If you or a loved one has experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by someone else’s negligence, it is important to know your legal rights.
Brain injury cases can be complex, but worth the effort to obtain meaningful compensation to help victims and their families.
It is important to work with an experienced Glendale brain injury lawyer who understands how to navigate the California legal system and the nuances associated with traumatic brain injury cases.
You have already been through enough. Let the team of qualified brain injury attorneys at Peerali Law fight on your behalf.
Why Is Legal Counsel Important in a Brain Injury Claim?
Unfortunately, brain injuries can be difficult to diagnose even with image scans and other modern medical testing capabilities. Another complicating factor is the often delayed onset of symptoms.
This can make it more difficult to prove causation if there is a significant stretch of time between the accident causing the TBI and a brain injury diagnosis.
Also, depending on how the injury occurred, there may be more than one legally liable party. To be successful, you must file a strong case against the person actually responsible for your injury.
Your Glendale brain injury lawyer can help you make sure you know who is liable and present a compelling case.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury is generally caused by a sudden impact to the head, disrupting the brain when it moves unexpectedly against the inside of the skull.
Anyone can experience a TBI and over 2.8 million Americans sustain a brain injury every year. TBI is a broad term that can describe a number of brain injuries that vary in severity. It is worth noting that any disruption to the brain can be traumatic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 176 Americans died from TBI-related injuries each day in 2020 and there were more than 223,000 TBI-related hospitalizations in 2019.
Data from the Brain Injury Association of America states that one in every 60 people has a TBI-related disability, culminating in around 5.3 million people total. This data also states that one person in the U.S. sustains a brain injury every nine seconds.
Types of Brain Injuries
The amount of compensation you can receive for a brain injury depends largely on the type of TBI and how it has impacted or will impact your overall well-being, including your physical, mental, emotional, and financial health.
The damage can be confined to one area of the brain (focal) or more than one area of the brain (diffuse). Your Glendale brain injury lawyer can help ensure you receive a proper diagnosis that will hold up in court so that you can get the proper compensation.
Concussion
The most common and well-known traumatic brain injury is the concussion. A concussion is caused by a severe head impact which causes the brain to hit against the skull wall with sudden force.
This can arise in countless situations that could include your head hitting a hard floor in a slip and fall accident, or a collision between two football helmets. Concussions can be minor or severe.
Skull Fracture
Unlike most other bones throughout the body, the skull does not contain adipose (yellow) bone marrow. That means the skull is extremely tough and difficult to break. A fractured skull, no matter how severe, constitutes a medical emergency.
Hematoma or Blood Clot
A hematoma is a collection or clotting of blood outside the blood vessel. In its most basic form, a hematoma is a simple bruise. In many cases, like on a shin or an arm, a bruise is not very serious, but any brain bleeding can be traumatic.
Clotting can lead to pressure build-up in the skull and can cause you to lose consciousness. Some cases may require surgery to avoid catastrophic results.
Hemorrhage
A hemorrhage is uncontrolled bleeding, and nothing about that is good. There are two different kinds of hemorrhages and each poses its own problem.
A subarachnoid hemorrhage is bleeding in the space around your brain and can cause headaches and vomiting. An intracerebral hemorrhage is bleeding within your brain tissue and can cause pressure build-up. In either case, the bleeding must be stopped to avoid serious damage.
Edema (Swelling)
Any injury to the brain can cause edema, which is essentially swelling. The skull is solid and does not flex or stretch. There is no way for it to accommodate brain swelling.
Diffuse Axonal Injury
A diffuse axonal injury is the tearing of the long connecting nerve fibers in the brain. This occurs when the brain shifts and rotates inside the skull. This type of brain injury is hard to detect but can result in a coma, permanent brain damage, or even death.
Penetration
A penetrating brain injury occurs when an object goes through the skull and touches the brain. This type of injury constitutes an extreme emergency and often results in permanent brain damage.
Coup-Contrecoup
A coup-contrecoup injury occurs when the brain shifts suddenly from one side of the skull to another. This can happen when one side of the skull impacts something like a wall or steering wheel with such force that the brain rebounds and hits the opposite side of the skull.
What Are Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries?
Falls are responsible for nearly half of all hospitalizations related to traumatic brain injuries. Sometimes these occur because of a person’s clumsiness or lack of attentiveness.
But falls that occur because of broken stairways, product malfunctions, or slippery surfaces on someone else’s property are just a few examples of situations that could result in a premise liability lawsuit.
Vehicle accidents are also common causes of brain injuries, along with sports injuries and explosions. There is a lot to consider when determining who is legally responsible for causing your injury. This is another reason that working with an experienced brain injury attorney can significantly help your case.
What Is the Average Brain Injury Settlement in Glendale?
Every brain injury claim is unique, which makes it nearly impossible to determine an average brain injury settlement amount. There are many factors that impact the value of such a settlement.
Some of the primary considerations include the monetary costs associated with treatment and the overall impact the accident has and will have on your life.
The skill and experience of your Glendale brain injury lawyer can also make a difference in your outcome. Depending on your specific circumstance, a brain injury settlement may include compensation for the following:
- Current and future medical expenses,
- Lost wages and loss of future earning potential,
- Physical and cognitive therapy,
- Costs of long-term care,
- Pain and suffering,
- Depression, and
- Post-traumatic stress.
Brain injuries can range from mild and temporary to debilitating and permanent. It is important to get an accurate prognosis from a qualified medical professional to help understand what your future expenses may look like.
Contact a Glendale Brain Injury Lawyer
At Peerali Law, we specialize in crafting innovative and creative legal solutions for complex catastrophic injury cases.
We have secured millions of dollars on behalf of victims in and around Glendale—and though each case is unique, we are committed to achieving maximum compensation for you.
At the core of our practice, our brain injury attorneys believe that persistence, passion, and creativity bring forth outstanding results for our clients. We’re here to help. Contact us to schedule your free case consultation.