The brain is one of the most essential organs of the body, controlling thoughts, behavior, understanding, and all of the body’s involuntary and voluntary responses. For that reason, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) constitute one of the most complex and life-altering injuries a person can suffer. They can come with enormous financial burdens, not to mention the extraordinary non-economic impacts a TBI can inflict on a victim’s life and his or her family.
If you have suffered a brain injury as a result of someone else’s careless or reckless actions, then you may have the right to obtain substantial compensation. The experienced brain injury lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys have the skill and resources to help.
If you or your loved one suffered a brain injury due to the reckless or careless actions of someone else, the experienced brain injury lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys would like to help you understand your legal options for recovering damages through a brain injury lawsuit.
Our dedicated brain injury practice includes a brain injury client liaison who helps brain injury survivors and their families understand the medical and legal issues they’re going through. He also helps us to better understand and communicate with those suffering from TBIs.
Some of the other services we provide for our brain injury clients include:
Over the years, we have recovered more than $500 million for our clients. The compensation we have obtained in just a few brain injury cases alone include:
We cannot promise similar results in every case, but we do believe that our reputation can precede us, and that defense lawyers know to take our clients and their cases seriously. Please call us now to see if you can benefit from our representation.
A traumatic brain injury is a type of brain injury that occurs when a sudden trauma—such as a violent blow or jolt to the head or body—causes brain damage. Some of the common sources of this type of injury include:
The brain has only limited ability to heal itself, which means TBIs often result in permanent impairments and disabilities. The nature and persistence of symptoms of a TBI depend not only on the severity of the injury itself but also on which area of the brain sustained damage. The brain contains sections, known as lobes, which control different functions in the body.
Here is a look at those lobes, which functions they control, and which deficits are commonly associated with damage to that part of the brain:
The deficits incurred through a traumatic brain injury also depend on the side of the brain that suffered the injury. Both the left and right side of the brain are responsible for different functions and traits:
Because damage sustained by an initial injury to the brain is often permanent, early treatment of a brain injury seeks to prevent further damage from occurring. About half of all brain-injured individuals require surgery to control bleeding, remove an object that has entered the skull and penetrated the brain, or to place a shunt to drain cerebrospinal fluid away from the brain. Another important aspect involved in early treatment includes ensuring that the brain and other parts of the body are receiving an adequate supply of oxygen.
After doctors stabilize the patient and prevent further damage, the patient typically receives various therapies to learn to live with the existing damage, including physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
“Brain injuries are complex and require specialized experience and understanding. Brain injury survivors and their families require understanding and empathetic care. For those reasons, I am proud to announce the launch of our law firm’s dedicated Brain Injury Practice group. Chaired by Senior Trial Attorney Benjamin Coughlan, the sitting Vice President of the San Diego Brain Injury Foundation and editor of the Journey Toward Recovery: A Brain Injury Guide for Survivors, we provide experienced, dedicated legal care and services to survivors of brain injuries of all types. Call or write today to learn more about our impressive credentials, experience, and services or to find out how we can help a brain injury victim that you may know.”
In addition to the severe deficits that result from the injury itself, traumatic brain injuries also frequently result in serious complications, including:
Around 60 percent of the individuals who have suffered a brain injury remain unemployed two years after the injury takes place. More than half of the nation’s homeless population is living with brain injuries that were either acquired as a result of homelessness or were the catalyst for the homelessness occurring. These statistics are testimony to the severe impacts that a brain injury places on every aspect of the injured person’s life.
Some of those impacts include:
If you or your loved one suffered any kind of brain injury (even a so-called mild one) as a result of someone else’s careless or reckless actions, then you may have the legal right to receive substantial compensation. The sooner you get started, the better your chances of recovering the compensation you need and deserve after suffering a traumatic brain injury.
The skilled brain injury lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys have garnered national recognition for the quality of service they provide to their clients. We also frequently team with an impressive network of brain injury attorneys from across the nation in representing TBI victims in every corner of the United States. For a free, confidential, no-obligation initial case evaluation, contact the brain injury legal team at Gomez Trial Attorneys online or by calling (619) 237-3490.
Call or write today to learn more about our impressive credentials, experience, and services or to find out how we can help a brain injury victim that you may know.”
The brain is a complex organ responsible for controlling voluntary and involuntary functions of the entire body. The brain has only a limited ability to heal itself after injury. Because of this, brain injuries rank among the most serious and life-altering injuries that a person can suffer.
If you or your loved one sustained a brain injury because of the careless or reckless actions of someone else, you undoubtedly have many questions about what the future holds, how you will pay for medical treatment, and what the legal process is for obtaining the compensation you need for your recovery. Here are answers to some of the questions clients most frequently ask us about brain injuries.
No, they are quite common. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), usually caused by a violent blow or jolt to the head or body, constitute a major cause of death and disability in the U.S., leading to more than 2 million visits to hospital emergency departments each year. Around two percent of Americans—roughly 6 million people—live with a brain injury.
The symptoms and effects of a traumatic brain injury can impact every part of a victim’s life, including the ability to work or go to school, to participate in community life, and to sustain personal relationships. At home, a traumatic brain injury can upend family dynamics. The injured person’s spouse or children often find themselves thrust into the role of the victim’s caregiver. Families living with a loved one who has suffered a TBI can feel as though no one else understands what they’re going through.
If you have suffered a brain injury that was caused by someone else’s carelessness or recklessness, generally the process you would use to obtain compensation for your expenses is a personal injury lawsuit. A personal injury lawsuit is a civil action in which the injured person (with the help of an experienced brain injury lawyer) proves someone else’s legal liability and seeks damages (usually money) as compensation. The vast majority of these cases settle out-of-court through negotiation between the injured person’s attorney and the liable party’s insurance provider and/or defense attorney. However, some cases do not settle and instead go to trial, where a judge or jury resolves them in court.
Many individuals who have endured a brain injury struggle to return to work in their former job or capacity. Some might continue working with the help of accommodations by their employer, while others may never work again. Research shows that 60 percent of brain-injured adults are unemployed two years after suffering their injuries.
One of the services an experienced brain injury attorney can provide is to explore a TBI victim’s avenues for replacing income lost because of an inability to work. That may include pursuing disability benefits from public or private insurance plans. It also often includes seeking compensation for that current and future lost income through a lawsuit.
Yes, they absolutely can in many cases. Regardless of the words doctors use to classify a brain injury, there is nothing “mild” about suffering a TBI. So-called mild traumatic brain injuries can inflict permanent damage and cause debilitating problems such as chronic headaches, memory loss, persistent fatigue, brain fog, cognitive and emotional difficulties, and motor impairments, among others. These problems can interfere with a victim’s ability to work or go to school and have widespread impacts on a person’s lifestyle and relationships. These harms deserve compensation no matter how a doctor classifies the severity of the injury that causes them.
Damages refer to (typically) money you might recover to pay for the expenses and life impacts caused by your TBI. In a lawsuit, a lawyer will often seek to obtain two categories of damages for the injured person.
The costs of treating a TBI can range from $85,000 to $3 million by some estimates. These economic damages may include:
Non-economic damages that may include:
No lawyer can guarantee you will recover all, or even any, of these categories of damages in a lawsuit. To give yourself the best shot at obtaining compensation, however, work with an experienced brain injury attorney.
First, a lawyer handles the job of proving liability on your behalf. Your job is to focus on healing from your injury.
Lawyers prove someone else’s liability for your injury by collecting and presenting evidence that:
Generally, an employer’s workers’ compensation insurance protects employees against the costs associated with a workplace injury. Employees covered by workers’ comp usually do not have the option of suing their employer for an injury.
However, an injured worker might have the ability to take legal action against a third party (someone who is not the employer or a co-worker) in some cases. For example, if you suffered injuries in a crash while driving a company vehicle for work, you may have a third-party claim against another driver who caused the accident.
An experienced brain injury attorney studies the details of your case to determine which sources of compensation you may have available for a workplace brain injury.
Contrary to popular belief, the prognosis for children who have experienced a brain injury is not better than that of adults. Many of the symptoms of the injury in children will not become apparent for quite some time, as the child’s brain continues to develop and the child faces increased expectations, both cognitively and socially.
Children with brain injuries often require assistance in school to help them stay motivated, engaged, and socially functional. This may involve giving children additional time to complete assignments or tests; to test orally or through multiple choice rather than essay-format; to access recordings or videos of lessons taught to assist with memory deficits, and to take more frequent breaks to counter fatigue.
Because settlement amounts depend on the expenses and life impacts experienced as a result of a brain injury, there is no average settlement. Brain injuries cause a wide range of health and life complications for victims, making each brain injury case unique.
Factors that can influence the amount of money a victim might receive include:
Yes, you do. In fact, not only do you need an attorney to handle your case, you need legal counsel who has specific experience in representing brain injury victims. Brain injuries are extraordinarily complex and expensive to treat. Lifetime costs of medical treatment alone for a TBI can range from tens-of-thousands to millions of dollars. An attorney experienced in brain injury cases has the know-how to evaluate your present and future financial needs and entitlements, to ensure you seek (and hopefully recover) the maximum amount allowed under the law.
But that’s not all. A skilled brain injury lawyer can also:
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