Catastrophic injuries come from many sources: a highway crash with a commercial truck, a fall from a height on a construction site, a product that fails, a fire, an assault on unsecured property. What these cases share is scale. The injured person may spend weeks in intensive care and months in rehabilitation. The family takes on caregiving, transportation, and paperwork while trying to keep a household running. Decisions made in the first months, often by a spouse or parent rather than the injured person, can shape the outcome of the case for years.
1. Choose one family member to manage the case
The injured person may be sedated, in surgery, or unable to manage communications for some time. Pick one family member to be the point of contact for the hospital, insurers, employers, and the lawyer. That person should keep a notebook or shared file with every call, name, date, and instruction.
If the injured person cannot make decisions, the family may need legal authority to act, such as a power of attorney signed before the injury or a court-appointed guardianship. Raise this early with your lawyer so medical, financial, and legal decisions are not delayed.
2. Preserve the evidence of how the injury happened
The defendant in a catastrophic case is often a business with an insurer that sends investigators to the scene within hours. The family needs to move just as quickly:
- Do not let a vehicle be salvaged, a product be discarded, or equipment be repaired.
- Request the police report, any workplace incident report, and any fire department or regulatory report.
- List every camera that may have recorded the event, and have preservation letters sent right away.
- Keep the clothing, protective gear, and personal items from the incident.
- Write down witness names, including coworkers and first responders.
If the injury involved a defective product, preserving the product itself is essential. A claim for injury founded on the design, manufacture, distribution, or sale of personal property has its own four-year limitations period (§ 95.11(3)(d)), but the evidence will not wait that long.
3. Document the person before and after the injury
A catastrophic case is measured by the difference between the person's life before and after. The defense will look for any prior condition. Help us build an accurate baseline:
- school, employment, and performance records;
- photos and videos of the person at work, with family, and in activities;
- names of friends, coworkers, and relatives who can describe the person before the injury; and
- prior medical records, so pre-existing conditions are identified honestly and separated from the new injury.
For brain injuries, changes in memory, mood, and personality are often noticed first by family. Keep a written journal of what you observe, with dates. Ask the treating physicians about neuropsychological testing, which can measure deficits that do not appear on imaging.
4. Follow the treatment plan and keep every record
Attend every appointment and therapy session, and keep every record and bill. For spinal cord injuries and amputations, record the equipment, home modifications, and vehicle modifications the treating team recommends. For burns, document every surgery and dressing change, and photograph the healing over time with the patient's consent.
These records become the foundation for a life care plan, prepared by a qualified life care planner working with the treating physicians, that projects the medical care, equipment, therapy, and attendant care needed for the rest of the person's life. A vocational rehabilitation counselor and an economist may be needed to measure lost earning capacity. The work starts with complete treatment records.
5. Identify every source of recovery
Catastrophic injuries usually exceed the limits of a single insurance policy. The case often involves more than one responsible party, such as a driver and the employer, a property owner and a security contractor, or a product manufacturer and a distributor. We look for every liable party and every policy, including umbrella and excess coverage and your own uninsured motorist coverage in a vehicle case. Health insurers and government benefit programs that pay medical bills may assert repayment rights, and those claims must be identified and resolved as part of any recovery.
If the injury happened in a motor vehicle crash, the 14-day PIP treatment rule still applies (§ 627.736(1)(a)).
6. Do not accept an early settlement or sign releases
Insurers sometimes make prompt offers in catastrophic cases, before the full extent of the injury is known. Once a release is signed, the case is over, regardless of what the person turns out to need. Do not sign anything from an insurer or a defendant, and do not give recorded statements, until you have counsel.
The Florida rules that matter
- Deadline to sue. An action founded on negligence generally must be filed within two years (§ 95.11(5)(a)). Product claims have a separate four-year period (§ 95.11(3)(d)). If the injured person dies from the injuries, "An action for wrongful death" must be brought within two years (§ 95.11(5)(e)).
- Comparative fault and multiple defendants. Damages are reduced by the injured person's share of fault (§ 768.81(2)), and a party more than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm "may not recover any damages" (§ 768.81(6)). Judgment against each defendant is entered on the basis of that party's percentage of fault (§ 768.81(3)), and a defendant that wants to blame a nonparty must plead and prove it (§ 768.81(3)(a)). This is why identifying every responsible party matters.
- Punitive damages. A claim for punitive damages cannot be included in a complaint until the court finds a reasonable basis for it from the record or a proffer of evidence, and it requires proof by clear and convincing evidence of intentional misconduct or gross negligence (§ 768.72).
- Government defendants. If a government agency or vehicle is involved, a written claim must be presented to the agency, and in many cases to the Department of Financial Services, within the time limits in § 768.28(6)(a) before suit.
“An action for wrongful death”
§ 95.11(5)(a)
Your checklist
- Choose one family member to manage communications and keep a log.
- Ask a lawyer whether a power of attorney or guardianship is needed.
- Preserve the vehicle, product, equipment, clothing, and video.
- Gather school, work, photo, and prior medical records to show the person before the injury.
- Keep a dated journal of changes in memory, mood, and abilities.
- Keep every medical record, bill, and equipment recommendation.
- Do not sign releases or give recorded statements to any insurer.
How we handle these cases
We build catastrophic cases for trial from the start: preserving the evidence of how the injury happened, identifying every responsible party and policy, and working with the treating physicians, a life care planner, and an economist to measure the full cost of the injury over a lifetime. We keep the family informed and take the paperwork off their shoulders. Josef Timlichman Law, PLLC is a Florida trial firm handling cases throughout the state, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville. Meetings are by appointment only. Call 305-748-3789.
This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.