Orange County Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Paralyzed or living with a spinal cord injury after an accident in Orange County? The costs of care can continue for decades, and insurers often try to settle before anyone knows what the future will require. We build the case around the lifetime cost of the injury and pursue every responsible party and policy.
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Recent Personal Injury Results
Faud Haghighi has resolved cases resulting in tens of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts. Recent recoveries are shown below.
Last updated: October 2026 · Reviewed by Faud Haghighi, Esq., Founder & Lead Trial Attorney
How Can an Orange County Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Help?
An Orange County spinal cord injury lawyer builds a claim around the lifetime cost of the injury, including medical care, equipment, attendant care, home changes, and lost earning ability, and pursues every responsible party and insurance policy so that cost isn’t left to you and your family.
A spinal cord injury can change everything about how a person moves, works, and lives, and the costs continue for decades. Insurers often try to settle these cases before anyone knows what the future will require. The Law Offices of Faud Haghighi represents people with spinal cord injuries, including paralysis, throughout Orange County and Southern California from offices in Aliso Viejo and Tustin. Faud Haghighi’s practice is devoted to serious personal injury cases, and he handles each case personally.
| Spinal cord injury claims at a glance | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Lifetime costs | National averages put lifetime care for many spinal cord injuries in the millions of dollars. |
| Don’t value it too early | The injury grade can change in the first months, and early bills understate future needs. |
| Life-care plan | Future care, equipment, and home changes are proven with a life-care plan and an economist. |
| Several policies | One policy is rarely enough; every responsible party and policy should be identified. |
| Fees | Free, confidential consultation. No attorney fee unless we recover for you. |
What Are the Types of Spinal Cord Injuries?
Spinal cord injuries are described by where the damage is and whether it is complete or incomplete. Injuries in the neck can cause tetraplegia (also called quadriplegia), affecting the arms, trunk, and legs; injuries lower in the spine can cause paraplegia, affecting the trunk and legs.
Doctors grade the injury with the ASIA Impairment Scale, part of the international standards for classifying spinal cord injury (NCBI, Spinal Cord Injuries):
| ASIA grade | What it means, in plain terms |
|---|---|
| A: complete | No movement or sensation is preserved in the lowest part of the spinal cord |
| B: sensory incomplete | Some sensation is preserved below the injury, but no movement |
| C: motor incomplete | Some movement is preserved below the injury, but most key muscles are weak |
| D: motor incomplete | Movement is preserved below the injury, and at least half of key muscles are functional against gravity |
| E: normal | Movement and sensation have returned to normal on examination |
Even an incomplete injury can mean chronic pain, bladder and bowel problems, loss of strength, and the need for long-term therapy. The grade can change in the months after an injury, which is one reason a case shouldn’t be valued too early.
How Much Does a Spinal Cord Injury Cost Over a Lifetime?
For many spinal cord injuries, lifetime health care and living expenses run into the millions of dollars, according to national averages published by the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. The 2026 figures below are in 2025 dollars, with lifetime costs discounted at 2%, and they do not include lost wages or other indirect costs:
| Severity | First year | Each later year | Lifetime, injured at age 25 | Lifetime, injured at age 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High tetraplegia (C1–C4) | $1,446,827 | $251,246 | $6,419,617 | $3,528,112 |
| Low tetraplegia (C5–C8) | $1,045,459 | $154,128 | $4,690,573 | $2,885,122 |
| Paraplegia | $705,131 | $93,409 | $3,139,165 | $2,060,139 |
| Motor-functional injury, any level (AIS D) | $472,190 | $57,353 | $2,144,693 | $1,513,784 |
Source: NSCISC, Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Facts and Figures at a Glance (2026). These are averages for the United States, not a prediction of what any case is worth, but they show why a quick settlement based on early bills can fall far short.
What Compensation Can You Recover for a Spinal Cord Injury?
A spinal cord injury claim can cover the full range of present and future losses: medical and rehabilitation care, equipment, attendant care, home and vehicle changes, lost earning capacity, and pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
- Medical care: surgery, hospitalization, inpatient rehabilitation, medications, and ongoing specialist care
- Equipment: wheelchairs and their replacement over time, lifts, hospital beds, and assistive devices
- Attendant and home care: help with daily activities, sometimes around the clock
- Home and vehicle modifications: ramps, accessible bathrooms, widened doorways, and adapted vehicles
- Lost earnings and earning capacity: income lost now and in the future, including a forced career change
- Non-economic losses: pain, emotional distress, and loss of independence and enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium: for a spouse or registered domestic partner
In ordinary California injury cases there is no cap on pain and suffering damages. There is no reliable “average spinal cord injury settlement”: value depends on the level and completeness of the injury, age and life expectancy, earnings, the cost of future care, the strength of the evidence of fault, and the insurance available. Read more about what affects the value of a personal injury case.
How Are Future Costs Proven?
With a life-care plan and an economic analysis, supported by the treating doctors. A life-care planner works with the medical team to list the care, equipment, and services a person will need over their life expectancy, with the cost and replacement schedule of each. A forensic economist then converts those future costs and the lost earning capacity into present value. Vocational experts may explain what work, if any, the person can still do. This expert foundation is what moves a case from early, incomplete offers toward its real value. Read more about expert witnesses in personal injury cases.
Liability must be proven too. Spinal cord injuries in Orange County often come from high-speed freeway and toll-road crashes, motorcycle and truck collisions, falls from heights or down stairs, and defective products, and each requires its own evidence. If more than one party is at fault, California’s comparative negligence rule divides responsibility; even a person found 15% at fault for a crash with $2 million in losses still recovers $1.7 million.
Where Are Spinal Cord Injuries Treated in Orange County?
Serious spinal cord injuries are usually taken to a designated trauma center: UCI Medical Center in Orange (Orange County’s only Level I adult trauma center), Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, or Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana. After the acute phase, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation records become central evidence of the person’s abilities, limits, and future needs. We gather those records early and work with the treating team to document long-term needs. (We are not affiliated with any hospital.)
Who Pays for a Spinal Cord Injury?
Usually more than one source, because a single policy is rarely large enough: the at-fault driver or property owner’s insurance, commercial and umbrella policies, an employer’s coverage, product manufacturers, and your own underinsured motorist coverage. In the meantime, health insurance, Medi-Cal, or Medicare may pay for care and later seek reimbursement from the recovery, and those claims must be resolved as part of any settlement. Depending on how the injury happened, the claim may be a truck accident, defective product, or premises liability case.
When Must a Spinal Cord Injury Claim Be Filed?
Generally two years from the injury to file a lawsuit, and six months for a written claim against a public agency.
| Situation | Deadline | Law |
|---|---|---|
| Personal injury lawsuit | 2 years from the injury | CCP §335.1 |
| Claim against a public agency (dangerous road or property, government vehicle) | Written claim within 6 months | Gov. Code §911.2 |
| Injured child, private defendant | The 2 years generally do not run until age 18 | CCP §352 |
This page explains California law in general terms as of October 2026. Laws change and exceptions apply, so it is not legal advice about your situation.
How Does Faud Haghighi Prove the Lifetime Cost of a Spinal Cord Injury?
A spinal cord injury case has to account for decades of care, and the defense will challenge every number. Faud Haghighi has practiced law in California since 2012, has resolved cases resulting in tens of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts, and prepares each case as if it will go to trial. He handles each case personally and works with life-care planners, economists, and medical experts to present the full cost of the injury. Results depend on the facts of each case and will differ if based on different facts.
We represent people with spinal cord injuries throughout Orange County and Southern California, including Irvine, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, and Tustin. Spinal cord injuries often come with other serious injuries; see brain injury claims, catastrophic injury claims, and our Orange County personal injury practice.
Living with a spinal cord injury after an accident? Call (949) 313-7656 or request a free consultation. There is no attorney fee unless we recover for you.
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Faud Haghighi, Esq.
Founder & Lead Trial Attorney
An Orange County trial attorney representing people injured by someone else's negligence — in car and truck crashes, slip-and-falls, premises accidents, and other serious-injury cases. Faud builds each case with the right medical and liability experts, preserves the evidence early, and prepares every file for trial — and you work directly with him, start to finish.
CA State Bar since 2012 · Aliso Viejo & Tustin
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We represent injured people — not insurance companies. Every case is prepared as if it is going to trial, and every client works directly with their attorney from the first consultation through settlement or verdict.
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Orange County Spinal Cord Injury FAQs
A complete injury means no movement or sensation is preserved in the lowest part of the spinal cord (ASIA grade A). An incomplete injury means some sensation or movement remains below the injury (ASIA grades B through D). Both can cause lifelong limitations.
Tetraplegia, also called quadriplegia, usually results from a neck injury and affects the arms, trunk, and legs. Paraplegia results from an injury lower in the spine and affects the trunk and legs. Higher injuries generally require more care and cost more over a lifetime.
National averages from the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (2026) put lifetime health care and living costs for high tetraplegia at about $6.4 million for someone injured at age 25, and paraplegia at about $3.1 million, not counting lost wages.
A life-care plan is a detailed projection, prepared by a specialist working with the medical team, of the care, equipment, therapy, and services a person will need for the rest of their life, with the cost of each. An economist then calculates its present value.
Yes, if the modifications are reasonably necessary because of the injury. Ramps, accessible bathrooms, wider doorways, lifts, and adapted vehicles are commonly included in the life-care plan and the claim.
Not in ordinary injury cases such as car crashes, falls, and defective products. California caps non-economic damages only in medical malpractice cases. An uninsured driver or a driver convicted of DUI for the crash generally cannot recover pain and suffering in a car accident case.
That’s common with spinal cord injuries. We look for every source: other at-fault parties, commercial and umbrella policies, employer coverage, product manufacturers, and your own underinsured motorist coverage.
Often, yes. Health insurers, Medi-Cal, and Medicare may have reimbursement rights for what they paid. Those claims are resolved as part of the case, and they can often be negotiated down so you keep more of your recovery.
Be very cautious. Spinal cord injuries can improve or worsen in the months after the injury, and future costs are often far larger than early bills. Settling before the long-term picture is known can leave you without money for future care.
Generally two years from the injury (CCP §335.1), or six months for a written claim if a public agency is responsible (Gov. Code §911.2). For a child, the two years generally don’t start until age 18 for claims against private parties.
Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, so there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you, and the consultation is free.
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How We Handle Your Orange County Spinal Cord Injury Case
From your first call to the final resolution, here’s what working with the Law Offices of Faud Haghighi looks like — a clear, six-step path built to take the pressure off you and pursue the full recovery you’re owed. There’s no attorney fee unless we recover for you.
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