Burlington Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

A spinal cord injury changes nearly every part of daily life, and the financial reality arrives almost as quickly as the medical one. Hospital bills, rehabilitation, adaptive equipment, lost income, and the long-term care you will need decades from now all become part of a single legal question: who is accountable, and what will they pay?

At Promoting Justice Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, our spinal cord injury attorneys handle spinal cord injury claims arising from motor vehicle crashes, workplace falls, defective products, medical errors, and unsafe properties across Chittenden County and throughout Vermont. We gather records and opinions from your treating physicians, including specialists at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and work with life care planners who document your future needs in detail and with accident reconstruction and engineering experts who establish exactly how your injury happened and who caused it.

Contact us for a free consultation and discover how our spinal cord injury attorneys in Burlington can help you seek the compensation and justice you deserve.

Why Hire a Burlington Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer?

The insurer for the at-fault party is already working to settle your claim for as little as possible, long before you understand the full, lifetime cost of your injury. We build cases that prove every foreseeable future expense, from surgeries and home modifications to round-the-clock caregiving, so no lowball offer can close your claim prematurely.

At Promoting Justice Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, our team brings extensive legal experience, led by Dennis O. Shillen, an AV Preeminent-rated attorney recognized by Super Lawyers. Attorney Linda Fraas spent her early career building defense strategies for insurance companies. She now applies that insider knowledge exclusively in your favor.

We represent only injured people, never corporations or insurers. Call (802) 457-4848 for a free, confidential case review.

Do You Have a Case under Vermont Law?

To recover compensation, we must establish that the responsible party had a legal duty to act with reasonable care, that they breached that duty, that the breach directly caused your injury, and that you suffered measurable harm. These four elements apply whether your injury resulted from a vehicle crash, a workplace fall, a defective product, or a surgical error.

Vermont’s modified comparative fault rule means that even if you share some responsibility for the incident, you may still recover compensation, as long as your share of fault does not exceed 50%. Your award is reduced by your percentage of fault, not eliminated.

What to Do after a Spinal Cord Injury

The decisions you make in the first hours and days after a catastrophic injury can significantly affect your legal claim. These actions protect both your health and your right to fair compensation:

• Seek Level I trauma care: Ask to be taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center when possible. Every neurological symptom a physician documents in those early hours becomes medical evidence that anchors your case.
• Preserve the scene: Photograph vehicles, the accident site, and visible injuries before anything is moved. Request surveillance footage promptly, because video can be overwritten or become unavailable if not preserved.
• Decline a recorded statement: The at-fault insurer will call early asking for your account. You are not required to give one, and their questions are designed to minimize your injuries or attribute fault to you.
• Keep a daily journal: Logging pain levels, physical limitations, and your emotional experience creates a record of the non-economic losses (suffering, anxiety, and loss of independence) that do not appear on any medical bill.

For the spinal cord injury clients we work with, the path usually runs from the emergency department at the University of Vermont Medical Center to inpatient rehabilitation and then months of outpatient therapy. Insurers often try to value the claim during that first phase, before anyone knows how much function will return, which is why we hold off on settlement talks until the long-term picture is clear.

Who Pays Your Medical Bills While Your Case Is Pending?

Spinal cord injury costs begin immediately and multiply quickly. We identify and coordinate every available payment source so financial pressure does not push you into a premature settlement:

• MedPay: Your own auto insurance may cover early medical bills regardless of who was at fault.
• Health insurance: Your plan covers initial treatment but will assert a reimbursement lien against your eventual settlement. We negotiate that lien down.
• Workers’ compensation: If your injury occurred on the job, Vermont’s system pays for medical care and a portion of lost wages on a no-fault basis.
• Third-party liability: The negligent party’s insurer is ultimately responsible for your full past and future losses.
• UM/UIM coverage: If the at-fault driver carried too little insurance, your own Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist policy may cover the difference.

What Is Your Spinal Cord Injury Claim Worth?

Because spinal cord injuries require continuous care for decades, often for life, these claims regularly generate the largest recoveries in personal injury law. No two cases are identical, but we pursue every available category of compensation, including:

• Past and future medical expenses, including specialist visits, medications, and surgeries
• Power wheelchairs, ventilators, and other durable medical equipment
• In-home nursing and round-the-clock attendant care
• Home and vehicle accessibility modifications
• Lost wages and diminished long-term earning capacity
• Physical pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life and loss of consortium, meaning the damage done to your closest personal relationships

How We Prove Fault in Your Case

Our investigation begins the day you retain us. We send evidence preservation letters to secure surveillance footage, maintenance records, and corporate safety logs before the other side can alter or destroy them. In vehicle crash cases, we retain accident reconstruction specialists. In product liability matters, we hire engineers to test and document the failed component.

We do not wait for the insurer to construct their narrative. We build ours first.

How We Calculate Lifetime SCI Costs

Proving future losses is often what separates a fair recovery from an inadequate one. We retain life care planners, vocational economists, and physiatrists, physicians who specialize in rehabilitation medicine, to produce a detailed projection of every expense you will face over your remaining lifetime.

This life care plan anchors every demand we submit to the insurer or present to a jury.

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries in Burlington

We handle SCI claims arising from all forms of negligence across Chittenden County and throughout Vermont:

• Motor vehicle accidents on I-89, US-7, and surrounding roads, including collisions with commercial trucks
• Construction and industrial workplace falls
• Surgical and emergency care errors at area hospitals
• Defective safety equipment, machinery, or consumer products
• Boating accidents on Lake Champlain and snowmobile incidents on Vermont trails
• Slip and falls on icy or poorly maintained commercial properties

Winter is when we see many of the most serious cases: rollovers on I-89 through Bolton and Richmond after a fast-moving snow squall, and falls on icy steps outside apartment buildings in Burlington’s Old North End and downtown. In both, the question is often whether the person responsible for the vehicle or the property ignored conditions they should have planned for.

Insurance Tactics We Know How to Counter

Insurers are not on your side. They make early settlement offers before your diagnosis is fully established. They hire surveillance teams to misrepresent your daily capabilities. They issue sweeping medical record requests to surface unrelated health history and use it to undermine your credibility.

Because Linda Fraas spent years on the defense side building these exact strategies, we recognize them before they can damage your case. Call (802) 457-4848 before speaking with any adjuster.

Vermont’s Deadline to File a Spinal Cord Injury Claim

Vermont’s statute of limitations, the legal deadline to file a lawsuit, is three years from the date of injury for personal injury claims and two years for wrongful death claims. Claims involving government entities can involve immunity defenses and special notice rules, such as the 20-day notice required for defective town bridges and culverts. Evidence deteriorates fast after a catastrophic accident, and the sooner we begin, the stronger your case.

What If Your SCI Happened at Work in Vermont?

A workplace spinal cord injury opens two distinct legal paths. Workers’ compensation covers your medical bills and a portion of your wages without requiring you to prove fault. A third-party liability claim separately targets any negligent party outside your employer, such as a subcontractor, a property owner, or the manufacturer of defective equipment.

Pursuing both is the most effective route to a full financial recovery. We manage every aspect of that coordination, including negotiating the workers’ compensation lien against your third-party settlement so more money stays with you.

On construction projects in Chittenden County, the spinal cord injury cases we see often involve falls from roofs, ladders, or scaffolding where fall protection was missing or not enforced. The employer’s workers’ compensation coverage handles part of the loss, but a general contractor or equipment supplier who ignored safety rules can be pursued separately for the full value of the claim.

Our Process from First Call to Final Check

You should know exactly what to expect at every stage of your case:

• Case review: We evaluate your situation at no charge, by phone or in our Burlington office.
• Investigation and experts: We preserve evidence immediately and retain the specialists needed to prove fault and document your lifetime costs.
• Demand and negotiation: We submit a comprehensive demand package anchored by a life care plan and negotiate aggressively on your behalf.
• Trial preparation: Every case we accept is prepared for trial from day one, and insurers know we are ready to go.
• Lien resolution: Before your final check is issued, we negotiate down every outstanding medical lien so you keep the maximum amount of your recovery.

“He was very clear about every step we had to take and made every single part of this process smoother than I could have ever imagined!” (Angela T., client review)

Why Vermont Families Turn to Promoting Justice

We focus on representing injured Vermonters and do not represent insurance companies or corporations. Every case is accepted on a contingency fee. We advance all litigation costs, and you owe nothing unless we recover for you. D. James Mackall serves on the Board of Governors for the Vermont Association for Justice. Nicholas J. Seldon and Jack T. Spicer, both Vermont Law School graduates, round out our attorney team.

We have achieved a $565,000 recovery in a workers’ compensation case involving paralysis and a $2,000,000 recovery in a combined workers’ compensation and automobile accident matter, and we secured $425,000 for a client who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a landlord neglected a staircase. These results reflect how seriously we fight for our clients: not the fastest close, but the best possible outcome. As Dennis Shillen has said, “We are motivated by helping our fellow man and by the fact that we hate to lose.”

“Nick is a top-rate lawyer with a heart of gold for his client. A strong asset and the type of lawyer that gets deep into his work showing the quality of knowing his case backed be knowledgeable facts about the law.” (Jeremiah L., client review)

Call (802) 457-4848 or reach us at promotingjustice.com/contact-us. Consultations are free and available at any hour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should You Accept the Insurance Company’s First Settlement Offer?

No. Early offers are structured to close your claim before the full scope of your future medical needs is established, and they almost always represent a fraction of what your case is actually worth.

Can You Sue if You Signed a Liability Waiver at a Ski Area or Recreation Facility in Vermont?

Potentially, yes. Vermont courts scrutinize liability waivers carefully, and the Vermont Supreme Court has refused to enforce a ski area’s pre-injury release on public policy grounds.

Can You Recover Compensation if You Were Partly at Fault for Your Spinal Cord Injury?

Yes. Under Vermont’s modified comparative fault rule, you can still recover as long as your share of responsibility does not exceed 50%, though your award is reduced proportionally by your percentage of fault.

How Long Does a Vermont Spinal Cord Injury Case Take to Resolve?

Some cases settle relatively quickly, but complex spinal cord injury matters often require more time so your full medical prognosis is known and future costs are not left uncompensated.

Does a Workers’ Compensation Claim Affect a Third-Party Personal Injury Lawsuit?

Your workers’ comp carrier will assert a lien on any third-party recovery, but we negotiate that lien down to ensure you retain the largest possible portion of your settlement.