as soon as possible.
• Accepting the first offer. First offers in catastrophic cases are almost always a fraction of what the claim is worth. Carriers test whether the claimant is desperate enough or uninformed enough to take a lowball number. Understanding how insurers value an injury claim helps you recognize when an offer falls short.
• Signing a broad medical authorization. Adjusters sometimes ask claimants to sign authorizations giving the insurer access to their entire medical history. This lets them dig through years of unrelated records looking for a preexisting condition they can blame. You only need to authorize records related to the injuries from the incident.
• Failing to document daily limitations. Catastrophic injuries change how a person eats, sleeps, works, and interacts with family. That human cost matters in a damages calculation, but juries and adjusters need specifics. A daily journal of what you can and cannot do provides that evidence.

Irving Catastrophic Injury FAQs

How Much Does a Catastrophic Injury Attorney in Irving Cost?

Kelso Law PLLC handles catastrophic injury cases on a contingency fee basis. We collect no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf. No upfront costs and no hourly bills when you work with our Irving catastrophic injury lawyer. We work on contingency fee arrangements for all catastrophic injury cases, and the consultation is free. Someone dealing with a life-changing injury should not face additional financial pressure just to pursue a claim.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Catastrophic Injury Cases in Texas?

Texas law gives injured individuals two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. If the claim involves a government entity, shorter notice deadlines may apply. Two years sounds like a long time, but catastrophic cases require extensive medical documentation and damage calculations that take months to assemble. Starting the process early protects the claim.

What Types of Compensation Can I Recover?

Catastrophic injury claims in Irving, TX typically involve both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages cover medical expenses, future treatment costs, lost wages, and diminished earning capacity. Non-economic damages address pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life. In cases involving gross negligence, exemplary damages may also be available under Texas law.

How Long Do These Cases Take?

Most catastrophic injury cases take longer than standard claims because the medical treatment timeline is longer. Our Irving catastrophic injury attorneys cannot calculate lifetime damages until treating physicians can reasonably project future needs. Some cases resolve within 12 to 18 months. Others take two years or more, particularly when ongoing surgeries or disputed liability are involved.

Do I Need a Lawyer for a Catastrophic Injury Claim?

You are not required to hire an attorney, but catastrophic cases involve damage projections spanning decades, and insurance carriers staff these claims with experienced adjusters and defense counsel. Handling that alone while managing a serious injury puts you at a significant disadvantage. Our Irving catastrophic injury attorney works to level that balance.

Will My Case Go to Trial?

Most cases settle before trial, but the strength of a settlement depends on whether the carrier believes the attorney will try the case. Our founder has tried more than 25 cases to jury verdict. That record changes how adjusters approach negotiations.

What If I Share Some Fault for What Happened?

Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule. You can still recover damages as long as your share of responsibility does not exceed 50 percent. If you are found partially at fault, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of responsibility. We investigate fault questions thoroughly because even a small shift in the percentage changes the outcome.

Can a Family Member File on My Behalf?

Yes. If the injured person is incapacitated, a spouse, parent, or legal guardian can initiate a claim. When the injury proves fatal, surviving family members may file a wrongful death action. Texas law permits spouses, children, and parents of the deceased to pursue these claims.

How Does Kelso Law PLLC Approach Catastrophic Injury Cases?

We prepare every catastrophic injury case with the assumption that it will be tried to a jury. That means engaging qualified medical witnesses, retaining life-care planners when needed, and building a damages model that accounts for every category of loss over the client’s projected lifetime. We handle car accident claims, slip and fall claims, bicycle accident cases, and other matters that produce catastrophic outcomes.

What Makes a Catastrophic Injury Case Different From a Standard Claim?

The primary difference is the scale and duration of damages. A spinal cord damage case may involve millions of dollars in future care costs. A severe burn case can require years of reconstructive surgery. These claims demand lifetime projections that standard personal injury matters do not. The proof is harder, the stakes are higher, and the defense is more aggressive.

Local Information for Irving Catastrophic Injury Cases

Most Dangerous Locations for Catastrophic Injury in Irving

High-speed corridors produce the most severe injuries. These Irving roadways see a disproportionate share of serious and fatal collisions:

• SH-183 (Airport Freeway) runs through central Irving with heavy commuter and commercial traffic at speeds that frequently cause catastrophic outcomes.
• SH-114 serves the Las Colinas corridor with fast-moving traffic and frequent lane changes that lead to multi-vehicle collisions.
• Loop 12 carries significant commercial truck volume, and collisions between trucks and passenger vehicles on this road regularly produce life-altering injuries.
• I-35E connects Irving to downtown Dallas with high-speed commuter traffic, particularly during rush hours.
• MacArthur Boulevard intersections see a high concentration of pedestrian and turning-vehicle conflicts, especially near commercial areas.

What Are Important Local Resources for Irving Catastrophic Injury?

Several local organizations may be relevant if you or a family member has suffered a serious injury in Irving. Inclusion on this list does not constitute an endorsement by Kelso Law PLLC.

• Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Irving – (972) 990-8100
• Irving Police Department – (972) 273-1010 (non-emergency)
• Texas Department of Insurance – 800-252-3439 (consumer help line for insurance disputes)
• Parkland Memorial Hospital – Dallas County’s Level I trauma center serving Irving residents with the most severe injuries

About Kelso Law PLLC

Rhiannon Kelso speaks both English and Spanish, which allows her to communicate directly with clients in their preferred language throughout the legal process. Before law school, she studied Political Science and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona, where she was elected Secretary General of the Arizona Model United Nations. Her results include an $8 million jury verdict obtained in Dallas County. Kelso Law PLLC has recovered more than $20 million for injured clients since the firm’s founding, and we always fight for the maximum compensation when you work with our Irving catastrophic injury attorneys.

What Our Clients Say

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“Kelso law helped me with a injury claim and handled everything with consideration and understanding of the mental state i was in. When I called i always had someone to talk to and never felt alone at any point of the process. I highly recommend them to everyone that’s in need of help weather it be car accidents or getting hurt at a store. They covered all my medical and after I was left with a good amount for my pain and suffering.” – Adam Noon

Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.

Contact Kelso Law PLLC

If you or someone in your family has suffered a catastrophic injury, Kelso Law PLLC is prepared to evaluate your case. We take these cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we recover compensation for you. The initial consultation is free, and we will review your situation, provide an honest assessment, and outline the next steps. You can typically expect to hear from us within one business day. Contact us to schedule your consultation with our Irving catastrophic injury lawyer.