When an Injury Changes Everything, You Deserve Answers
CHG Personal Injury Lawyers represent Orlando victims and families facing spinal cord injuries, paralysis, brain injuries, amputations, severe burns, and wrongful death. Talk with a licensed attorney at no cost.
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By CHG Lawyers · Published August 15, 2026
Orlando Catastrophic Injury Claims Law Firm
Did a serious accident leave you or someone you love with a permanent, life-changing injury in Orlando? Our catastrophic injury claims law firm can help. We fight for the full lifetime cost of that harm. We represent people hurt in the worst kinds of accidents. We also help the families of those who did not survive. You can request a free, confidential case evaluation with a licensed attorney at no cost.
The days after a catastrophic injury are overwhelming. You face surgeries and unpaid bills. You worry about how your family will survive financially for decades.
This page explains what we handle. It covers what your claim may pay for. It shows how future costs are figured out. And it explains how the process works. That way, you can make a clear choice about your next step.
Not sure what your next step is?
Talk it through with our team — the first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation.
When an Injury Changes Everything
A catastrophic injury causes permanent harm. It can mean lasting loss of function, disfigurement, or death. These injuries don’t heal in a few weeks. They change how a person works, moves, and lives on their own — often forever.
The financial cost is easy to underestimate. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC) is a federally funded registry. It has tracked spinal cord injury outcomes since 1973.
It reports that first-year costs after a high neck (C1–C4) spinal cord injury can top $1.2 million. Lifetime costs for a 25-year-old can reach well over $5 million (in 2023 dollars, not counting lost wages). These numbers show why valuing a catastrophic case is very different from valuing an ordinary injury claim.
Our attorneys focus on this exact kind of case. When you’re ready, talk to an attorney about your options.
What Counts as a Catastrophic Injury Claim?
A catastrophic injury claim involves a serious, permanent injury. Someone else’s carelessness or wrongdoing must have caused it. Here are the injuries our firm handles:
- Spinal cord injuries and paralysis — including paraplegia and quadriplegia. Doctors rate how severe it is using the ASIA Impairment Scale (grades A through E). This is the international standard for classifying spinal cord injury.
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) — lasting changes to thinking, memory, personality, or behavior.
- Amputation and limb loss — losing an arm, leg, hand, or foot in surgery or the accident itself.
- Severe burn injuries — third-degree burns, disfigurement, and burns that need skin grafts.
- Catastrophic back and neck injuries — spinal damage that causes permanent disability.
The Mayo Clinic explains that the higher on the cord an injury sits, the greater the harm. Neck-level (cervical) injuries usually affect the arms, trunk, and legs. They can require a permanent ventilator or full-time caregiver.
Families facing this new reality can get free help. The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation runs a national Paralysis Resource Center. It offers practical help with daily living and care.
When a Loved One Doesn’t Survive
The most catastrophic outcome is death. Did a serious injury take your loved one’s life? Your family may bring a wrongful-death claim under the Florida Wrongful Death Act, Fla. Stat. §§768.16–768.26. We handle these cases with dignity — never as just another file. We center our work on the family left behind and what they can do next.
What We Don’t Handle
To be clear, we don’t handle minor or routine injuries. That means no soft-tissue or whiplash claims. It also means no simple fractures, herniated discs without serious complications, minor burns, or ordinary fender-benders. We focus on permanent, life-changing harm. Those cases need a different kind of investigation and proof.
The Accidents and Wrongdoing Behind These Cases
Most catastrophic injury claims come from a small set of high-force events.
Truck and commercial-vehicle crashes. A fully loaded semi can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. That’s about 20 times a normal passenger car. So these crashes cause severe, permanent injuries. The NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is the national count of deadly traffic crashes. It shows how often large-truck crashes turn deadly. Crashes on I-4, State Road 408, Florida’s Turnpike, and Orlando streets fall squarely within our work.
Being attacked on someone else’s property. Suppose you were assaulted, shot, robbed, or sexually assaulted. Maybe it happened at an apartment complex, a parking lot or garage, a hotel or motel, a bar or nightclub, a gas station, a store, or an ATM. Did the property owner fail to provide reasonable security? That means working locks and gates, good lighting, cameras, or guards.
If so, you may have a claim against that owner. In legal terms, this is a negligent security claim (also called inadequate-security premises liability). You don’t need to know the term to have a case. You just need to tell us what happened.
Other serious accidents and medical negligence that leave a person permanently harmed are also part of our focus.
Have questions about what happened?
Ask our team directly. The first conversation is free, confidential, and there is no obligation to continue.
What Your Claim Can Cover
A catastrophic claim can recover the money already lost. It can also recover the lifetime costs still ahead. Compensation usually falls into two groups.
Economic damages (financial losses you can measure):
- Past and future medical care and surgeries
- Rehabilitation and therapy
- Home and vehicle changes (ramps, lifts, wheelchair-accessible vans)
- In-home care or a caregiver
- Assistive technology and medical equipment
- Lost wages and lost future earning power
Non-economic damages (the human cost):
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability and disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
In a wrongful-death case, survivors may recover other losses. These include lost financial support, lost companionship, mental pain and suffering, and funeral and medical costs.
Why the Life-Care Plan Is the Heart of the Case
In these cases, the largest number is almost always the future, not the past. A life-care plan is a detailed, year-by-year list of everything a person will need for the rest of their life. This includes surgeries, medications, therapy hours, and replacement wheelchairs and prosthetics (which wear out on set schedules). It also covers caregiver hours and home changes.
A certified life-care planner usually builds it, working with the treating doctors. An economist then puts it into today’s dollars.
This is where many claims are won or lost. An insurer’s early offer often covers only bills already paid. But a 30-year-old with a C5 spinal cord injury may need decades of care. That person may also need many equipment replacements. Get the projection wrong, and a family can run out of money years too early. Because outcomes depend on the specific facts, no result is ever promised or guaranteed.
How the Process Works, Step by Step
We build catastrophic claims in a clear order. And we start early to protect evidence before it disappears.
- Free case evaluation. You tell us what happened. We listen, answer questions, and explain your options — no cost, no obligation.
- Investigation. In truck cases, we act fast to save key data. This includes the electronic logging device (ELD) and engine “black-box” data, driver hours-of-service logs, and maintenance records. This data can be erased within days. In negligent-security cases, we seek surveillance video and the property’s crime history (police call logs and incident reports) before they’re gone.
- Finding every responsible party. We find all at-fault parties and every insurance policy that may apply — often more than one in trucking and property cases.
- Building damages. We hire medical experts and life-care planners to show the full lifetime impact.
- Demand and negotiation. We present a documented demand. If the insurer won’t settle fairly, we file suit and go to court.
How long do I have? Florida’s general deadline to file a negligence lawsuit is two years for claims arising on or after March 24, 2023, under Fla. Stat. §95.11. Missing that deadline can permanently end your case — so don’t wait.
What does it cost? Nothing upfront. We work on a contingency fee. Our fee comes from the recovery, not out of your pocket at the start.
Why Choose CHG Personal Injury Lawyers
We focus on catastrophic, life-changing injuries — not routine claims. That focus shapes how we investigate, whom we hire, and how we value a case.
- Licensed Florida attorneys. Our lawyers are admitted to The Florida Bar. We are a Florida-based firm serving Orlando, and we take catastrophic cases nationwide.
- Resources for hard cases. We fund the investigations. We hire the medical, accident-reconstruction, and life-care experts these claims require.
- Bilingual from start to finish. We serve clients and families fully in English and Spanish. That means real communication about your case, not just a translated phone menu.
- Were you hurt while traveling? Do you live out of state after a Florida incident? Our nationwide practice means you don’t have to start your search over.
Ready to talk? Contact us for a free case evaluation today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 51% rule in Florida?
Florida follows modified comparative negligence. Under Fla. Stat. §768.81, if you are found more than 50% at fault for your own injury, you generally recover nothing. If your share is 50% or less, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault.
What is the hardest injury to prove?
Traumatic brain injuries are often among the hardest. The damage can be “invisible” on a standard CT scan. That’s true even when a person’s memory, focus, and personality have changed for good. Proving one usually takes detailed medical records, neuropsychological testing, and expert testimony that links the symptoms to the crash.
What should I not say to an insurance company after a catastrophic injury?
Don’t give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer. Don’t sign any medical releases. And don’t discuss the incident on social media. Even a casual “I’m feeling better” can be used to argue your injuries aren’t serious. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to the adjuster.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Your case evaluation is free. We work on a contingency fee — no upfront cost to you.
Do you handle cases outside Orlando?
Yes. We’re based in Florida, serve the Orlando area, and take catastrophic injury cases statewide and nationwide.
Want to know where you stand?
Tell us what happened and our team will walk you through the options available to you, at no cost.
Talk to an Orlando Catastrophic Injury Attorney Now
You don’t have to face this alone. And you don’t have to figure out the law by yourself. Maybe you’re recovering from a permanent injury. Maybe you’re grieving a loved one. Either way, our team is ready to listen and explain your options — in English or Spanish, with no upfront cost.
Request your free, confidential case evaluation with our Orlando catastrophic injury claims law firm today.
The Catastrophic Injuries We Handle
Spinal Cord Injuries & Paralysis
Paraplegia and quadriplegia that permanently alter mobility, independence, and the cost of daily life.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
TBIs that affect memory, cognition, and personality — often difficult to prove and easy for insurers to downplay.
Amputation & Limb Loss
Loss of a limb requiring prosthetics, rehabilitation, and lifelong adaptation.
Severe Burns
Third-degree and disfiguring burns demanding surgery, skin grafts, and long-term care.
Catastrophic Back & Neck Injuries
Serious spinal trauma causing permanent impairment and chronic disability.
Wrongful Death
When a loved one does not survive, we help families pursue accountability with dignity and care.
Were You Hurt in a Violent Attack on Someone Else's Property?
If you were assaulted, shot, or robbed at an Orlando apartment complex, parking garage, hotel, bar, or store — and the owner failed to provide reasonable security like working locks, lighting, cameras, or guards — you may have a claim against that property owner. Lawyers call this negligent security. You can call it getting the help you deserve.
How Catastrophic Cases Come to Us in Orlando
Truck Accidents
Crashes involving commercial trucks often cause the most severe and permanent injuries — and involve complex evidence and multiple responsible parties.
Negligent Security
Attacks that happen because a property owner ignored known dangers and failed to protect the people they invited onto their premises.
Serious Accidents
Other high-impact events that leave victims with life-altering, permanent harm.
Medical Negligence
When a preventable medical error results in catastrophic injury or the loss of a loved one.
Questions We Hear Most Often
What is the 51% rule in Florida?
Florida follows modified comparative negligence. Under Fla. Stat. §768.81, if you are found more than 50% at fault for your own injury, you generally recover nothing. If your share is 50% or less, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault.
What is the hardest injury to prove?
Traumatic brain injuries are often among the most challenging, because their effects are not always visible on standard imaging. Building a clear record with medical experts is essential — something our team focuses on.
What does a case review cost?
Nothing. Your initial case review is free, and we discuss your options in plain language before you decide anything.
Do you handle cases outside Orlando?
Yes. We are Florida-based and accept catastrophic injury cases nationwide, with bilingual English and Spanish support.