A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most severe effects of an accident that you can suffer. When brain tissue gets damaged, it does not regenerate or repair itself. The best outcome you may hope for is that you can regain some function over time after undergoing extensive rehabilitation. In the meantime, a brain injury will change the course of your life. When someone else is to blame for your TBI, they will need to pay for all of the suffering that they have caused you. Before seeking compensation, knowing the exact amount of damages you have suffered is vital.
It does not matter to the insurance companies how badly you have suffered an injury. You are simply someone coming for their money, and they want to defeat you as soundly as possible. A brain injury lawyer can spearhead your fight for compensation by taking on the insurance company.
You or a family member should contact an experienced brain injury lawyer to schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your case. You do not have to pay a brain injury attorney anything to represent you until you receive compensation from a settlement or jury award. If you do not win your case, your brain injury lawyer does not get paid anything for their time and services. Therefore, you are taking no risk when you choose to get the legal representation you need for a brain injury claim or lawsuit.
Impacts That a Brain Injury Will Have on Your Life
A traumatic brain injury can cause health effects in both the short and long term. Even if you can make an eventual full recovery from a TBI, you will miss out on quite a bit in your life before that point. Severe brain injuries can even shorten your life expectancy and leave you more vulnerable to serious health problems.
TBIs can have the following effects on your life:
- You may be unable to work or do the job that you did before your injury
- You may find yourself unable to concentrate or perform intellectual tasks
- Your mood may change frequently
- Your family relationships may suffer because you are struggling to manage your own emotions
- You may feel embarrassed and humiliated because you may be unable to care for yourself or perform basic tasks
- You may lose interest in life
What Is Pain and Suffering in a TBI Case?
Pain and suffering damages in a brain injury case are about more than just the physical pain that you may endure. Many things may fall under the rubric of pain and suffering. In actuality, pain and suffering are a broad category of damages that compensate you for all of the effects that your brain injury has on you.
Besides physical pain and discomfort, you are dealing with many other impacts of the injury. Knowing that you are not the same and you may never be what you were before the accident ever again can cause anxiety and depression. You may be unable to enjoy the life that you did before the injury. Further, your TBI can cause you embarrassment and humiliation when others see you struggling, and the fact that you may never fully recover will cast a pall over you for the rest of your life.
Your pain and suffering damages compensate you for both the past and future. You will receive compensation for everything simultaneously, even though the future is unknown. Your brain injury lawyer will use your medical prognosis to understand what you may face, and you must fight for every dollar you deserve because you do not get a second chance to fight for compensation.
Compensation begins with proving negligence in the accident that caused your injury. You will need evidence that shows that someone else acted unreasonably under the circumstances and it caused your injury. As soon as you can prove that someone else was to blame for your brain injury, they will take on the obligation to fully compensate you. Their insurance company will need to pay you up to the amount of the policy limit. If the coverage is insufficient to pay for your injuries, and you win your case at trial, the defendant may need to use their assets to reimburse you.
The responsible party must pay you for the economic and non-economic damages they have caused you. They must pay for your medical expenses and lost earnings when you cannot work. Your doctor will diagnose your injuries, and they will explain your chances of making a recovery. For many TBIs, you will never recover completely, and you will be living with the impacts of the injury for the rest of your life.
How Do I Prove My Pain and Suffering Damages?
Pain and suffering damages should be inherently subjective, and you must relate and prove your experience to get compensation. However, insurance companies will likely contest whatever you say when it means that they will need to pay you for it.
Claimants always face challenges in relating what they are feeling and experiencing after they have suffered a brain injury. They must explain their experiences and prepare to prove their hardships in the face of a skeptical insurance company. Since a brain injury victim is limited in many areas, they may be unable to even document their own experience due to their condition.
Therefore, you need a brain injury lawyer to quantify and prove your damages. They can help you determine a figure you seek in damages and use your medical records (and possible testimony if you can) to show your injuries’ impact on your everyday life.
Medical Expenses Are the Basis of Your Pain and Suffering Damages
Your medical expenses are a crucial part of your case in more ways than one. First, they connect to the severity of your condition. If you have a challenging prognosis and you need extensive medical care, it is a sign to the insurance company that you have suffered a severe injury.
When you have suffered injuries that may last for an extended period or the rest of your life, insurance companies may use the multiplier method to calculate pain and suffering. They will select a number to multiply your medical expenses to determine your pain and suffering damages. In personal injury cases, the multiplier is usually between one and five. If you have suffered a TBI, the multiplier is likely going to be closer to five. The multiplier will apply to your past and future medical expenses, regardless of whether you or your health insurance company paid for them.
Therefore, you need to know your condition and prognosis for the future. Typically, you will file a brain injury claim once you reach the point of maximum medical improvement, and it may take some time to learn how much you or a loved one can recover from a TBI. You may discover that you will never fully get better, and you will have the effects of the injury for the rest of your life. Your brain injury attorney will work with medical experts to learn your condition and what may be required to care for you in the future.
The Multiplier Is a Biased Attempt for Insurance Companies to Appear Objective
The multiplier the insurance company uses to calculate pain and suffering in a TBI case should be much higher, given the severity of your injuries. However, even the highest multiplier may still not be enough to compensate you fully for your TBI. The entire multiplier concept is an artificially created construct that places an unreasonable upper bound on the amount of your pain and suffering compensation.
However, insurance companies only claim to be objective. The reality is that they are a self-interested party who will need to pay for your damages, and they are using a formula that benefits themselves in every way possible. Nothing says that the multiplier method must calculate your pain and suffering damages.
Your Situation Should Dictate Your Damages
Your pain and suffering damages should be reflective of your unique circumstances with your TBI. Each TBI has a degree of severity and impact on the life of the injured accident victim. You or your loved one are not the same as any other accident victim, so there should not be an artificial formula that may treat you the same way.
Your brain injury lawyer’s job is to tell your individualized story and ensure the insurance company or a jury hears it loudly and clearly. You have the legal right to get paid for your losses, but insurance companies must know how you have been affected. They will not come to learn the extent of your injuries and how they have affected you unless you have an experienced TBI attorney to make it clear to them.
You are under no obligation to accept the insurance company’s settlement offer when it does not fairly compensate you for your pain and suffering damages (or for other elements of your claim). You are in the position of having to negotiate with insurance companies, and these discussions will happen at arm’s length. If their offer for your pain and suffering is too low, you are certainly free to reject it. You do not have to negotiate with the insurance company if you do not want to (although it is usually in your best interest to explore a settlement in your brain injury case). A TBI lawyer has experience working with insurance companies and will protect your rights throughout the negotiation process.
Insurance companies want to keep control of your matter (even though they do not have nearly the amount of power they represent) and avoid paying an attorney to defend them. They also do not want to hand the decision-making authority over to the jury because the results may not be what they want. A jury can order insurance companies to pay far more than they may have given you in a settlement agreement. There may even be the possibility that insurance companies will have to pay a “nuclear verdict,” and they can even be liable to their own client in a bad faith lawsuit if they could have settled the claim for less.
Why You Need a Lawyer for a Brain Injury Lawsuit
TBI cases can be complex, requiring extensive investigation, medical experts, and legal knowledge. Hiring an attorney with experience in TBI cases ensures that you have an experienced professional by your side, fighting for your rights and seeking the compensation you deserve.
Brain injury settlements are likely worth a considerable amount of money, given what you have lost and how you have suffered. You need to take every step possible to get the best result in your case. A personal injury lawyer will fight for you to get the money you deserve when you can prove that someone else was negligent.
Without a skilled TBU attorney, insurance companies will get the better of you and give you an inadequate settlement (if you even get one). A brain injury attorney will help you learn the value of your case, file a claim or lawsuit on your behalf, and fight for you to get a fair settlement check.
The good news is that hiring a TBI lawyer will cost you nothing out of pocket. They work on a contingency fee basis, meaning they only get paid if they win your case. Instead of charging you upfront or by the hour, they agree to a percentage of the compensation you receive. This arrangement eliminates the financial burden of hiring a lawyer and allows you to focus on your recovery without worrying about the cost.
Do not let financial concerns hold you back from seeking the legal representation you deserve after a traumatic brain injury. By hiring a TBI lawyer, you can have peace of mind knowing that it will not cost you anything out of pocket. With their experience and commitment, they will fight for your rights and help you obtain the compensation you need to move forward with your life.
