Loss of Vision / Blindness

Our eyesight is one of the human senses that is essential to living a fully functional and enjoyable life. The impact of the loss of vision or blindness from an accident, even if in only one eye, can be life-changing for us and our loved ones. If you or someone you love has lost vision or has suffered a serious eye injury because someone else was careless or negligent, call the Boulder personal injury lawyers at Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC today at 303-543-1000 for a free consultation about your case. Our injury attorneys help clients across Colorado, and we have decades of collective experience recovering financial settlements and verdicts after car accidents, bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, premises liability accidents, and other negligent situations. We invite you to see for yourself what compassionate and skilled personal injury representation looks like.

How Much is Lost Eyesight Worth?

Our eyes give us the ability to see our surroundings, to read peoples faces, to experience emotion, to focus on work, and to read danger, among many other things. The human body is designed with two eyes because of the depth, spatial awareness, and richness is essential to our survival. When we lose our sight, even in one eye, our ability to thrive and survive is hurt.

At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, when a client comes to us with an eye injury it is our job to get as much financial compensation as possible for our client’s eye. Each eye Colorado injury case is unique, however, and several things need to be examined to determine the value of your case.

How Strong is the Link Between the Accident and Your Eye Injury?

The first step for a Boulder personal injury attorney in assessing the value of an eye injury case is to look at the nature and extent of the eye injury. For example, how was the eye damaged? There are countless ways that an eye can be injured in an accident, such as:

• impact from the steering wheel;
• impact or burn from an airbag explosion;
• damage from broken glass or other objects in the vehicle;
• hitting the pavement as is common in bicycle accidents and pedestrian accidents;
• getting poked or hit by an object that is not supposed to be there as may occur in premises liability cases;
• and many more.

The reason we want to look at how your eye was damaged is because the more direct link your eye injury has to the accident, the more clearly we can establish negligence and liability of the at-fault party. When it is unclear how your eye was injured, the more difficult it can become to recover full value of your eye injury from someone else. This is an inquiry for which it is essential to have an experienced Boulder personal injury lawyer on your side.

What is the Nature of Your Eye Injury?

If it is clear that your eye was damaged in an accident, a good Boulder personal injury attorney must work hard to understand the nature of your eye injury. It is essential that your medical providers, such as doctors, surgeons, therapists, and counselors are involved in your case, and your lawyer can help you coordinate this.

At the end of the day, the nature of an eye injury is driven by two factors: 1) how has your life been affected; and 2) what is the prognosis for your injury?

The answer to these questions comes down to a matter of degree. As you might imagine, the more your life has been impacted, and the more serious and permanent your injury, the more value your eye injury case has.

Sometimes it is helpful to imagine a spectrum where on one end there is very little impact to your life and your eye might fully heal in a short amount of time. At the extreme, you might think of a simple scratch to your eyelid and some blurriness that disappeared after a few hours. These cases generally have a relatively small value. On the other end, however, is complete loss of vision, or blindness in both eyes, where your doctors believe it will be permanent. These cases, on the other hand, have an extremely high value.

There is no cut and paste answer to how valuable an eye injury or vision loss case may be. Rather, personal injury lawyers and insurance adjusters will examine several factors that can influence eye injury case value, such as:

• how much work have you missed or will continue to miss;
• are you unable to work;
• how well are you still able to see;
• will your eyesight improve over time or do you have permanent vision loss;
• is one or both eyes affected;
• do you live in a place where help for the blind is readily available;
• are you able to walk places or do you need to drive;
• do you have loved ones who can assist you or are you alone;
• how old are you;
• did you have prior eye issues such as eye disease;
• what activities and hobbies are you unable to do;
• and many others depending on the case.

The answers to these inquiries can vary widely, and an experienced personal injury attorney can help you identify and fully explain to the insurance adjuster the full impact of your loss. The value of your eye injury or vision loss will depend on your ability to adequately convey your story of how your injury has impacted you, either to the adjuster or to a jury.

Experienced Personal Injury Help

Eye injuries causing vision loss or blindness can be extremely valuable cases. When you were hurt by someone else’s negligence or carelessness, having a skilled Boulder personal injury lawyer on your side can maximize your financial recovery. At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, we have a track-record of successful outcomes for hundreds of clients, and we want to hear from you. Call us today for a free consultation at 303-543-1000 and find out whether we can assist you with your claim.

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