Every year in Texas, hundreds of thousands of people are injured in accidents that weren’t their fault. Our analysis of 2023 Texas auto accidents revealed that a reportable crash happens every 57 seconds.
Often, such accidents cause minor injuries or damage — you might have a bruise or sprained ankle after a fall or walk away from a car accident a little shaken up and a not-so-pleasant repair bill.
But sometimes, accidents cause life-changing injuries. They are known as incapacitating injuries.
But what does an incapacitating injury mean for you, and what type of compensation can you get if you sustain one in an accident caused by someone else’s negligent or reckless behavior?
If you’ve suffered an incapacitating injury in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to substantial compensation for your medical bills, future treatment, lost wages, and the long-term impact of your injury on your life. Click to book a free, no-obligation case review with our McAllen and San Antonio personal injury attorney and see whether you have a claim.
Key Takeaways:
- An incapacitating injury is a serious injury that prevents someone from performing normal daily activities such as walking, driving, or working, temporarily or permanently.
- Texas law enforcement uses the KABCO Injury Scale to classify injuries in auto accidents, ranging from fatal (K) to no injury (O). An “A” rating means an incapacitating injury, which can be crucial in determining the severity of your claim and potential compensation.
- Incapacitating injuries are most likely to result from car crashes and can result in broken limbs, brain injuries, spinal cord damage, amputation, internal injuries, and burns.
- Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule, where your compensation is reduced if you are partially at fault. If you’re 50% or more at fault, you cannot recover damages.
What Is an Incapacitating Injury?
An incapacitating injury is a severe injury that prevents an individual from performing their normal daily activities, such as walking, driving, or engaging in routine tasks they were capable of before the injury occurred.
The KABCO Injury Scale
Created by the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA), part of the US Department of Transportation (DOT), the KABCO scale measures the severity of an auto crash, such as a car, motorcycle, or truck accident. It splits injuries into five categories for each letter of the KABCO scale.
These categories vary slightly by state, with some states having additional criteria. For example, limping is classed as a non-incapacitating injury in West Virginia, but in other states, like Washington and Texas, it is excluded and classed as a possible injury.
Some states also use different injury codes or classify injuries by number, but these each correspond — or convert to — the standard KABCO categories.
In Texas, the categories — or injury codes — are as follows:
Killed (K): When an injury victim dies from injuries sustained from a crash within 30 days of the accident.
Incapacitating Injury (A): An incapacitating injury is a severe injury that prevents an accident victim from continuing normal activities. Examples include broken or distorted limbs, internal injuries, and a crushed chest.
Non-Incapacitating Injury (B): A non-incapacitating injury is an evident injury — such as a bruise, abrasion, or minor cut or laceration — that does not incapacitate (prevent a person from engaging in normal activities).
Possible Injury (C): A possible injury is any injury claimed or reported by an accident victim or indicated by behavior but not a visible wound. These include limping and complaining of pain.
Not Injured (N, converted to O): The “N” injury code applies when a person involved in a crash does not sustain an A, B, or C injury. In other states, this is referred to as “O,” which corresponds with the final letter in the KABCO injury severity scale.
There is an additional code — code 99, or Unknown. This applies when the FWHA is unable to determine whether injuries exist. Injuries might be unknown if the accident was a hit-and-run or if potentially injured parties fled the scene.
Why Is the KABCO Scale Important for Personal Injury Claims?
At first glance, the KABCO scale may seem like just that — a scale for evaluating an injury, but it can play a vital role if you intend to claim compensation for an auto accident that isn’t your fault.
The reason?
When you’re in a car accident, the first thing you should do — if it’s safe and you’re able to — is to call the police. Once the police arrive, an officer will speak to you about the accident and your injuries, which will go into a document called a crash report.
The Texas crash report can be a crucial piece of evidence for your claim, as it documents the factors that contributed to the accident — such as road rage, intoxication, and distracted driving — along with the parties involved, witnesses to the crash, and the severity of your injuries.
When the law enforcement officer documents the severity of injuries anyone involved in the accident has sustained, they will use a specific code — or letter.
As you can likely guess, these are the same codes denoted by the KABCO injury classification scale.
The severity of your injuries directly influences how much compensation you might be entitled to in a claim.
For example, let’s say you are in a car accident and you break your leg. Because your broken leg prevents you from doing everyday activities like walking and driving — at least until it’s healed — the police officer will note an “A” (incapacitating injury) in the severity column.
If you pursue a personal injury claim, you’ll be entitled to compensation for your medical bills and lost wages and for the pain and suffering you’ve experienced during your recovery.
Compare this to hurting your wrist in a car accident. You tell the attending officer that your wrist is painful, and you may indicate your injury by holding your wrist up and supporting it with your other hand, but there’s no visible wound. The police officer notes your injury and assigns it a severity of “C” (possible injury).
Because your hurt wrist is indicated as only a possible injury in the crash report, the insurance company of the person or party responsible for causing the accident may state your injury isn’t as severe as you claim. This can impact how much compensation you receive.
This is why it’s vital to seek medical attention after your accident. A doctor may conclude otherwise even if you’re not severely injured. In some cases, your injury may worsen over time, entitling you to even more compensation if you can prove it initially happened during the accident.
You should also retrieve a copy of the crash report filed by the police. Our car accident lawyers in McAllen and San Antonio can do this for you and contact the police about correcting the crash report if the information listed is inaccurate.
What Are Examples of an Incapacitating Injury?
So, now that we know the definition of incapacitating injuries and the scale used to measure severity, what are some examples?
Some of the most common incapacitating injuries sustained in auto accidents include:
- Severe lacerations or road rash
- Broken bones
- Nerve damage
- Traumatic brain injuries or head injuries
- Other damage to the skull
- Abdominal injuries
- Internal bleeding
- Burns
- Injuries to the chest or abdomen
- Amputations
- Back and neck injuries, such as whiplash
- Spinal cord injuries that cause temporary or permanent paralysis
- Periods of unconsciousness
- Chronic pain
- Injuries that prevent someone from doing the tasks they were capable of doing pre-injury.
You might notice that not all of these injuries are permanent or even long-term. As long as an injury in some way, for any period, prevents a person from performing or engaging in activities they were previously capable of before the injury occurred, it meets the legal standard.
What Is a Non-Incapacitating Injury?
So, suppose an incapacitating injury prevents an injured individual from walking, driving, or performing any activity they could do before sustaining the injury. In that case, a non-incapacitating injury is any other type of injury that is physically evident.
These can include:
- Bruising and abrasions
- Minor cuts
- A bloody nose
- Lumps on the head
- Bleeding
- Swelling
- Broken bones
- Dislocation.
Depending on where the injury occurs on the body, there can be an overlap between an incapacitating and a non-incapacitating injury. For example, a broken leg would be considered an incapacitating injury, while a broken finger or toe is likely to fall into the non-incapacitating category.
Common Causes of Incapacitating Injuries
These injuries may happen in various everyday scenarios and are most often linked to accidents caused by negligence, recklessness, or hazardous conditions. Below are the most common causes of incapacitating injuries:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents: Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents are among the leading causes of incapacitating injuries. High-speed collisions, rollovers, and crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists can require medical treatment and long-term rehabilitation.
- Slip and Fall Accidents: Falls are a major contributor to incapacitating injuries, particularly among older adults. Falls can happen in public places, private properties, or at work due to wet floors, uneven surfaces, poor lighting or lack of safety precautions.
- Workplace Accidents: Industrial, construction, and warehouse jobs pose a high risk of these types of injuries. Employees may be injured by heavy machinery, falling objects, electrocution, or hazardous substances.
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents: Bicyclists and pedestrians are vulnerable to severe injustice when struck by a vehicle. Victims may face long recovery periods or permanent disability.
- Sports and Recreational Injuries: High-impact sports and physical recreational activities can lead to incapacitating injuries. Contact sports like football or boxing often result in concussions and fractures, while activities like skiing or horseback riding can lead to spinal cord trauma or other disabling injuries.
- Acts of Violence: Physical assaults, gunshot wounds, and domestic violence can all cause incapacitating injuries. These injuries may involve long-term psychological trauma in addition to physical harm, making recovery even more complex.
- Medical Malpractice: Errors during surgery, incorrect diagnoses, or improper medication can result in incapacitating outcomes. A surgical mistake can cause nerve damage, or an undiagnosed condition that worsens can leave a patient unable to function independently.
Examples of Incapacitating Injuries
Incapacitating injuries are more than just visible wounds. They are serious, often traumatic, injuries that significantly impair a person’s ability to perform daily tasks. Here are some of the most common and medically recognized examples of incapacitating injuries:
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): A traumatic brain injury can severely impact cognitive function, memory, motor skills, and personality. Victims may struggle with speech and coordination or experience long-term psychosocial effects like depression or anxiety.
Spinal Cord Injuries: Injuries to the spine often result in partial or total paralysis, affecting mobility and independence. These injuries may require lifelong care and assistive devices such as wheelchairs or mobility aids.
Severe Bone Fractures: Compound fractures, crushed limbs, or complex breaks that require surgery and extensive rehabilitation are considered incapacitating. These injuries can limit a person’s ability to walk, work, or perform daily routines.
Internal Organ Damage: Blunt force trauma to the chest or abdomen can damage organs like the liver, kidneys, lungs, or heart. These injuries are often life-threatening and may require emergency surgery and ongoing treatment.
Severe Burns: Third-degree burns can destroy skin, nerves, and tissue, often resulting in disfigurement, loss of function, or chronic pain. Burn victims typically face long recovery periods and may require skin grafts and physical therapy.
Amputations: the loss of a limb is a catastrophic and permanently incapacitating injury. Victims often need prosthetics, physical therapy, and psychological support to adapt to life after an amputation.
Permanent Vision or Hearing Loss: Losing the ability to see or hear due to an accident can drastically affect a person’s ability to communicate, navigate their environment, or maintain employment.
Crush Injuries: Crush injuries occur in industrial accidents or serious car crashes and can lead to permanent nerve damage, loss of function, or amputations.
Prolonged Unconsciousness or Coma: If an individual remains unconscious for an extended period due to a head injury or trauma, this is classified as an incapacitating injury. Recovery may take months or even years, and full restoration may not be possible.
Incapacitating Injury vs. Catastrophic Injury in Texas
Under Texas law, the terms “incapacitating injury” and “catastrophic injury” both refer to serious harm, but they carry different legal and insurance implications.
An incapacitating injury in Texas may include broken limbs, deep lacerations, or internal trauma that requires immediate medical attention but may not result in permanent disability.
In contrast, a catastrophic injury is typically one that results in permanent impairment, disfigurement, or disability, such as paralysis, traumatic brain injury, loss of a limb, or severe burns. These injuries often meet the criteria for “serious bodily injury” and can significantly affect a victim’s ability to work or live independently.
While both types of injuries may qualify a victim for compensation, catastrophic injuries often involve higher damages due to long-term care needs, loss of earning capacity, and diminished quality of life.
Texas Courts also consider the degree of fault under the state’s modified comparative negligence rule, which can impact the compensation awarded to either type of claim.
Comparative Fault in Texas: How It Affects Incapacitating Injury Claims
In Texas, personal injury claims, including those involving incapacitating injuries, are governed by a legal principle called “modified comparative fault.” This rule states that if you are partially at fault for an accident, your compensation may be reduced proportionally to your share of the blame.
Here’s how it works: if a jury finds you 20% responsible for the accident that caused your incapacitating injury, and your total damages are $100,000, you would only be eligible to recover $80,000. However, if you are found to be 51% or more at fault, Texas law bars you from recovering any compensation at all.
This legal doctrine is especially important in cases involving incapacitating injuries, where damages tend to be high due to lost wages, medical costs, and long-term care. Insurance companies often use comparative fault as a defense strategy to minimize the amount they have to pay, especially when the injury is severe, and the potential compensation is substantial.
If you sustain a traumatic brain injury or crushed limb in a car crash, the opposing party’s insurer might argue that you were partially distracted or speeding. This tactic aims to reduce the classification of your injuries from “incapacitating” to “non-incapacitating” or to dispute the amount of compensation altogether.
That’s why working with a Texas personal injury lawyer is crucial.
What Compensation Can You Recover for an Incapacitating Injury?
If you or a loved one has suffered an incapacitating injury due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation.
Our severe injury lawyers in McAllen and San Antonio can help you secure compensation for the following:
- Medical Expenses: Including ER visits, surgery, hospital stays, rehabilitation, and medication
- Lost Wages: Time missed from work during your recovery
- Future Lost Income: If your injury limits your ability to work long-term or permanently
- Ongoing rehabilitation or therapy costs: Including physical or occupational therapy
- Future Medical Care: Follow-up appointments, assistive devices, or at-home care
- Property damages
- Pain and Suffering: Pain caused by the injury
- Emotional Distress: Anxiety, PTSD, or depression
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: If you can no longer take part in hobbies or activities you once loved
- Loss of Consortium: If your injuries affect your relationship with your spouse or family
The amount of compensation you can recover after an incapacitating injury depends on several factors, including whether your injuries are permanent and prevent you from working again, the strength of your evidence, and the insurance company representing the person or party responsible for your accident. Insurance companies use different formulas to calculate damages and may refuse to budge from an unfair settlement offer.
However, when you choose our personal injury law firm, you can rest assured that we will fight to secure the maximum possible compensation — we’ll never encourage you to settle early when we know you have a strong case and are entitled to much more. As skilled trial advocates, we’re also not afraid to take your case to trial when we’re confident we can secure a positive outcome.
You can use our personal injury calculator to gauge how much you might receive in compensation. However, no two cases are the same, so for a more accurate estimate based on the unique facts of your case, book a free, no-obligation consultation with our incapacitating injury attorney.
Why You Need to Hire a Lawyer for an Incapacitating Injury
If you’re injured in a motor vehicle accident — whatever its severity — you should contact a personal injury lawyer after seeking medical attention. But this is even more vital if you suffer an incapacitating injury. These injuries impact your daily life and can make it difficult — if not impossible — to enjoy even the simple things, such as walking around your garden or holding your children or grandchildren, not to mention preventing you from working and earning a living.
Sometimes, these injuries cause long-lasting or permanent damage, but even if an injury incapacitates you only for a few months or a year, that’s time you will never get back, and you deserve to be compensated for it.
If you have a non-incapacitating or incapacitating injury and want to see how much you could recover in a personal injury claim, contact our personal injury lawyers in McAllen and San Antonio. We provide a free consultation with zero obligation, and if you have a claim and decide to move forward, you won’t pay any fees until we win your case.
