Brain injuries resulting from a violent external force, known as traumatic brain injuries (or TBIs), occur in a wide variety of scenarios. Perhaps the most common are motor vehicle accidents. But here in Coronado, home to elements of Naval Base Coronado and the warriors who live, work, and train there, we also know well how explosions and other battlefield incidents can inflict brain injuries on soldiers in theater and in training. A significant part of our practice focuses on representing Southern Californians who have suffered severe brain injuries. Over the years, we have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for brain injury victims, including a $16.2 million settlement of a slip and fall case in which our client sustained a “mild” TBI, and $13.5 million jury verdict for our client who sustained a TBI in an auto accident. We achieve those results through a combination of relentless diligence and detailed knowledge of personal injury law and the medical issues relevant to brain injuries. Of course, there is never a guarantee that a case will end in a significant monetary recovery. But we can guarantee that our experienced, compassionate lawyers and paralegals fight every case with determination and a commitment to achieving the best possible outcome for our client.

Brain Injury Overview

A brain injury consists, as the name suggests, of any sort of damage done to the brain. There are two broad categories of brain injury: traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and non-traumatic brain injuries. Both can have serious health and life consequences for their victims.

Traumatic Brain Injury

TBI occurs when a person sustains a bump, blow, jolt, or penetrating injury to the head that causes any alteration in consciousness. Force of this sort of trauma can bruise or tear brain tissue, break blood vessels, and sever connective nerve fibers in the brain even if the skull itself remains intact. Of course, if an object penetrates the skull, it directly causes damage to the brain. These injuries are known as “primary” brain injuries, because they are caused by the initial trauma. “Secondary” brain injuries often follow from primary ones. Bleeding and swelling can exert damaging pressure on brain tissue. Lack of blood flow can compromise brain cells. Resulting chemical changes in the brain can cause further harm. Traumatic brain injuries can range from minor concussions that heal in weeks or months to significant skull fractures and brain bleeds which can cause permanent injury or death. However, don’t let these terms fool you, even what is thought initially to be a mild concussion can have devastating lifelong effects. Concussions can leave victims with long-term motor, cognitive, and speech problems, among other symptoms. Doctors advise that a first concussion significantly increases the risk of getting a second concussion from an injury that occurs soon after the first one. That’s one reason the National Football League adopted its concussion protocol—to give players time to recover before subjecting their brains to more impact. Many TBIs, however, inflict even greater damage on the brain, leading to more severe and lasting symptoms. As cataloged here by Stanford Health, TBI can leave a victim struggling with a broad and varied collection of significant deficits:

• Cognitive deficits, such as coma, memory loss, difficulty with basic problem solving, and decreased awareness of self and others;
• Motor deficits, including paralysis, numbness, weakness, balance problems, and muscle control difficulty;
• Perceptual/sensory deficits, including changes to the senses and loss of a sense of where one’s limbs are in space;
• Communication/language deficits, including difficulty speaking, reading, and understanding language;
• Functional deficits that impair the injured person’s ability to perform daily personal or work activities;
• Social difficulties that make it difficult for the injured person to interact with others;
• Regulatory disturbances, such as insomnia, headaches, and loss of bladder/bowel control;
• Personality or psychiatric changes, such as mood swings, depression, and anxiety;
• Traumatic epilepsy, which causes seizures.

Which of these symptoms accompanies a TBI, and in what combination, depends entirely upon the damage done to the brain. From case-to-case, some or all of these symptoms may resolve over time, or may be permanent. Some may respond to therapy. Others may not. Some may appear immediately. Others may take time to develop. TBI victims and their loved ones often struggle with the variability and relative unpredictability of these symptoms.

Non-Traumatic Brain Injury

As its name suggests, non-traumatic brain injury (acquired brain injury) arises from circumstances other than a violent external trauma to the head. Stroke (a broken or blocked blood vessel in the brain), encephalitis (swelling in the brain), and cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) can all cause damage to the brain. They can result from any number of medical conditions or emergent situations, including a heart attack, infectious disease, and choking or drowning. Victims of a non-traumatic brain injury face the same potential constellation of debilitating symptoms, and the same difficult and uncertain path to recovery, as victims of TBI.

How Brain Injury Occurs

At Gomez Trial Attorneys, our clients have suffered TBI and non-traumatic brain injury from a wide variety of causes that were not their fault. Here are some of the more common:

• Motor vehicle accidents. By far the most common cause of TBI. In a car, truck, or bus crash, vehicle drivers and passengers frequently hit their heads against the interior of the vehicle, which leads to a TBI. Even when their heads do not strike anything in the course of an accident, motorists can also suffer TBI from the violent acceleration/deceleration forces involved in a crash.
• Motorcycle and bicycle accidents. In an accident, motorcycle and bicycle riders are often thrown to the ground or against another object (such as a vehicle or road barrier). TBI is one of the predictable results of this kind of trauma. Wearing a helmet significantly reduces the risk of a fatal or catastrophic TBI in these accidents. Under California law, all motorcycle riders and all bicycle riders (and skateboarders) under age 18 must wear a helmet when riding on public roads.
• Falls. Falling is one of the most common ways that older Californians, in particular, sustain serious TBIs. But people of all ages face a risk of TBI when they hit their head in a fall. These accidents frequently happen in public places, such as on slippery floors at a supermarket or on uneven steps at an office building, and on construction sites where workers do their jobs at high heights.
• Contact sports. Younger Californians, in particular, risk TBI (and, more commonly, concussion/mTBI) when they play contact sports. Current research suggests female athletes may run a higher risk of these injuries than male athletes. Across all athletes, a first concussion increases the risk of subsequent concussion. Parents, coaches, and young athletes should educate themselves on concussion risk.
• Explosions. Troops deployed overseas in combat areas, and emergency responders here at home, face a real and constant risk of TBI from exposure to blasts. The concussive force of a blast, even if it does not cause a penetrating injury or an impact to the head, can cause the same type of damage to the brain as the most violent car accident. Physicians sometimes refer to these injuries at blast-induced traumatic brain injury (or bTBI).
• Gunshot wounds. The most common form of penetrating TBI is a gunshot wound. Sadly, the most frequent of these is a self-inflicted wound, although any bullet wound to the head will likely cause massive damage to the brain. If you have feelings of self harm, or suspect a loved one has those feelings, seek help right away.
• Drowning. Drowning is a leading cause of non-traumatic brain injury, particularly in children. Drowning cuts off the supply of oxygen to the brain, leading to cell death. Drowning is frequently fatal, but even if the victim survives, primary and secondary brain injury commonly occurs.
• Medical error. A medical error, such as the failure to diagnose a dangerous condition or faulty dosing of medication can lead to a stroke, seizure, or other emergency medical condition that inflicts non-traumatic damage to the brain.

Legal Liability for Brain Injuries

Not all brain injuries result from someone else’s wrongful act. But many do. At Gomez Trial Attorneys, one of our most important jobs is to help brain injury victims and their families assess whether their condition resulted from another person’s or company’s careless, reckless, or intentionally harmful conduct. Below is a list of some of the parties who frequently face legal liability for damages when their actions cause someone to suffer a brain injury.

Motorists (and Those Responsible For Their Actions)

Just as motor vehicle accidents and motorcycle/bicycle accidents represent a leading cause of TBI, motorists who cause these accidents constitute the single largest group of Californians who face legal liability for causing a brain injury. Individuals who cause an accident while driving a personal vehicle typically carry insurance that should cover some portion of their victims’ injuries. The employers of individuals driving for work who hurt someone in an accident can also end up on the hook for paying damages for these injuries.

Property Owners/Occupants

In California, property owners and occupants have obligations for keeping the public safe from dangerous conditions on their properties. These obligations vary depending on the circumstances in which someone gets injured. But as a basic matter, business owners and operators face liability for brain injuries to people who slip and fall on their properties, and homeowners face liability for people hurt by an unreasonably dangerous condition on their properties. This includes any property owner who fails to keep children safe from so-called attractive nuisances on their properties, such as swimming pools or skate ramps. It may also include a property owner who fails to correct an unsafe condition that causes an explosion.

Coaches/Referees/Schools/Sports Leagues

As parents, we all accept some degree of risk on our children’s behalf when we sign them up for youth sports. But those risks do not have to include a coach, referee, school athletic program, or sports league condoning dangerous behavior or conditions on the court or field. When adults or institutions allow youth athletes to engage in unsafe behavior, or force them to practice or play in unsafe conditions, and those athletes end up with traumatic or non-traumatic brain injury, then those adults or institutions may face legal liability.

Manufacturers

We expect the consumer and commercial products we use every day at home and at work to perform as advertised. When those products contain defects that cause an accident, or fail to protect us from an accident, then the manufacturer faces legal liability for the harm done to us. This includes, for example, automotive manufacturers who sell defective vehicles that crash, and helmet manufacturers that do not meet safety specifications to protect us from impacts and blasts.

Medical Personnel

Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals owe the public a duty to provide a standard of care. They usually meet, and even exceed, that standard. But not always. Health care workers are humans, and like the rest of us, they make mistakes, sometimes really bad ones. When those mistakes cause a brain injury by, for example, inducing a stroke or seizure, the medical professionals may face legal liability.

Gomez Trial Attorneys: Your Coronado Brain Injury Lawyers

Brain injuries inflict significant physical, emotional, and financial pain on victims and their families. In Coronado, Gomez Trial Attorneys is the leading law firm for victims of these injuries. Contact us today or call (866) 395-6792 to learn how we can help you recover the compensation you deserve.