Fort Lee Spinal Cord Injuries Attorneys

A spinal cord injury (SCI) can change how you move, work, and live each day. A Fort Lee spinal cord injury lawyer helps prove the full cost of that change, including the treatment, equipment, lost income, and daily support you could need for decades.

These claims carry some of the highest lifetime costs in injury law. A settlement that falls short can leave you without the therapy, home modifications, mobility equipment, and personal care your independence depends on.

Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, P.C. helps document your current losses and project the care still ahead. We work with medical and financial experts to build a claim around your long-term needs. 

Call (201) 585-9111 or reach us through our online form for a free, confidential consultation.

Why Choose Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, P.C. for a Spinal Cord Injury Claim

Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, P.C. has the resources, trial preparation, and long-term focus that a serious spinal cord injury claim requires. Since opening in Fort Lee in 1974, we’ve recovered more than $300 million for our clients.

Here’s why Fort Lee trusts our team with SCI claims:

• Results That Matter: We secured $10 million for a client left with spastic quadriplegia, reflecting the scale of care and support we bring to catastrophic injuries.
• Lifetime Planning: We build the claim around future medical care, personal assistance, mobility equipment, home changes, and reduced earning capacity.
• Trial-Ready: We prepare the case for trial when the insurer refuses to account for the full extent of the loss.
• Direct Access to Your Attorney: You work with an attorney who knows your case, explains major decisions, and keeps you informed throughout the process.
• Recognized Legal Experience: Our attorneys have earned recognition from Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, Best Law Firms 2026, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and AVVO.

Call (201) 585-9111 or complete our online contact form to get started for free.

How Does Your Spinal Cord Injury Classification Affect Your Claim?

Doctors classify a spinal cord injury by where it occurred and how much feeling and movement remain. That classification helps show the severity of the injury, the care you could need, and the long-term costs your claim must address.

The ASIA Impairment Scale uses five grades:

• ASIA A — Complete: No feeling or movement remains in the lowest part of the spinal cord.
• ASIA B — Sensory Incomplete: Some feeling remains below the injury, but useful movement does not.
• ASIA C — Motor Incomplete: Some movement remains below the injury, although many key muscles are too weak to work against gravity.
• ASIA D — Motor Incomplete: More movement remains, and at least half of the key muscles below the injury can work against gravity.
• ASIA E — Normal: Testing shows normal feeling and muscle function.

A complete injury can create extensive lifetime needs, while an incomplete injury can still cause permanent weakness, pain, limited movement, and reduced independence. Insurers sometimes point to any remaining function as proof that the injury is less serious than it is.

The injury level also matters. Damage higher up in the spinal cord can affect more of the body and increase risks of breathing problems, blood pressure changes, infections, and pressure wounds.

The completeness of the injury matters too. Two people with damage at the same level can face very different futures depending on how much movement and feeling remain.

Your Fort Lee spinal cord injury lawyer can gather the medical findings, track changes in your condition, and show how the classification affects your future care and daily support needs.

How Does the Level of a Spinal Cord Injury Affect Your Claim?

The level of a spinal cord injury determines which parts of the body are affected and how much long-term care you could need. An injury lower on the spine can leave the arms and hands working, while an injury in the neck can affect all four limbs and, in severe cases, breathing.

That difference can have a major effect on future medical costs and daily support needs:

Injury Level	What It Typically Affects	Why Lifetime Costs Rise
Paraplegia (Thoracic or Lumbar)	The legs and lower body are affected, while arm and hand function remains intact.	Wheelchair use, home modifications, and ongoing rehabilitation can create substantial costs.
Lower Tetraplegia (Lower Neck)	The legs are affected along with some arm and hand function.	Greater personal-care needs and specialized adaptive equipment can increase the cost of support.
High Tetraplegia (Upper Neck)	The arms, legs, and sometimes breathing are affected.	Around-the-clock care and possible breathing support can create extensive lifetime expenses.

A Fort Lee SCI lawyer can use medical findings, expert opinions, and a life-care plan to show how the injury level affects your independence, treatment needs, and future costs.

What Causes Spinal Cord Injuries in Fort Lee?

Most spinal cord injuries in Fort Lee trace to sudden, high-force events, with motor vehicle crashes and falls leading the list. A collision on Route 4 or near the George Washington Bridge approach can compress or sever the cord in an instant. The force needed to break the spine rarely leaves the rest of the body untouched.

Construction work carries its own steep risk. Falls from scaffolding, ladders, and roofs cause many of the region’s worst injuries, and these construction-site spinal cord injuries often involve several responsible parties beyond a single employer.

Other causes appear less often but land just as hard. Diving into shallow water, a defective seatback or safety device, a pedestrian struck at speed, and acts of violence can each break the spine. 

The same violence that damages the spine can strike the head as well and cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI). We handle co-occurring TBI cases so that a head injury hiding behind the more obvious paralysis never goes uncounted. Finding the full extent of harm is the first duty in any serious case.

What if You Were Partly Responsible for the Accident?

If you played a role in the accident that caused your SCI, you can still recover compensation under New Jersey’s comparative negligence rule as long as you were not more than 50% at fault. 

Your recovery is reduced by your share of responsibility, so a finding that you were 20% at fault would generally reduce the award by 20%.

Insurance companies often use this rule to shift blame after a crash, fall, or workplace accident. A spinal cord injury lawyer in Fort Lee can gather the evidence needed to challenge that argument and keep your share of fault from being unfairly inflated.

What Will Lifelong Care Cost After a Spinal Cord Injury in Fort Lee?

Lifelong care after a SCI can cost millions of dollars when the injury requires ongoing assistance, equipment, and medical support. Your claim needs to account for the expenses that return year after year, not just the bills already in hand.

A life care plan is a detailed estimate of the medical care, equipment, support, and other services you’re expected to need over time. It’s usually prepared with input from your doctors and other experts, so the future cost of the injury is based on evidence rather than guesswork. 

A life care plan can project costs such as:

• Personal Attendant Care: Daily help with bathing, dressing, transfers, meals, and other basic tasks can become one of the largest long-term expenses.
• Wheelchairs and Mobility Equipment: Power wheelchairs, lifts, cushions, and other devices wear out and require repair or replacement over time.
• Accessible Housing: Ramps, widened doorways, accessible bathrooms, and other home changes can be necessary for safety and independence.
• Vehicle Modifications: Hand controls, lifts, and adapted vans can require substantial upfront costs and future replacement.
• Medical Supplies and Treatment: Medication, bladder and skin care, specialist visits, and ongoing rehabilitation can continue for decades.
• Increasing Care Needs: Assistance can become more expensive as equipment ages, health complications develop, or the injured person grows older.

Your Fort Lee spinal cord injury lawyer can work with medical experts, life care planners, and economists to calculate those future costs. We build the claim around the care you’re expected to need over a lifetime, not only what has already been spent.

How Our Fort Lee SCI Attorneys Prove the Value of Your Case

Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, P.C. proves the value of your Fort Lee SCI claim by showing both the financial cost and the personal impact of the injury. Medical records establish the diagnosis, while expert analysis explains what the injury will require over the years ahead.

That work can include:

• Medical Evidence: Treating physicians and specialists explain the injury, its permanence, and the care you’re expected to need.
• Lost Earning Capacity: Vocational and economic experts calculate the income, benefits, and career opportunities the injury could take away.
• Future Care Costs: A life care plan helps project the cost of equipment, rehabilitation, personal assistance, and other long-term needs.
• Daily Limitations: Testimony from you and the people closest to you can show how the injury changed your independence, routines, relationships, and quality of life.
• Every Responsible Party: We investigate each person or company that contributed to the injury because one insurance policy may not be enough to cover a catastrophic loss.

Younger clients can face decades of lost income and growing care needs. We build the claim around that full future rather than relying on current bills or rough estimates.

FAQ for Fort Lee Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

Let’s Talk About Your Fort Lee SCI Claim

Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, P.C. can gather the medical and financial evidence needed to show what your spinal cord injury will cost over a lifetime. We identify every responsible party and build the claim around the treatment, equipment, lost income, and daily support you’ll need.

Call (201) 585-9111 or complete our online contact form to discuss your case for free. Our Fort Lee office is located at 201 Columbia Ave, Fort Lee, NJ 07024.