Virginia Personal Injury Lawyers
Five Things to Expect if You Have a Brain Injury Claim
If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury due to another person’s negligence, your world has likely been turned upside down. Not only may things seem foggy and confused, but your everyday life might be disrupted from a variety of symptoms, including intense headaches, confusion, loss of memory, emotional swings and disturbances, and a feeling of exhaustion and listlessness. Because of these major changes in your life, you should consider seeking compensation for your brain injury claim to help offset these difficulties.
Here are five things to expect if you have a brain injury claim that you want to pursue:
- The negligent party’s insurance company will be skeptical. It is often the case that brain injury victims do not have any “objective” evidence that they suffered a brain injury. Many brain injury patients do not seek immediate medical attention, and many who do seek such attention are not diagnosed with a brain injury or concussion. And those who are diagnosed with a concussion often have a Glasgow Coma Score of 15, which indicates that the patient is essentially functioning normally. Finally, many patients who are diagnosed with a concussion have normal CT scans and MRI imagining. Insurance companies will be skeptical that you suffered an injury without hard proof, and they will be willing to pay the true value for your claim only if you push your case aggressively.
- The insurance company will search every area of your life. You can expect a defendant’s insurance company to conduct a very thorough analysis of your educational history, your employment history, your medical history, and your personal life. They will try to blame your symptoms on a medical injury or condition other than a brain injury. They will use your history to show that your current level of functioning is consistent with your historical level of functioning. They will examine your social media profiles to try to find photos or entries to show that you are acting inconsistently with your claimed injuries.
- The defendant’s insurance company will claim you are exaggerating your injuries. The defense will likely hire a neurologist to conduct what it known as an “independent medical examination” where the doctor will evaluate you to determine the extent of your injuries. That defense doctor will likely claim one of two things. First, he or she will say that you didn’t suffer a traumatic brain injury. Second, if they admit that you suffered a brain injury, they will claim that your tbi should have completely resolved by 3-6 months after the accident occurred. They will not admit under any circumstances that you may have permanent symptoms or a condition that will exist for the remainder of your life.
- You must hire an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney. Because insurance companies are skeptical of brain injury claims, and because there is oftentimes little objective evidence that you suffered a brain injury, you must hire an experienced brain injury attorney and be willing to go to trial against the defendant’s insurance company. A brain injury case will only settle for true value if an experienced attorney is willing and prepared to take a case to a jury trial, and the injury victim must be willing and prepared for that to happen. That’s the only way these types of cases can be resolved for their true worth.
- You must have evidence of your injury from other sources. Maybe you don’t have a CT scan or MRI imaging that shows a brain injury. And maybe your Glasgow Coma Score was 15, the highest score you can obtain, shortly after the accident. Those facts may discourage many attorneys from representing you in your claim, but an experienced brain injury lawyer will know that you can provide other evidence to support your claim. Such other evidence can include testimony from friends, family members, colleagues, and even ex-spouses. That type of testimony oftentimes provides the best and most persuasive evidence that a brain injury occurred, namely because those witnesses are merely attempting to explain the human story of what they’ve observed.
If you or a loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury, please make sure you consult with an experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer to know and protect your rights. Contact experienced Virginia traumatic brain injury lawyer Robert E. Byrne, Jr. from MartinWren, P.C. at (434) 817-3100 or by email at [email protected] to learn what steps you can take to receive compensation for your injuries. Our consultation is free and you will not owe a legal fee unless we recover compensation for you.