Wilkes-Barre Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers

In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations for personal injury cases, including those involving spinal cord injuries (SCI), is generally two years from the date the injury occurred. There are limited exceptions, such as for minors or when the injury isn't immediately discoverable (discovery rule). Consult a lawyer as soon as possible to protect your right to file.

Compensation (damages) in Pennsylvania spinal cord injury cases can include economic damages like medical expenses (past and future), rehabilitation costs, long-term care, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity, home/vehicle modifications, and assistive devices. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, and loss of consortium. We work with life care planners and economists to calculate the full value of the claim.

Liability for an SCI in Pennsylvania depends on how the injury occurred. Potentially responsible parties could include: negligent drivers in a car or truck accident on I-81 or a local road, property owners if the injury resulted from unsafe premises (premises liability), manufacturers of defective products, employers in certain workplace accidents, or healthcare providers in cases of medical malpractice. A thorough investigation identifies every responsible party and every source of coverage.

Yes, Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative negligence rule (51% bar). You can recover compensation as long as you are found to be less than 51% responsible for the accident that caused your SCI. However, your total compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you're awarded $1,000,000 but found 20% at fault, your recovery would be $800,000.

At PA Attorney Source, our spinal cord injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay no upfront costs or attorney fees. We only get paid if we successfully recover financial compensation for you, typically as a percentage of the settlement or verdict. This allows anyone, regardless of their financial situation, to bring an SCI claim.

The timeline for resolving a spinal cord injury case varies significantly. Factors include the complexity of the case, clarity of liability, severity of the SCI, the number of defendants, and whether the case settles or proceeds to trial. Some SCI claims might settle within a year or so, while more complex litigated cases, especially those tried in the Luzerne or Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, can take multiple years.

More than almost any other injury. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, first-year costs range from about $470,000 to $1.45 million depending on the level of injury, each later year runs roughly $57,000 to $251,000, and estimated lifetime costs for someone injured at 25 range from $2.1 million to $6.4 million (2026 data sheet, in 2025 dollars) — before lost earnings are counted. This is why we never value an SCI claim from the bills on hand: the demand is built from a life care plan that projects every one of those categories forward.

Workers' compensation is generally your only remedy against your employer, and it pays no compensation for pain and suffering. But many workplace SCIs — falls from heights, machinery accidents, vehicle collisions — involve a third party: an equipment manufacturer, a subcontractor, a property owner, another driver. Against those parties you can bring a full personal injury lawsuit with all damages available, alongside the comp claim. The comp insurer will assert a repayment right out of any recovery; we account for and negotiate that lien as part of the case.