A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can happen in an instant. But what happens if another person’s negligence causes a TBI? Where can you go for the help you need?

If you or someone you love suffered a traumatic brain injury after a preventable accident in California, consider speaking to the California personal injury attorneys of OnderLaw about filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit. We can help you and your family get the just compensation you deserve after a debilitating accident. Call us today and let us help you get back on your feet after a TBI. Call OnderLaw today for a free consultation.

Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries

A Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is an injury that changes how the brain functions. A TBI is usually caused by a violent bump or jolt to the head or body and can have effects ranging from a mild headache to paralysis and death.

TBI is a significant cause of emergency room visits, hospitalization, and death in the United States. According to the CDC, there are approximately 166 TBI deaths every day in America.

TBIs can have a variety of root causes, such as:

  • Falls are one of the leading causes of TBI in America and account for nearly half of all TBI-related hospitalizations.
  • Motor vehicle crashes. Car and truck crashes can result in severe head injury with serious and long-lasting effects.
  • Gunshot wounds. TBIs include injuries that penetrate the skull and physically destroy brain tissue, like gunshot wounds.
  • Sports injuries. Head injuries from team sports like football and soccer have lasting consequences that severely affect quality of life.
  • Domestic violence, nursing home abuse, and violent crime also contribute to TBIs.
  • Non-traumatic TBI. Some TBIs are caused by strokes, seizures, or anything leading to a lack of oxygenated blood to the brain, such as a near-drowning.

Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries can be penetrating or non-penetrating and are typically broken down by quality of injury: mild, moderate, or severe.

Mild TBIs usually consist of a mild concussion. Concussions are the most common TBIs and make up three-quarters of all TBIs each year. Symptoms can include headache, blurred vision, fatigue, dizziness, and nausea. Mild TBIs can sometimes include a brief loss of consciousness.

Moderate TBIs usually include a loss of consciousness for 30 minutes to a day. Symptoms are more severe than mild TBIs and include persistent headache, nausea and vomiting, slurred speech, convulsions, seizures, clear fluid draining from the ears or nose, confusion, loss of coordination, and difficulty waking from sleep.

Severe TBIs usually include loss of consciousness for more than one day. Symptoms from mild or moderate TBIs are present, as well as profound confusion, restlessness, agitation, dilated pupils, weakness or numbness in extremities, extreme fatigue, and coma.

A penetrating or open injury is any injury to the head which fractures the bone and enters the cranial cavity, such as a gunshot wound. A non-penetrating or closed injury is any impact to the head that doesn’t break the bones of the skull, such as impact with the ground.

Compensation for a TBI Claim

Obtaining compensation for a TBI is done through filing a personal injury claim against the responsible party’s insurance company, or in some cases, filing a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible party.

The amount of compensation you may receive varies widely depending on the circumstances of the accident that caused your injury. The more severe the damage or, the more negligent the action that caused it, the more compensation you should demand.

Your lawyer will examine all the losses, or damages, you’ve sustained due to the accident and help you tally the total. It’s important to note that not all damages have a financial component. Some, like pain and suffering, are entirely subjective and depend on your unique experience.

Economic damages are losses with a dollar value. Some examples include:

  • Medical bills
  • Lost wages
  • Property damage
  • Lost opportunity
  • Transportation

Noneconomic damages are losses relating to your experience of the injury and not the cost of treating it, such as:

  • Pain and suffering
  • Loss of enjoyment
  • Mental anguish
  • Emotional distress
  • Scarring and disfigurement

A third category, exemplary damages, is only available in cases of extreme fraud, malice, or oppression. Talk to your attorney to see whether exemplary damages may apply in the case of your injury.

Proving Negligence in California and the Statute of Limitations

To obtain compensation, you and your attorney must prove negligence or that the person responsible for your accident failed in their duty to behave in a way that doesn’t harm others. If we can gather enough evidence to show that they should’ve acted in a certain way, didn’t do so, and their bad action caused your injury, we should have a valid claim.

California has a strict two-year statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits. If you attempt to file a suit more than two years after the date of the injury, a judge may decline to hear your case.

California TBI Accident Statistics

Here is some data on TBIs in California and elsewhere:

  • Men are far more likely to suffer from TBIs nationwide than women.
  • Unintentional falls account for nearly 50 percent of TBI-related hospitalization.
  • Approximately 61,000 people died from TBIs nationwide in 2017.
  • California reported just over 32,000 non-fatal TBIs in 2015, the most recent year with complete data.
  • People over age 65 are more likely to sustain TBIs than other groups.

Why Do I Need a Lawyer for My Traumatic Brain Injury?

Although a personal injury claim is like other types of insurance claims, hiring an attorney to assist is necessary to make sure your claim is complete and accurate. Your attorney will help you in many ways.

We will use our knowledge and skills with injury law to build you a robust and fact-based claim for compensation. We will thoroughly investigate the accident that caused your injury to determine who is liable and work hard to hold them to account. We will gather all documentation and evidence, speak to witnesses, and do the legwork to build your claim so you can concentrate on recovering from your injury.

Insurance companies can be hard to handle under favorable circumstances, but if you’re demanding a large settlement, they can make things very difficult for you. They will do everything in their power to keep from paying out large settlements, including using methods intended to trick you out of the full compensation you’re owed. They want you to accept the first settlement offer they give, and they certainly don’t want you to have it reviewed by a qualified attorney first. They may contact you immediately after the accident and ask that you sign a form releasing their client from liability. Your attorney will act as your representative when dealing with insurance adjusters to make sure they don’t take advantage of you.

Knowing how much compensation to demand after an accident is critical and takes an experienced lawyer to estimate accurately. Your attorney will help you find and quantify all the losses you’ve sustained due to the accident, material or immaterial, and reach a compensation number that fully restores you to your previous state.

Hiring a lawyer brings advantages you can’t get any other way.

Why Hire OnderLaw to Represent Me?

OnderLaw should be your first call after a preventable accident, and here’s why.

First, let’s not beat around the bush. We’re good at what we do. We have a proven record of success that our competitors could only dream of. We certainly can’t guarantee a positive outcome on every claim, but when you learn that we’ve obtained over $4 billion in settlements and awards since 2002, you know that our team has the skills and knowledge to get the job done right.

Second, our success has not changed who we are. Although our team of skilled, dedicated legal professionals has grown and changed over the last twenty years, we still believe in putting our clients first in every interaction. We understand what you and your family are going through, and we want to help in any way we can. No one should have to face a TBI alone. Although our stated goal is to get you as much compensation for your injury as possible, we will also provide the compassion and support you need during this stressful time.

Our wish to help those around us extends beyond our clients to the communities and organizations that we believe in. We provide charitable donations of time and money to groups like MADD, the Lupus Foundation of America, and Toys for Tots.

And finally, you’ll pay nothing upfront. Good legal help is expensive, which is why we work on contingency. Payment of our fee is contingent upon us getting you the help you need. We take a percentage of any settlement or award we obtain for you. If we aren’t successful in getting you some form of compensation, we don’t get paid.

Head to our Testimonials page to hear from some of our past clients.

Call OnderLaw Today

If you or someone you love suffered a TBI in California, you should contact OnderLaw right away. The first consultation is absolutely free, and we only take payment if we get you the compensation you need to move on after a TBI. Don’t delay any longer. Call today.