How Much is Your Brain Injury Case Worth?

Traumatic brain injuries are among the most serious injuries a person can sustain in his or her lifetime. Often referred to as “TBIs,” these injuries can occur in any accident in which a person can hit his or her head, and they often occur in car accidents, bicycle accidents, slip and fall accidents, workplace accidents, and recreational accidents.

Fortunately for victims, when brain injuries are caused by the negligence of other people, Tennessee law allows them to recover compensation for their accident-related losses. In many cases, brain injury victims experience both economic and non-economic losses like medical expenses, lost income, physical and emotional pain and suffering, and lost quality of life. To find out whether you have a claim and how much it may be worth, you should reach out to a personal injury in Nashville for a free case evaluation today.

Factors that Affect Brain Injury Settlements

While all brain injuries are a serious matter that require medical attention, they can vary widely in severity. For example, mild brain injuries like concussions can result in symptoms that will clear up in a few days or weeks with nothing more than rest and avoiding too much mental stimulation. On the other hand, more serious brain injuries can leave victims with long-term problems with movement, memory, problem solving, and communication.

Because the severity of brain injuries can vary so widely, so can the settlements or awards that brain injury victims receive. Some of the factors that can affect the value of your brain injury case include:

• The severity of your injury
• Your prognosis
• Whether you are likely to suffer any long-term physical or cognitive disabilities
• Your age
• Your occupation'
• Whether your own negligence contributed to the accident that caused your brain injury
• The at-fault party's insurance policy limits

Determining the short and long-term costs associated with a brain injury can be extremely complicated, and it often requires much more than adding up your medical bills and lost income. In many cases, accurately assessing the long-term costs of a brain injury requires the assistance of financial and medical experts who can estimate how much the injury will cost you over the course of your life. Because of these issues, anyone with a severe brain injury should contact an attorney prior to accepting any settlement offer they receive.

The Potential Long-Term Consequences of a Severe TBI

One of the main factors that will determine how much your case is worth is whether you will have any long-term issues as a result of your traumatic brain injury. When TBIs are severe, they can injure the brain in such a way as to make a full recovery unlikely. Some of the more common long-term issues associated with severe TBIs include:

• Headaches and migraines
• Dizziness
• Ongoing sensitivity to light and sound
• Visions problems
• Seizures
• Depression
• Memory problems
• Aggression and changes in personality
• Issues with learning, understanding, and judgment
• Problems with language and communication

In the most severe cases, victims may require around-the-clock medical care and may be unable to work ever again.

In cases involving long-term complications or disabilities, victims are often entitled to compensation for a lifetime of damages. For this reason, it's critical that they retain an experienced lawyer who knows how to get injured victims the compensation they deserve.

Do You Need a Lawyer to Settle Your Brain Injury Case?

If your brain injury occurred in an accident caused by someone else, there is a good chance that your case is going to be resolved by reaching a settlement with the at-fault party's insurance company. Before you decide that you can handle settlement negotiations on your own, consider the fact that insurance companies work hard to settle every case for as little as possible and have no compunction about settling your case for less than it is actually worth. In fact, if they can find a way to deny your claim entirely, they will certainly do so.

Some of the ways that insurance companies try and minimize brain injury settlement include:

• Making unreasonably low initial settlement offers
• Requesting overbroad medical record authorizations in order to find evidence of “preexisting conditions”
• Misrepresenting victims' legal rights (for example, suggesting that they are not entitled to compensation for future losses)
• Waiting until medical bills have piled up to make a settlement offer
• Pressuring victims to provide a recorded statement in an effort to get them to say things that may hurt their claims
• Advising victims that they will obtain less compensation if they retain an attorney

For this reason, it's highly advisable to retain an attorney to represent you in your brain injury cases, even if there is little chance that it is going to end up in court. An attorney familiar with brain injury litigation and the insurance claims process can ensure that your rights are protected when dealing with the insurance company.

How Much Does a Brain Injury Attorney Cost?

If you or a loved one are dealing with a brain injury, you may be worried about the cost associated with retaining a brain injury attorney to represent you. At Labrum Law, we use a contingency-fee arrangement to work with all of our brain injury victim clients. That means that you will never owe us anything for legal fees unless we win your case. If we do obtain compensation for you and your family, our legal fees will be subtracted from your settlement or award before you receive it, so you will never have to pay out of pocket for legal representation.

Call Us Today to Speak with a Personal Injury Attorney in Nashville

If you have sustained a traumatic brain injury or any other type of injury in a preventable accident, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced lawyer immediately. At Labrum Law, we are committed to helping injured victims obtain the compensation they deserve and know how to get insurance companies to pay up. To schedule your free case evaluation with an injury lawyer in Nashville, call our office today at (615) 338-9500 or contact us online.