California Cerebral Palsy Attorney

It's difficult to comprehend that even the most experienced medical professionals can make mistakes, grow inattentive, or neglect to observe a sensitive condition.

Even harder to imagine is entrusting your newborn baby to a nurse or obstetrician who may not be properly responding to your needs. No parent would, and yet countless birth injuries are caused every year by medical negligence.

When you realize your child has cerebral palsy because the doctors or nurses you trusted failed you, the heartbreak can feel too heavy to carry. You are forced to look at a future that looks completely different from the one you planned, grieving the lost time and quiet moments your family should have had. At Hodes Milman, we understand this deep pain. If you need clarity and a path forward, a California cerebral palsy lawyer from our team can handle the legal burdens while you care for your family. Call us at (949) 640-8222 or fill out our online form for a private, no-cost consultation.

“Dan Hodes represented me during a very difficult time in my life, and I am so appreciative of his support throughout this journey.

From the beginning, he made me feel seen, heard, and taken seriously during the most challenging times. He took ample time to walk me through every step of the process, explained complex legal issues clearly, and was always responsive when I had questions.

Dan is thorough, strategic, and deeply knowledgeable. He and the team prepared meticulously and fought hard for the best outcome possible. I always felt he had my best interests at the forefront and that he genuinely cared about my case, not just as a file, but as a person.

If you are looking for an attorney who is compassionate, detail-oriented, and relentless in pursuing justice, I highly recommend Dan Hodes!”

- Nora M. | Client

Why Choose the California Cerebral Palsy Attorneys Hodes Milman for Your Child’s Case

Not all law firms have the resources, medical insight, or trial experience required to handle complex birth trauma claims.

At Hodes Milman, we bring a powerful combination of legal authority and deep personal commitment to every single family we represent:

• Decades of Medical Malpractice Experience: Founding partner Dan Hodes has devoted nearly 40 years to medical malpractice litigation. Our firm has recovered more than $200 million for injured clients and has built a reputation for taking on complex cases that many firms are unwilling to pursue.
• Resources to Take On Hospitals and Insurance Companies: Cerebral palsy claims often require consultations with obstetricians, neurologists, life-care planners, economists, and other specialists. We invest the resources necessary to thoroughly investigate what happened and build a case supported by strong medical evidence.
• A Focus on Your Child's Future Needs: A child with cerebral palsy may require years of therapy, specialized equipment, home modifications, educational assistance, and ongoing medical treatment. We work to identify the full lifetime impact of the injury so that any recovery reflects the real costs your family may face in the years ahead.
• Personal Attention From Start to Finish: Many families come to us after feeling ignored by hospitals, insurance companies, or even other law firms. We take the time to listen. Every case receives individual attention because every child, every injury, and every family's story is different.
• Prepared for Trial When Necessary: While many claims resolve through settlement, we prepare every case as though it may be presented to a jury. That level of preparation allows us to uncover critical evidence, challenge weak defenses, and pursue the strongest possible outcome for our clients.

Proven Results Won By Our California Cerebral Palsy Law Firm

We believe that actions speak louder than promises. While no amount of money can restore lost time or fully ease your grief, securing a financial recovery provides your child with the high-quality care, specialized equipment, and long-term comfort they deserve. Our past victories in complex birth injury and malpractice cases include:

• $7.9 Million Recovery – Severe Birth Injury Leading to Lifelong Care Needs: A child suffered serious brain injury after prolonged delivery complications and delayed surgical intervention despite clear signs of fetal distress.
• $6.0 Million Settlement – Twin Birth Complication Resulting in Cerebral Palsy: A case involving failure to properly respond to high-risk twin pregnancy complications, resulting in oxygen deprivation and a diagnosis of spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
• $5.7 Million Settlement – Oxygen Deprivation During Labor: A hospital and OB/GYN failed to respond appropriately to worsening fetal monitoring signs during labor, leading to permanent brain injury at birth.

What Is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term that defines neurological disorders caused by damage to a developing brain, usually before or during birth.

Facts about cerebral palsy include:

• It is non-progressive and typically does not worsen as time goes on
• While it does not usually worsen, cerebral palsy is permanent
• There is currently no known cure for cerebral palsy

The disorder mostly impairs body movement and muscle coordination, but it can also affect mental development, impair vision, and cause seizures.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in every 345 children is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. That comes out to nearly 3 in every 1,000 8-year-olds. Across the country, more than one million people are living with cerebral palsy today.

Types and Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy

There are three main types of cerebral palsy, each carrying its own symptoms and complications:

1. Spastic Cerebral Palsy: The most common type of cerebral palsy, Spastic Cerebral Palsy, can develop before birth, during delivery, or within the first few years of life. Spastic CP carries a variety of symptoms, including tight muscles, limbs shorter on one side, and trouble speaking or forming words.
2. Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy: Known as "Athetoid Cerebral Palsy" and "ADCP," this type of cerebral palsy often causes uncontrollable muscle movements, abrupt twitches, and difficulty speaking. These involuntary movements, which are out of a person's control, are particularly noticeable when the person attempts to move.
3. Ataxic Cerebral Palsy: Ataxic Cerebral Palsy affects balance and coordination, specifically, in the hands, arms, legs, feet, eyes, and speech. Ataxic CP is the result of a brain injury to the cerebellum either before, during, or directly after birth.

Other symptoms include shakiness and trouble with depth perception. The most common and universal symptoms associated with each type of cerebral palsy are stiff and weak muscles, trouble with balance, uncontrollable movements, and impaired speech.

In the most severe cases, a child can suffer from a combination of all three types of cerebral palsy. You might not have considered getting legal representation up until now, and it can make all the difference for your family. Simply take the first step by giving us a call to tell us your story. Sometimes having someone to talk to who understands can be just the help you need right now.

Long-Term Costs of Cerebral Palsy

The financial reality of raising a child with cerebral palsy can be staggering. Because this condition affects a child's entire life, the expenses grow exponentially as they transition from infancy into adulthood. Studies show that the lifetime cost of managing moderate to severe cerebral palsy can easily surpass $1 million, a figure that standard health insurance plans do not fully cover.

Families are often forced to pay out-of-pocket for vital resources, including rolling physical therapy sessions, specialized speech devices, and regular visits to pediatric specialists. When a medical professional’s preventable error causes this reality, your family should not have to shoulder the financial consequences alone. Securing a settlement ensures your child has access to top-tier care for the rest of their life.

Types of Compensation a California Cerebral Palsy Attorney Can Help You Recover

While a financial recovery cannot restore what was taken from your family, it does provide a critical pathway to secure the highest level of care for your child. When you work with a California cerebral palsy lawyer, the legal system allows you to pursue compensation through two distinct forms of recovery: economic and non-economic damages.

Our experienced legal team carefully builds your claim to account for every immediate financial pressure and every long-term care need your child will encounter throughout their lifetime.

Economic Damages: Covering the Lifelong Costs of Care

Economic damages are designed to pay you back for the verifiable, direct financial losses caused by medical malpractice. Because cerebral palsy is a permanent condition, these expenses accumulate over a lifetime. In California, there is absolutely no limit on the amount of financial recovery you can secure for economic losses. We routinely fight to recover compensation for:

• Past and Future Medical Bills: This includes the cost of the initial labor and delivery, emergency neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stays, ongoing doctor visits, specialized surgeries, and prescription medications.
• Therapeutic Interventions: Continuous physical therapy to improve motor skills, occupational therapy to assist with daily living tasks, and speech-language therapy to help your child communicate effectively.
• In-Home Nursing and Caregiving: Professional, round-the-clock home health aides or specialized nursing care to give your child continuous medical supervision and provide your family with vital relief.
• Assistive and Adaptive Equipment: The cost of motorized wheelchairs, customized standers, braces, and advanced electronic communication devices that help your child gain independence.
• Home and Vehicle Modifications: Crucial structural changes to your living space, such as building wheelchair ramps, widening doorways, installing roll-in showers, and purchasing accessible wheelchair-convertible vans.
• Loss of Future Earning Capacity: An evaluation of the income your child would have reasonably been expected to earn over their working life had they not suffered a severe brain injury due to medical negligence. Also, to account for the income you have lost to care for your child.

Non-Economic Damages: Acknowledging the Human Impact

Non-Economic damages are meant to address the personal losses that do not come with a traditional receipt or medical invoice. These damages recognize the profound personal toll a preventable birth injury takes on a child and their parents. This category includes compensation for:

• Physical Pain and Discomfort: The physical suffering your child experiences due to tight muscle tone, surgical procedures, and secondary medical complications.
• Mental Anguish and Emotional Distress: The profound grief, anxiety, and emotional heartbreak that your family endures while navigating an entirely unexpected and challenging medical reality.
• Loss of Quality of Life: The reality that your child may never fully participate in typical childhood experiences, sports, hobbies, or independent adult milestones because of a trusted doctor's mistakes.

According to a Martindale-Nolo study, individuals who hired an attorney were nearly twice as likely to recover compensation through a settlement or court award than those who represented themselves.

The California Malpractice Cap Explained

If you are pursuing a medical malpractice claim in California, it is critical to understand how state laws limit specific types of compensation. Under California’s updated laws (AB 35), compensation is divided into two distinct categories:

• Economic Damages (Uncapped): There is absolutely no limit on the amount of money you can recover for verifiable financial losses. This includes all past and future medical bills, surgeries, prescriptions, specialized home modifications, van conversions, and the loss of your child’s future earning capacity.
• Non-Economic Damages (Capped): In California, there is a legal limit on this type of recovery in medical malpractice cases. That limit changes over time and increases each year. For cases resolved in 2026, the cap is $470,000. It rises by $40,000 each year until it reaches $750,000 in 2033, after which it continues to adjust slightly for inflation each year. What matters most is the timing of when your case is resolved, not when your child was injured. The cap is based on the date the case is settled or decided. In some cases, more than one medical provider or hospital may be responsible. When that happens, different limits may apply to each party, which can affect the overall value of the case.

Common Causes of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain while it is still developing. Injuries to the brain at this stage can have serious consequences for a child's development of muscle control, tone, reflex, posture, and balance.

Infections in the mother during pregnancy, premature birth, and low birth weight are all risk factors for cerebral palsy. It can also stem from a doctor's mistake during the delivery process. Though please keep in mind that when a child is born with cerebral palsy, it does not necessarily mean the doctor was at fault.

However, many cases happen because medical professionals fail to act quickly during critical moments of labor. When a baby's brain is deprived of oxygen (hypoxia) or suffers physical trauma from birth tools, severe brain tissue damage can occur. When a doctor, nurse, or hospital staff member violates standard medical practices, their carelessness transforms a preventable risk into a lifelong condition.

What Medical Mistakes Cause Cerebral Palsy? 

Did your obstetrician fail to do any of the following? If so, your baby may have cerebral palsy because of medical malpractice or negligence:

• Failure to detect or treat infections during pregnancy
• Failure to monitor fetal heart rate before and during labor and birth
• Failure to recognize the need for a cesarean procedure
• Failure to perform a necessary cesarean section
• Failure to properly use instruments during the delivery
• Failure to detect a prolapsed umbilical cord

Proving a case against medical professionals can be difficult, especially while learning the complexities of having a child with cerebral palsy. For instance, you must show that the doctor, medical staff, or hospital's failure directly led to the injuries and damages.

This is why it is highly advised that you seek the help of an experienced California cerebral palsy attorney or a medical negligence attorney. This can be an expensive, time-consuming, and complex process for parents who will already have a demanding schedule to accommodate their child. However, an experienced attorney can shoulder this burden for you. They can also front the cost of experts, depositions of doctors, and medical staff, as well as help refer to medical specialists to make the process easier. Check out our birth plan guide to understand your options.

Approximately 85% of cerebral palsy cases involve brain damage that occurs before or during birth, often linked to preventable mistakes made by a doctor or medical team.

What to Expect When Filing a California Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit

Filing a claim against a hospital or medical provider in California isn’t something most families ever expect to do. These cases involve detailed medical records, strict deadlines, and a careful review of what happened before, during, and after delivery.

When you contact Hodes Milman, we handle the legal and investigative work so you can focus on your child’s care. Here’s what the process typically looks like:

• Step 1: Start with a Conversation and Case Review: We begin by listening to what happened during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. If you have medical records, hospital notes, or testing results, we review those as well. This helps us determine whether there are signs of medical negligence and whether a lawsuit may be appropriate.
• Step 2: We Gather and Organize the Medical Evidence: If the case moves forward, we collect and analyze prenatal records, labor and delivery charts, fetal monitoring strips, and pediatric evaluations. Families often don’t know what they are looking at — part of our job is identifying where care may have gone off track.
• Step 3: Independent Medical Review: We work with outside medical professionals, including obstetric and pediatric neurology experts, who review the records and help determine whether the injury was preventable and whether accepted medical standards were followed.
• Step 4: Filing the Claim in California Court: If the evidence supports a claim, we prepare and file the legal complaint in the appropriate California court. This step also locks in important legal deadlines under California law, which is critical in birth injury cases.
• Step 5: Building the Case Through Discovery: Once the case is filed, both sides exchange evidence. This can include sworn testimony from doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. It is often during this stage that key details about what happened during delivery become clearer.

If you’re reading this and it all feels like a lot, that’s completely understandable. Most parents we speak with are in the same place at the beginning. It’s not an easy position to be in, and you don’t need to have everything figured out before reaching out.

A lot of what we do in that first conversation is simply talk it through with you in plain language. We can go over what happened, explain how these cases are usually looked at, and help you get a clearer sense of whether there’s a path forward. Sometimes just having someone help sort through it out loud takes a bit of the weight off.

If anything here feels confusing, or if you just want to talk it through with someone who will actually listen, you can reach Hodes Milman anytime for a free consultation at (949) 640-8222 or by filling out our online form.

Contact a California Cerebral Palsy Lawyer at Hodes Milman Today

When you suspect that a doctor or nurse's failure caused your child’s condition, it’s difficult to know what to do next. You should be focused entirely on being a parent and loving your child, not fighting with the hospital’s insurance adjusters or legal team.

At Hodes Milman, our team steps in to lift that administrative burden completely off your shoulders. We handle the stressful phone calls, build the independent medical investigations, and manage every court deadline so you finally have the room to breathe.

If you are ready to seek clarity, speak with an experienced California cerebral palsy attorney from our team today. Call us at (949) 640-8222 or fill out our online form for a completely free, private, and no-obligation consultation. Let us do the legal work so you can put your family first.

Proudly Representing California Residents