Types of Cases We Handle:
- Injuries Involving Motor Vehicles
- Injuries To Railroad Workers
- Railroad Accidents
- Asbestos
- Wrongful Death and Catastrophic Injuries
- Head and Brain Injuries, Memory Loss
- Back, Neck and Spinal Injuries
- Faulty Products
- Workplace Lung Disorders
- Medical Negligence
- Nursing Home Abuse & Negligence
- Workplace Hearing Loss
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive Motion Injuries
Injuries Involving Motor Vehicles
Car accidents are an unfortunate fact of life. When a personal injury is caused by the fault of another, just covering medical bills and lost wages can turn you into a "victim" in a complicated web of health care and insurance laws as well as rental car and car repair headaches. Some insurance adjusters don't treat injured persons fairly and try to make them feel "guilty" for having a legitimate claim. At Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton, our job is to eliminate these insurance problems, explain your rights, and obtain maximum compensation for you under the law.
Attorneys with our firm have successfully handled hundreds of vehicle injury cases for prior clients, involving the full spectrum of accidents such as hit and run, uninsured motorist cases, trucking accidents and passenger claims. We accept these injury cases on a "contingent fee" and are paid a legal fee only upon successful resolution of your case.
It is important that you protect your rights and retain our firm as early as possible after you are injured in an accident. You should not provide any written or recorded statements to any insurance company before consulting any attorney. Allow us to work with you if you or a family member has suffered an injury due to someone else's carelessness. Click here to see a real case.
Injuries To Railroad Workers
The Thought Of Losing Your Job and regular income due to a railroad injury or occupational disease is very frightening. A federal law, the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA), gives rail workers the right to sue their railroad employer directly for injuries suffered on the job. Accidents and serious injuries do happen, and many are caused by the fault or negligence of the railroad in ways that are not obvious to a worker. The railroad steers workers to "company doctors" who are faithful to the railroad. Should you trust such "company doctors"? Service to our railroad clients is our mission, and obtaining maximum compensation—by settlement or trial - is our duty. We locate key experts to help on important matters, such as on track maintenance or repair, switch operation or proper train movements.
We accept these type of railroad cases on a "contingent fee" and advance legal expenses on your behalf. In other words: There is no legal fee unless we recover for you. Allow us to assist you with your claim. Contact our investigators or our office to arrange for a free consultation.
Railroad Accidents
Our Firm Has Developed substantial experience as a result of representing many injured train passengers and persons injured in railroad crossing accidents. These tragic accidents have caused life-threatening injuries to our clients or family members. We have litigated these claims throughout the eastern United States.
Because these types of accidents often involve multiple responsible parties (such as several railroads or a combination of railroads and trucking companies) the legal issues can become extremely complex, and only an experienced attorney should accept such cases.
Our firm has represented train crew members and numbers of train passengers hurt in train wrecks, crossing accidents and Amtrak derailments. We maintain and continually update research and evidence files on all aspects of railroad crossing and passenger injury law and practices.
Entrust your case to our firm with confidence that you are retaining experienced attorneys and investigators who know how to investigate these cases and obtain maximum compensation under the law. We accept these cases on a "contingent fee" basis and are only paid a legal fee on successful resolution of your case.
Wrongful Death And Catastrophic Injuries
Injury cases which involve catastrophic injury, or where the injury results in death, each involve special consideration and careful analysis of applicable law. Most states have particularized laws that deal with the presentation of a wrongful death case-for example, the case must often be filed under the name of an administrator or executor of the estate of the deceased person. Also, some states have different statutes of limitation which apply to a wrongful death action than a personal injury action. Thus, if you are considering a lawyer for a wrongful death action, be careful to seek legal assistance early, and determine what the state laws are that apply in the state where wrongful acts occurred that led to the death of the person involved. There are many variables that an attorney will have to examine and analyze, which involve the statute of limitations, the proper state where the action should be brought, and the proper representative of the deceased person. At SCLA, our firm has handled a number of wrongful death actions. Besides special rules that apply to who can represent the deceased person, and special statutes of limitation, the general law that applies to any negligent act causing the wrongful death is usually the same as that applying to a negligence action resulting in personal injuries. Evidence must be presented of negligence by a person or corporation which led to the wrongful death. Also, other theories of responsibility may be examined as in any other type of injury action.
With regard to catastrophic injuries, SCLA has significant experience with handling cases involving paralyzing injuries, brain injuries, and similar life-altering injuries. In choosing a lawyer, it would be foolish to hire a law firm that has not had significant prior experience with handling such cases-for example, many experts must be located, retained, and coordinated during the pursuit of the case. In a catastrophic injury case, it would not be unusual to have five to ten retained experts on various medical and liability/fault issues. The coordination required to handle such a case is significant-and at SCLA we have this experience and the track record of experience. If you have questions regarding a wrongful death or catastrophic injury case, please call us and discuss this with us. If we accept such a case, it is always on a contingent attorney fee, that is there is no attorney fee unless we recover on behalf of the injured person.
Head And Brain Injuries, Memory Loss
When a client suffers a terrible accident and has immediately been diagnosed as having a head injury, or when a client has suffered a serious trauma to the head, presenting this evidence in a meaningful light can be a very difficult task for a lawyer. There are even cases where a client really doesn't know that they have suffered a brain or head injury, but their spouse or close relative reports that they seem to be forgetful and have been simply acting differently. It is important that this type of problem be reported to SCLA so we can arrange for an evaluation by experts in this field. Neuropsychologists (and other specialists) can conduct highly sophisticated tests to establish whether there is a closed head or brain injury involved in the particular trauma. If you or a family member believes that these types of injuries may be involved in a particular case, please bring this to the attention of SCLA immediately so that this issue can be properly evaluated.
Back, Neck And Spinal Injuries
At SCLA, we often struggle with the best way that we can present medical evidence of a spinal injury to a jury. In some cases, where a client has a particularly obvious ruptured or herniated disk injury, SCLA will obtain the MRI radiological image of the client's spine, and arrange to have black-and-white images created through a photographic process called creating a positive. At other times, we will retain medical illustrators whose job is to specifically draw and illustrate particulars of a surgery or condition. We also have, over the years, collected a wide variety of color illustrations of various parts of human anatomy, and we have obtained models which we often use in depositions or at trial to explain the particular condition involved. Presenting these important images can be extremely important where a client suffers from an internal problem that cannot really be seen by a jury, or often times cannot even be appreciated by the Defendant until we present the evidence in a favorable light.
Faulty Products
Every year thousands of consumers are injured due to faulty and defective products that have been placed on the market without proper testing, or by products that were simply defective when they were first manufactured, all causing serious and permanent injuries. Our firm has represented persons injured by all sorts of faulty products and equipment, whether new or used. These cases are usually defended vigorously by manufacturers, distributors, and their insurers. Often, we must hire several experts that have the special experience in the field in question. Many times we arrange for technical testing of the involved items. Our firm will investigate sources of legal research, including networking resources available to trial lawyers (Association of Trial Lawyers of America), as well as numerous other legal research resources. Contact us through any of the methods described on our website or call us toll-free at 1-866-685-0669. Click here to see a real case!
Workplace Lung Disorders
Our firm has represented many rail workers who have suffered many types of lung disorders, whether caused by asbestos products, exposure to heavy clouds of ballast rock dust over a period of decades, or by exposure to toxic chemicals. Clients often do not know what caused them to have shortness of breath or other symptoms that their doctor has said may be permanent. In handling these cases, we have developed much research on the information railroads knew many decades ago with regard to the dangers of certain products and activities. Despite the railroads knowing about the dangers of these things, the railroads did not educate workers and let them know about the terrible risks and dangers. If you believe that your shortness of breath may be due to your long-term exposure to dangerous products or chemicals, contact our law firm and let us have you evaluated. We are familiar with the signs and symptoms, what to look for in your work background, and we also know where to send you to have expert professional medical attention. Contact our law firm or one of investigators and we will have you screened or evaluated. For railroad workers, 15-20 or more years of exposure to ballast rock dust can cause the disease silicosis. Long term overexposure to diesel fumes has caused permanent lung disease in engineers, brakemen, and conductors. Most rail workers had no idea they were exposed to dangerously toxic levels of asbestos containing products and equipment during the 60's, 70's and 80's while on routine duty. Contact us and we can give you information and/or have you evaluated by knowledgeable medical experts. We accept these cases only on a contingent fee - unless we recover for your injury, there is no attorney fee.
Medical Negligence
There was a time decades ago when patients never thought of suing their doctors. These days, nearly everyone knows a horror story relating to medical care. While the patient and doctor relationship is often a good relationship, when a doctor is careless, or fails to follow basic medical standards, the results can be devastating and cause permanent and catastrophic injuries. Our firm handles medical negligence cases when the results of serious medical mistakes cause serious and permanent injuries. Many times, our firm must retain several medical experts in order to determine whether a doctor, nurse, or hospital committed medical negligence.
Many television reports and/or newspaper articles seem to highlight big settlements or verdicts. You should be aware that only experienced attorneys should handle a medical negligence case as the doctors and hospitals' attorneys fight these claims tooth and nail, and there are numerous "hidden" defenses that medical providers throw at innocent patient victims. There are statutes of limitations that can bar these claims. Act now! If you believe that you or a family member is a victim of medical negligence, contact our firm for a free legal consultation right away. We only accept these cases on a contingent fee and therefore, there is no fee unless we recover on behalf of you or the family member.
Nursing Home Abuse & Negligence
With over 1.5 million seniors and elderly adults now living in nursing homes in the United States, negligence and abuse has become a wide-spread problem with medical and nursing providers. Even though there are many nursing homes that provide good, adequate care, there are far too many that are subjecting seniors to needless suffering, death, and essentially nursing abuse.
Most seniors in nursing homes are totally dependent on the staff at the nursing home for their basic needs, including food, medicine, water, toileting, grooming, and virtually all essential activities of daily living. Unfortunately, there are seniors in nursing homes that have been starved, dehydrated, over or under medicated, or have suffered from painful bedsores. The opportunities for medical and nursing abuse are overwhelming. Nursing homes are running businesses and often under staff their facilities with very little feedback or watchdog organizational oversight.
Abuse and neglect in nursing homes can take any of the following forms:
- Assault
- Battery
- Sexual battery
- Sexual assault
- Rape
- Improper physical constraint or deprivation of food, water, or medicine
- Improper use of medication
Our firm has represented victims and family members against providers of deficient or negligent nursing home services, and these cases require careful analysis of the party or parties that may be responsible for such deficient care. Please contact our firm if you or a family member has been seriously harmed by nursing home neglect.
Work Place Hearing Loss
Our firm has represented hundreds of rail workers who have suffered permanent hearing loss as a result of long-term exposures to railroad equipment. We have also represented workers who have suffered sudden, traumatic hearing loss.
Just being around idling locomotives and/or other loud railroad equipment, on a daily, weekly and annual basis can lead to hearing loss.
The Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) allows for compensation for hearing loss just like for any other type of injury.
Our firm can have you evaluated by a specialist to determine whether your hearing loss is the type caused by repeated exposure to loud noises. We have handled hundreds of such claims for workers. We offer free initial consultation and only accept these cases on a contingent fee which means that if we do not recover, there is no attorney fee.
If you have any questions or have a long railroad career and are concerned about your hearing, please contact our firm for advice.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome And Other Repetitive Motion Injuries
During the 1980's and 1990's, there has been an increased awareness that workplace repetitive motions and vibrations can lead to permanent personal injuries and disorders. Repetitive injuries have been the subject of countless medical articles and reports. Many orthopaedic surgeons conduct surgeries to correct these occupational injuries, which affect both the upper extremities (wrists and arms) as well as the lower extremities (feet, ankles, knees and hips).
At Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton, we have represented a wide variety of railroad workers suffering from repetitive motion/carpal tunnel injuries to the wrists and arms, particularly track maintenance workers, and workers having more than a decade of exposure to extreme vibration and jarring type of motions which have caused the need for surgery. If you, a friend or a family member has been diagnosed with repetitive motion injuries and need legal help with regard to this, please call our attorneys or investigators for guidance.
With regard to repetitive motion injuries to the lower extremities (feet, ankles, knees and hips), our firm represents many railroad workers who have suffered from these problems, which have largely been caused by walking on large railroad ballast stone in railroad yards for decades. Our firm has developed information which shows that a number of the nation's railroads utilized extremely large ballast stone in walking and working areas, as opposed to small pea size ballast stone, despite the railroad's knowledge that a small pea size ballast stone makes for a much easier walking and working surface.
If we can help you with any of these matters or injuries, please feel free to contact an investigator or attorney with our firm for guidance. Of course, we handle these cases only on a contingent fee basis, and thus, there is no legal fee unless we recover for your injuries.
Call Us Toll Free at: 1-866-685-0669
