A spinal cord injury changes your life in an instant — and the costs do not stop at the hospital. Paralysis can mean a lifetime of care, a wheelchair, a home that has to be rebuilt, and a vehicle that has to be modified. Robert DiStefano builds these cases to prove the full, lifelong cost — not just the bills sitting in front of you today.
A spinal cord injury happens when the cord that carries signals between your brain and your body is bruised, torn, or crushed. Depending on where the cord is damaged, the result can be paraplegia — loss of movement and feeling in the legs and lower body — or quadriplegia, which also affects the arms and hands. As a Fort Lauderdale spinal cord injury lawyer, Robert DiStefano helps Broward families hold the at-fault party responsible and makes sure the claim reflects the decades of care ahead, not just the first hospital bill.
Some spinal injuries are "complete," meaning all signal below the injury is lost. Others are "incomplete," where some movement or feeling remains. Either way, the day-to-day reality is hard and expensive: rehabilitation, a wheelchair or other equipment, in-home help, and ongoing medical care to prevent the infections, pressure sores, and other complications that follow paralysis. Many people also need their home and their vehicle changed just to get through a normal day.
Here is what makes a paralysis case different from almost any other claim. The real value is not the bills you have already received — it is the lifetime of care, equipment, and lost income still to come. Florida does not put a cap on most of these damages, but the full value does not prove itself. It has to be built, line by line, with a life-care plan and an economic projection. That is the work we do.
A paralysis claim runs on Florida's negligence rules — and on deadlines that are stricter than they used to be. Here is the law that shapes your case, in plain terms.
Florida common law
Florida does not cap most compensatory damages in an ordinary negligence case. That matters more in a spinal cord injury than almost anywhere else, because the lifetime cost of care, equipment, and lost earnings can be enormous. The law lets us pursue the full, true value of what paralysis has taken from you — but only if we prove it.
Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(a) amended 2023
A 2023 change to Florida law shortened the deadline for most injury cases to 2 years from the date of the injury. A spinal injury brings months of treatment and hard decisions, and that time passes fast — talk to a lawyer early so the clock does not run out on a strong case.
Fla. Stat. § 768.81 amended 2023
Florida now follows a modified comparative negligence rule. Your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and if you are found more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. With a lifetime of care on the line, insurers fight hard to shift blame — pinning the fault where it belongs protects everything your case is worth.
Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26
If a spinal cord injury or its complications take a life, Florida's Wrongful Death Act lets the personal representative of the estate bring a claim for the family's losses, generally within 2 years of the death. Those cases follow their own rules, and we handle them with the care they require.
This page provides general information about Florida law and is not legal advice. Statutes and case law change; your specific case requires a consultation.
Paralysis rarely comes out of nowhere. In Broward it comes from a high-speed crash, a fall from height on a job site, or a dive into water that turned out to be too shallow. We know the roads, the work sites, and the waterways these cases run through.
DiStefano Law is not an out-of-state intake service. We are a Fort Lauderdale firm, on Oakland Park Boulevard, that has represented injured Floridians for four decades.
When you call our office, you reach a firm where the founding attorney does the work. Robert DiStefano has practiced Florida personal injury law for more than 40 years and reviews every spinal cord injury inquiry himself. You will not be passed down a chain or left wondering who is handling your case.
The difference in a paralysis case is the proof of future cost. We bring in life-care planners to map every need ahead — therapy, equipment, in-home help, the wheelchair-accessible home modifications and the modified vehicle you will rely on, and the medical care that keeps complications away. Then we work with economists to put those needs into today's dollars across your lifetime, and with vocational experts to measure the income paralysis takes from you. That is how a claim reflects the real cost instead of just the first stack of bills.
We take these cases on a contingency fee, which means no fee unless we recover for you. There is nothing to pay up front, and we advance the cost of the experts your case needs. For outcomes in serious and catastrophic-injury matters, see related case results →
Tell us what happened in a free, confidential call. We secure the crash, job-site, or property evidence and the medical records the same week.
Specialists document every future need — care, equipment, accessible home and vehicle changes — that paralysis will require for the rest of your life.
With an economist and vocational experts, we pursue full compensation for lifelong care and lost earning capacity.
Related help from our firm: traumatic brain injury claims, severe burn injury cases, or reach us anytime through our contact page.
★★★★★
“The best lawyer in South Florida. Thank you DiStefano for all the hard work that you and your team have done to get me amazing results.”
Taravia Google
★★★★★
“I had a wonderful experience with Robert! He fought hard for me and kept me in the loop the whole time. The whole office is just great!”
Paulavia Google
★★★★★
“Mr. DiStefano is the best! Kept me up to date with everything, and his paralegal Michelle also kept us informed. Happy with my settlement — I highly recommend him.”
Stacy Leevia Google
Get a free, confidential, same-day case review. There is no fee unless we recover for you, and no pressure — just straight answers about what happened and what a lifetime of care is really worth.
(954) 572-8000