Experienced Brain Injury Lawyers

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Experienced Brain Injury Lawyers

Why Do You Need an Experienced Brain Injury Lawyer?

Brain injuries require long-term, consistent care. The losses suffered by one person’s injury impact their colleagues, friends, and family. The financial support you’re able to secure through a settlement or verdict directly affects your health prospects and the quality of your life.

Data discussed by Harvard Medical School shows that the clinical decisions made in the first few weeks after a brain injury have a long-lasting effect on a person’s recovery prospects. Steady treatment, especially in the first year after a brain injury, is vital to preserve cognitive function and regain key skills. A delay or interruption in treatment could mean the difference between regaining an independent life and requiring a residential facility.

A brain injury lawsuit can help you access the funds you need to recover. By pursuing all available avenues of compensation, you could afford a better health outcome and help ensure your family’s financial security. An experienced lawyer has the skills to fully investigate your injury and hold all liable parties accountable, which allows you to access crucial funds.

The attorneys at Hodes Milman invest our full effort and resources into every case we build, leaving no stone unturned when seeking resources for our clients. Reach out to us to schedule an appointment online, or call our Irvine, California offices directly at (949) 640-8222. Let us handle the work of a lawsuit so that you can focus on healing.

A female patient wearing a green gown sits in a hospital bed as her doctor explains the results of a brain scan.

How Much Is My Brain Injury Claim Worth?

The amount you may potentially secure from a brain injury lawsuit depends on two key components:

  1. The damages you’ve suffered
  2. The ability of your attorney to effectively prove those losses

Here is how these two elements can result in a successful settlement or verdict:

  • Economic Damages: These are monetary losses that are often represented in documents like receipts for medical care, or pay stubs detailing the amount of wages lost if you were out of work after the accident.
    • Your lawyer gathers these documents, and uses them to determine the amounts needed for ongoing medical care or future lost wages. The attorney also investigates for other relevant losses, like the cost of travel to and from physical therapy.
  • Noneconomic Damages: Pain and suffering caused by your accident could include physical injury, psychological stress, and marital or family strife.
    • Your lawyer may subpoena notes from your psychiatrist that show conditions like PTSD or depression. An attorney can also hire expert witnesses to testify on how one person’s catastrophic brain injury impacts their spouse or children. This information helps describe in legally-understood terms what a loss of “quality of life” entails in your case.
  • Punitive Damages: These are punishment damages that may be charged to the other party and then awarded to you by the judge. These payments are in addition to any other damages awards.
    • An experienced attorney may find proof that the person or entity that caused your injury acted recklessly or maliciously. Such evidence could result in further compensation for your family.

For the surviving family members of someone who died due to a brain injury or resulting complications, damages in a wrongful death claim can cover both economic and noneconomic losses. That means both end-of-life expenses like funeral costs, and noneconomic damages like the loss of a person’s unique companionship.

 

Contact Hodes Milman at (949) 640-8222 to get started with a free consultation to discuss your legal options.

How Do You Prove Traumatic Brain Injury?

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), traumatic brain injury is medically diagnosed by symptoms in the following categories:

  • Thinking and learning: Difficulty in thinking clearly, speaking, writing, concentrating, or remembering
  • Motor skills, hearing, and vision: Weakness in limbs, problems with balance and coordination, and changes in sensory perception (touch, sound, and visuals)
  • Mood and behavior: Volatile emotions like anxiety, aggression, or depression that result in an inability to control impulses, a personality change, or attempts at self-harm

When it comes to proving a traumatic brain injury in legal negotiations or at trial, evidence may come in the form of:

  • A doctor’s testimony about your specific injuries and outlook
  • Expert witnesses and research that can project your long-term recovery needs and calculate their cost
  • Evidentiary items like x-rays or cognitive test results to provide a full understanding of the abilities lost or diminished

By hiring an attorney to represent you, you can focus your energy on healing, restoring your life after an accident, and spending precious time with your loved one. Empower a lawyer to handle negotiations on your behalf.

It is your lawyer’s job to obtain and prepare the elements of proof, not yours. Contact Hodes Milman at (949) 640-8222 for full-service representation.

What Is the Average Payout for Head Injury?

There is no one number that can summarize an “average” payout for a brain or head injury. However, data compiled by Northwestern University shows:

  • Treatment for traumatic brain injury patients can cost between $85,000 and $3 million over a lifetime.
  • The unemployment rate is 55% higher for an adult with a brain injury two years after diagnosis, compared to the national average.
  • According to estimates, roughly 53% of people experiencing homelessness are affected by a brain injury.

Without proper financial and medical support, a brain injury could drastically downgrade a person’s quality of life. The sooner you have an attorney working to secure compensation, the better you’re situated for a stable future.

Can I Sue for Head Injury? Contact Hodes Milman

You may be able to sue for a head injury, regardless of whether it was caused due to a car accident, unsafe premises, medical malpractice/negligence, or some other form of personal injury. If you or a loved one have suffered from a preventable head or brain injury, you have the right to pursue justice.

Our case results at Hodes Milman show proven experience, including multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts for brain injury cases like:

  • $5.7 million for a pregnant woman injured during medical care
  • $4.3 million for a 30-year-old man robbed of his prime
  • $2.5 million for brain damage caused on an infant

When brain injury cases cross into other legal areas such as children’s rights or elder abuse, we are fully prepared to handle all aspects of the case.

Reach out to Hodes Milman via our online contact form, or by calling (949) 640-8222. No matter how complex a case may seem, those are challenges we have met and overcome before on behalf of our clients. You can rest easier knowing that our lawyers will be by your side until your case is resolved.

Brain Injury Lawsuit FAQs

What are the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury (TBI)?

The symptoms of a traumatic brain injury include:

  • Nausea, vomiting, or bad taste in mouth
  • Enlargement of pupils, sensitivity to light, or blurred vision
  • Loss of consciousness or lightheadedness
  • Ringing in the ears or sensitivity to sound
  • Headaches, confusion, or loss of coordination
  • Slurred speech
  • Sleepiness or inability to wake from sleep
  • Unexplained seizures or numbness in limbs

If you or someone you know has any of the above symptoms after experiencing head trauma, seek medical attention immediately. Keep in mind that there could be a delay in noticeable symptoms after an accident — signs of injury may not manifest until days or weeks after the incident. These symptoms should be treated as an emergency no matter how much time has passed since the initial injury.

What are the common causes of brain injuries?

The most common causes of brain injuries and TBIs include:

  • Slips and falls, which are responsible for 28% of TBIs in the U.S., and the leading cause of TBIs for children, and adults over the age of 75
  • Motor vehicle accidents, which are the second leading cause of TBIs, accounting for 20% of TBIs in the U.S. and mostly affecting people between the ages of 15 and 19
  • Collision and impact damage caused in sports injuries and non-motorized impacts like bicycle and skating accidents
  • Velocity injuries like whiplash or shaken baby syndrome
  • Attempted suicides

Causes of brain injury may also stem from child abuse, domestic violence, and industrial accidents. They can happen in many situations that are a part of everyday life.

What are the different types of brain injury?

The severity of a TBI will depend upon two factors: the type and amount of force impacting the head, and whether it is a closed or penetrating injury. Different types of brain injury include:

  • Concussions: Closed-head injuries that occur when an object impacts the head but does not harm the skull
  • Skull fractures: A break in the cranial bone caused by blunt force to the head with an object, hitting your head on the ground after falling, or during a car accident.
  • Penetrating injuries: When the skull is pierced or fractured by an object and damages the underlying brain tissue.]
  • Contusions: Contusions form a bruise or bleeding on the brain tissue, and are often the result of a direct impact to the head.
  • Coup contrecoup: A coup contrecoup injury occurs when the head is severely impacted, causing the brain to strike the opposite side of the skull.
  • Diffuse axonal injuries: These types of injuries are common in car accidents, wherein brain structures tear by rotational force.

Our attorneys have served the courageous survivors of many kinds of traumatic brain injuries, and have helped them win monetary compensation to offset their losses.

How long do I have to file a brain injury lawsuit?

How long you have to file a brain injury claim or various other kinds of personal injury lawsuits depends on location. These deadlines are known as “statutes of limitations,” and can vary depending on which state the lawsuit is filed in.

The brain injury lawyers at Hodes Milman are headquartered in Orange County, where the deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is 2 years from the accident or injury in California. Some exceptions exist for this timeframe, as in the case of child injuries, medical malpractice delayed diagnosis, or if the original cause of the injury was covered up.

Our lawyers are available to answer any questions you might have about your injury, your rights, and the best course of action to take for you and your family. Set up a confidential, no-cost consultation with Hodes Milman by calling us at (949) 640-8222 as soon as you’re able. We are here to help you every step of the way.

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MEET THE ATTORNEYS

 

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When you work with us, you’ll see the difference. A lot of firms are quick to show you numbers, and it is absolutely true that your lawyer should have experience and a strong track record in the area that you require. However, we’ll take it one step further. We also believe that your attorney should put your needs, cares and desires first. Because you deserve more than just compensation for your losses - you deserve a true advocate.

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