St Louis Brain and Spine Injury Trial Lawyers

The brain and spinal cord—our body's command center and communication superhighway—are remarkably powerful yet incredibly vulnerable. When these critical systems are damaged in an accident due to someone else's negligence, the effects ripple through every aspect of daily life. Simple tasks become monumental challenges. Career paths are suddenly blocked. Family relationships transform as loved ones become caregivers. And through it all, medical bills mount while income disappears.

If you're facing this reality in Missouri or Illinois, it’s important to know you have options to seek proper compensation for your losses. At Finney Injury Law, we provide the personalized attention and skilled advocacy that brain and spine injury cases demand. We’ve helped brain and spine injury victims recover the substantial compensation necessary to build a secure future.

The Life-Altering Impact of Brain and Spine Injuries

These medical conditions obviously harm bone and tissue, but they also disrupt systems that coordinate movement, process sensory input, store memories, and shape personality. Unlike many injuries that heal completely over time, damage to these neural structures often results in permanent changes to how people move, think, communicate, and experience emotions. Let’s take a closer look at the challenges of some of the most common catastrophic injuries.

Brain Damage

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur through direct impact, such as hitting your head in a car accident, or through violent shaking that causes the brain to collide with the inside of the skull. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), “some injuries are considered primary, meaning the damage is immediate. Others can be secondary, meaning they can occur gradually over the course of hours, days, or weeks after injury.” TBIs cause a wide range of effects, such as:

Cognitive impairments. Many TBI victims struggle with memory problems, difficulty concentrating, slowed thinking, and challenges with problem-solving or decision-making. These issues can make returning to work or school nearly impossible.
Physical symptoms. Headaches, dizziness, fatigue, seizures, sleep disturbances, and coordination problems are common after brain injuries, limiting independence and quality of life.
Communication difficulties. Brain injuries often affect speech and language functions, including understanding others, finding the right words, or maintaining conversations—fundamental skills for most jobs and social interactions.
Emotional and behavioral changes. Perhaps most distressing for families are the personality changes that can follow a TBI. Your loved one may experience mood swings, depression, anxiety, irritability, or impulsivity that makes them seem like a different person.

Spinal Cord and Neck Injuries

Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) are among the most physically limiting injuries. The NINDS indicates that “this damage can cause temporary or permanent changes in feeling, movement, strength, and body functions below the point where the injury happens,” often resulting in:

Paralysis. Depending on the location and severity of the injury, victims may experience paraplegia—paralysis of the legs—or quadriplegia—paralysis of all four limbs.
Loss of sensation. Many SCI survivors lose feeling below the level of injury, increasing the risk of pressure sores and other complications.
Breathing difficulties. Higher spinal cord injuries often affect the muscles needed for breathing, potentially requiring ventilator support.
Loss of bowel and bladder control. These deeply personal functions are sometimes compromised, too, requiring lifetime management strategies.
Chronic pain. Even incomplete SCIs that allow some function can result in severe, persistent pain that conventional pain management struggles to address.

Vision and Brain Damage

A common problem among Veterans, vision problems after brain injuries are often overlooked but can be particularly debilitating because they cause:

Visual field defects. Parts of your vision may be missing, which makes reading, driving, or navigating spaces dangerous or impossible.
Double vision. Seeing two images instead of one creates constant disorientation and often prevents someone from returning to work or driving.
Light sensitivity. Many TBI survivors become hypersensitive to light, making it painful to be in bright environments or even to look at computer screens.

The economic burden of these severe medical conditions often reaches into the millions per patient, combining immediate trauma care with potentially lifelong rehabilitation and support needs. Naturally, due to the sudden and extreme nature of an accident caused by another party’s wrongdoing, many families are completely unprepared to shoulder these staggering costs.

When you trust the brain and spine injury attorneys at Finney Injury Law, you get an entire team dedicated to accurately projecting your immediate and long-term financial needs. We collaborate with medical economists and life care planners to fully address every aspect of your condition, vital quality of care, and necessary rehabilitative treatment and devices to enable you to live with respect and independence.

How Finney Injury Law Helps Brain and Spine Injury Victims

Our team, led by trial attorneys Chris Finney and Alex Ledbetter, pairs fearless advocacy with a boutique firm approach—giving your case the focused attention it deserves while delivering the high-caliber results you'd expect from a larger firm. Here’s our strategy to fully integrate the medical and legal aspects of these complicated claims.

Investigating Your Case Thoroughly

Our entire team works quickly to preserve critical evidence and identify all potentially responsible parties, which might include:

Vehicle operators. Drivers, trucking companies, or rideshare services may share responsibility for collisions causing brain or spine trauma.
Property owners. Businesses, landlords, and homeowners are often found liable when unsafe premises lead to falls or other accidents causing neurological injuries.
Medical providers. When brain or spinal injuries worsen due to improper treatment or delayed diagnosis, health care providers may bear responsibility.
Product manufacturers. Companies that design, manufacture, or sell defective products that cause or contribute to brain and spine injuries can be held accountable.

Documenting the Full Impact of Your Injuries

Brain and spine damage affects every aspect of your and your family members’ lives, often requiring lifetime care and assistance. To help detail all your needs, we partner with:

Medical experts. Neurologists, neurosurgeons, and rehabilitation physicians help document the full extent of your injuries and future treatment requirements.
Life care planners. These experts calculate the lifetime cost of your medical care, adaptive equipment, home modifications, and personal assistance needs.
Economic experts. We work with economists to project lifetime earnings losses and the cost of benefits you can no longer receive through employment.
Neuropsychologists. These experts conduct detailed assessments of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes following brain injuries.

Fighting for Maximum Compensation

Catastrophic injury cases often involve substantial damages that insurance companies fight vigorously to minimize. For example, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation reports that depending on the severity of an SCI, estimated first-year care costs can total $1 million or more, and care costs over a lifetime up to $4 million. These numbers are just for medical care and personal assistance—not lost wages, benefits, and other factors impacted by the incident.

At Finney Injury Law, we prepare every case as if it will go to trial, building leverage for fair settlements. We pursue all available compensation, including:

Current and future medical expenses. Brain and spine injury treatment often continues for years or decades, requiring substantial resources.
Rehabilitation costs. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, and other specialized services play a crucial role in recovery.
Home and vehicle modifications. For independence, coverage for wheelchair ramps, stair lifts, bathroom modifications, and adapted vehicles may be necessary.
Lost income and earning capacity. When calculating damages, we consider not just past lost wages but also future earning potential diminished by someone else’s negligence.
Pain and suffering. Physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of life enjoyment deserve substantial compensation.
Loss of consortium. Spouses might also be eligible to recover the loss of companionship and relationship changes that often follow serious neurological injuries.