After a traumatic brain injury, you deserve compassionate California legal expertise to pursue full and fair compensation.

One of the worst outcomes of any accident is a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The human brain is a vulnerable organ that can experience permanent, life-altering damage from an impact that lasts mere moments.

TBIs take many forms, from minor to severe. The most minor form of a TBI is a minor concussion that lasts briefly, where any damage is small and temporary. On the other hand, severe TBIs involve lasting brain damage, loss of function, and permanent disability.

What would you do if you or a family member suffered a TBI that was someone else’s fault? The lifetime costs of a severe TBI are typically between $85,000 to $3 million, not to mention the extensive damages to your lifestyle, career, and relationships.

You don’t have to fight this battle alone at a stressful time in your life. As traumatic brain injury lawyers, the team at Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers has seen a wide variety of tragic circumstances that led to TBIs. Our clients come to us for compassionate legal representation in complex cases that take extensive legal experience.

Contact us now for a free TBI accident evaluation and continue reading for more information about the causes, types, and effects of TBIs for injured victims in the state of California.

What Happens In a Traumatic Brain Injury?

During a traumatic injury, the brain experiences physical damage plus biochemical and psychological responses that can further damage the brain and body. Brain cells and neural connections are instantly severed or die off slowly, and substances are released within the brain that can lead to secondary cell death.

If an object strikes or passes through the brain, it can shatter the skull bones and create a cascade of additional damage to the brain and surrounding tissues. This may be so extensive that the brain damage becomes irreparable, even with treatment from the world’s best doctors and surgeons.

For the patient, a severe brain injury is horrifically traumatic inside and out. As they struggle to cope with a sudden impact to the brain, emergency responders rush to the scene to help them survive. Without emergency intervention and support, TBIs can be severely disabling or fatal.

How a Brain Injury Affects Your Life

After a TBI, you’ll have an extended period of recovery time, which could involve asking for extra support from friends and loved ones. Soon, you’ll be facing a pile of medical bills and other costs that come with a TBI. 

Severe brain damage brings considerable health and mobility challenges that could completely change your life. Small daily tasks that used to be no problem for you become extremely difficult and time-consuming. Recovery from a severe TBI typically takes months or even years as you cope with re-learning how to think, walk, understand your emotions, and recover your dexterity.

You may have trouble accomplishing things like dressing yourself, caring for your children, grocery shopping, attending appointments, and paying your bills. A severe brain injury may leave you temporarily or permanently unable to work and earn a living.

As you try to recover after your accident, save your medical paperwork, prescription copay receipts, and any other documentation that shows your extensive costs from the TBI. This is the kind of evidence that will help you build a strong legal case for brain injury compensation.

How to Start the Legal Process for TBI Compensation

When you’re able, contact a catastrophic injury lawyer or work with a friend or family member who can assist you with securing legal representation. Only a California brain injury lawyer with adequate experience can help you pursue the full compensation you deserve in such a complex and traumatic situation.

If there is a silver lining to this situation, it’s that you may have a strong case for injury compensation against the person who hurt you. Even in the worst TBI cases, you don’t usually need to go to court to resolve your case. At Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers, our team of attorneys can negotiate a valuable insurance settlement that keeps you out of court and allows you to focus on healing. 

We know how to apply an array of effective techniques in TBI cases that can help you maximize your claim instead of wasting time on efforts that won’t lead to compensation. For example, we may be able to negotiate with your medical providers to lower your bills to more reasonable levels, since TBI costs can be so extreme. We can also help you give the proper value to your immense pain and suffering, which raises the overall value of your case.

Causes of California TBIs

California car accidents are among the top causes of TBIs in our state. Other common causes include violence, falls, firearms, and personal injury accidents where a dangerous situation causes someone to suffer a sudden brain injury.

On the road, TBIs commonly happen in the types of high-impact multi-vehicle crashes that close down California freeways as crews clear away the crash debris. These are among the worst and most expensive injuries that California ER doctors see.

Most common causes of TBIs:

  • Car accidents
  • Truck accidents
  • Motorcycle, bike, and scooter accidents
  • Pedestrian accidents
  • Gunfire
  • Assaults/violence
  • Falls
  • Personal injuries

Other causes of TBIs:

  • Golf cart accidents
  • ATV/UTV accidents
  • Boating accidents
  • Sports accidents 
  • Crushing injuries
  • Workplace accidents
  • Explosions and fires
  • Natural disasters

In the past 20 years, the nation has seen a rise in sports and recreation-related TBIs. This is due in part to the new availability of high-powered ATVs, UTVs, four-wheelers, watersports vehicles, speedboats, mountain bikes, mountain-climbing gear, and more.

Alcohol also plays a role in some TBIs. Intoxication is a significant factor in traumatic injuries that accounts for one-tenth of the total impact of alcohol on U.S. human health. When someone ingests alcohol, they are at a higher risk of hurting themselves or others in a severe accident.

Have you ever wondered where you’re most likely to experience a brain injury? The top two locations of severe and traumatic injuries are at work and while driving. You’re at the highest risk of a TBI when you’re doing normal daily activities, either at work or traveling along familiar streets.

Across the U.S., more than 3 million nonfatal but severe injuries arise from car accidents every year according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This means people are surviving millions of accidents, but they have major injuries like TBIs.

Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries

In the medical world, brain injuries are divided into the following eight categories:

Concussions

A concussion is caused by a knock or blow to the head that causes the brain to move within the brain cavity and experience mild to severe damage. Concussion symptoms include headache, dizziness, vomiting, trouble walking, memory loss, vision/hearing loss, and fatigue.

Contusions

A brain contusion is a wound that occurs in the brain as the result of an injury. Blood and other substances are released within the brain, causing damage, clots, and other problems that are difficult for the body to heal. Contusions are common with skull fractures.

Brain hemorrhages

Brain hemorrhages are brain bleeds that are often classified as a type of stroke. The bleeding may be uncontrolled or controlled and can cause damage like an inability to walk, talk, see, or think. Brain surgery may be required to stop the bleeding and limit the damage to the brain and body.

Intracranial hematomas

These hematomas are areas of pooled blood commonly associated with ruptured blood vessels. They severely impact the brain’s ability to function and require emergency intervention from a brain surgeon.

Coup-contrecoup brain injury

This type of brain injury exists on the opposite side of the head from where the actual impact occurred and arises due to the back-and-forth motion of the head during an accident. These are deep and complex brain injuries.

Diffuse axonal injury

Diffuse brain injuries involve the ripping and tearing of fibrous areas in and around the brain. Patients with diffuse axonal injuries typically experience comas and loss of consciousness.

Penetrating brain injury

A penetrating brain injury occurs when an object pierces into the brain and either exits the skull or remains lodged inside the brain cavity. In addition to the conditions described above, these injuries introduce the possibility of severe infections or extreme blood loss that puts the patient’s life at risk.

Second impact syndrome

SIS involves multiple concussions or a secondary impact that compounds the destructive influence on the brain. Patients with SIS have a particularly difficult time recovering from their brain injuries and may experience challenging symptoms for months or years afterward.

California Truck Accidents Causing TBIs

Here in California, truck accidents are among the most severe accidents on our roads. Even a low-speed, minor accident can leave someone with a TBI like a concussion, hemorrhage, or hematoma.

The good news is that trucking companies are heavily monitored by federal agencies and must carry ample trucking insurance in California. A victim who has a TBI from a trucking accident has a difficult road ahead, but they have a good chance of recovering high-dollar compensation to cover their costs.

California Motorcycle Accidents Causing TBIs

If your TBI arises from a motorcycle accident, you may face numerous other physical challenges from the accident too. Motorcyclists’ brains and bodies are exposed to the forces of a destructive traffic accident.

Many California law offices claim to handle motorcycle accidents, but not all have the experience to handle motorcycle accidents with severe TBIs. Make sure you work with a lawyer who’s willing to fight an uphill battle against another driver who might hold unfair biases against bikers, plus their insurance company that could resist paying. You have rights under the law and you deserve excellent legal representation.

California Pedestrian Accidents Causing TBIs

Is your TBI from a pedestrian accident? Were you hit while walking along the road, in a crosswalk, on a sidewalk, in a park, or somewhere else here in California? Especially in the big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, pedestrian accidents are all too common. 

Vehicles go zooming through pedestrian zones and cause horrific accidents. The person who hit you could have been drunk, drugged, drowsy, or just too distracted to drive safely and avoid pedestrians. Pedestrians have significant legal protections in California, so protect your rights and pursue high-dollar compensation for your TBI.

Starting a California Injury Claim for Your TBI

After a traumatic brain injury, you’ll probably have a trip to the ER plus brain surgery, medical appointments, and a long recovery process. During this difficult time, you’ll need to decide on your next steps in a financial and legal sense.

If you’re able to do so, gather evidence from the scene of your TBI before it’s lost to the passage of time. Secure as many videos and/or photos of the scene of the accident as possible and get a copy of the police report. Keep a journal of your daily struggles that show the full impact on your life.

Call your lawyer before speaking to the insurance company or signing anything. They may ask you to make a recorded statement and try to get your private information, like your social security number, but you’re within your rights to decline and refer them to your lawyer.

Don’t take a fast or lowball offer! If the insurance company or someone else makes you a deal that seems too good to be true, it probably is – or it’s a deal that you could come to regret later. Your TBI lawyer will help you get the full and fair value of your brain injury claim, which is rarely the amount the insurance company offers first.

A TBI is life-changing, so you might be tempted to talk about it on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media. Resist this urge and keep your TBI off social media and the internet in general. Your words could be twisted to alter the outcome of your case, so it’s better to remain silent online.

Finally, keep in mind that there is a strict legal time limit on filing a TBI lawsuit, which is known as the statute of limitations. For most accidents in California, this is within two years of the date of the accident or for a government-related case, within six months of the date of your traumatic brain injury. Please don’t miss out on pursuing the TBI accident compensation you deserve!

We Handle Your Traumatic Brain Injury Claim So You Can Focus on Your Recovery

After a traumatic brain injury, contact the attorneys at Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers. We handle many areas of the law, including claims for traumatic brain injuries from car, truck, motorcycle, and pedestrian accidents in California. We believe you should be able to focus on recovering while we handle the legal details. 

We truly care about California’s injured people. Contact us today for a free online case evaluation or call 877-380-8852.