How Much Compensation Do You Get for a Brain Injury After a Car Accident?

How Much Compensation Do You Get for a Brain Injury After a a Car Accident?
Your Brain Injury Compensation Will Depend on Many Factors
A Traumatic Brain Injury Can Change Your Life Forever
After a Brain Injury, Consider Your Lifetime Needs Before You Accept and Traumatic Brain Injury Settlement
Ways You Can Strengthen Your Traumatic Injury Claim
Living With a Brain Injury: Speak With a Personal Injury Lawyer Who Can Help You Understand Your Legal Rights and Options
Myers Law Firm: Schedule Your Free Consultation Today
About Steve Gursten

How Much Compensation Do You Get for a Brain Injury After a Car Accident?

If you or someone you know has suffered a brain injury after a car accident and are facing a difficult recovery, you may be wondering how you will manage all the medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. However, before you accept the insurance company’s first settlement offer, consider your options and consult with an experienced personal injury attorney.

While the amount of money you may be awarded will depend on many factors, it is important to know that there are many options available to help ease the financial burden caused by a brain injury. A lawyer, especially one who handles complex brain injuries, can help you understand those options and get you the answers and accountability you deserve.

In this article, we explain traumatic brain injuries, their average settlement value, and ways you can strengthen your personal injury case.

Your Brain Injury Compensation Will Depend on Many Factors

No two traumatic brain injury claims are the same, and there really isn’t an “average” brain injury settlement. Your case is as unique as you are, and its value will depend on a variety of factors:

The severity of your traumatic brain injury
How long it takes your injuries to heal (or if they are permanent)
How much medical and long-term care you need, both now and in the future
Whether you can return to work (and in what capacity)
The circumstances surrounding your injury
The amount of insurance coverage that applies to your case
The skill of your personal injury lawyer

While there are many variables that you’ll need to consider, one thing is usually true: the insurance company’s first settlement offer will undervalue your brain injury claim.

Insurance companies are for-profit businesses, and they do everything in their power to settle injury claims as quickly and cheaply as possible. So, even if that initial settlement offer seems “fair,” it’s a good idea to consult with a lawyer. After all, an initial consultation is always free.

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“I went to another law firm and they turned me down…would not take my case. Myers Law Firm met with me, handled my case and would not back down from insurance company. Even when they had to file suit to protect me for my personal injury and property damage. I received a very fair settlement. Mr. Myers I appreciate you and your staff.”

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A Traumatic Brain Injury Can Change Your Life Forever

When doctors categorize traumatic brain injuries, they typically divide them into three categories:

Mild traumatic brain injury, which includes concussions
Moderate traumatic brain injury
Severe traumatic brain injury

Moderate and severe TBIs involve a significant loss of consciousness and injuries like contusions and brain bleeds will often (but not always) show up on the victim’s MRI, CT, and other imaging studies.

Mild traumatic brain injuries are another matter. These brain injuries, which typically involve little to no loss of consciousness, do not typically show up on most traditional imaging studies. But even if the ER doctors say that you are “within normal limits,” you might experience serious, life-changing symptoms:

Head and neck pain
Nausea
Poor concentration and attention
Difficulties making decisions and completing tasks
Fatigue and sleep disruption
Sensitivity to light and sound
Ringing in your ears (tinnitus)
Mood and personality changes

I’ve written extensively about why mTBIs (mild traumatic brain injuries) are both under-diagnosed and undervalued by insurance companies. Even when mTBI symptoms are present after the crash, ER doctors may prioritize more urgent injuries (such as broken bones), or simply may not be well trained in diagnosing brain injuries. Insurance companies will jump on the lack of an early diagnosis, inconclusive brain scans, or the fact that symptoms are self-reported to argue that your brain injury is made up or not as serious as you claim.

But even though the insurance company might try to minimize your symptoms, you should never underestimate the effects of a concussion or a mild brain injury.

After a Brain Injury, Consider Your Lifetime Needs Before You Accept a Traumatic Brain Injury Settlement

Of course, no amount of compensation can ever fully make up for the physical, mental, and emotional effects of a traumatic brain injury. Survivors can experience difficulties with mobility, memory loss, language problems, concentration difficulties and changes to their personality or behavior. There may also be financial implications due to having to pay for care or relearning everyday skills.

That being said, financial compensation is the only legal remedy available to brain injury victims, and that means it’s necessary to come up with a reasonable amount that you should receive. Depending on the nature of your injury and other factors, you may be eligible for compensation to help cover medical costs, lost wages due to time spent away from work, and non-economic damages like pain and suffering.

It is important that those who have suffered from a traumatic brain injury obtain the necessary support—both in terms of medical aid and legal guidance—in order to ensure they receive the compensation they are entitled to for their injuries.

But before you accept a traumatic brain injury settlement, either for yourself or a loved one, consider all the implications. Once you settle a traumatic brain injury claim, you cannot go back and demand additional compensation from the wrongdoer. So, if you accept an unreasonably low settlement, the financial implications can be profound.

To get a better understanding of your options after being diagnosed with a mild brain injury, you should consult with an experienced lawyer who can provide guidance in the process while assisting in getting you the recovery you deserve.

Under North Carolina law (N.C.G.S. 20-279.21(d1)), there is a designated procedure for an owner and an insurance company to request an arbitration-like procedure before going all the way to a trial. Under this procedure, the insurance company and the owner each hire an expert appraiser to determine the diminution in value suffered by the owner. These two experts get together and try to agree with each other. (This rarely happens because of the low value given to the claim by the insurance company expert due to the insurance company experts wanting to keep working for the insurance companies.) If they cannot agree, then the two experts appoint an umpire. The umpire reviews the basis for the opinions found by the two experts and either picks one or determines a value in between the two. The umpire cannot go above or below the two appraiser values. If either party is not happy with this procedure, they can then proceed to trial by notifying the other within 15 days.

Ways You Can Strengthen Your Traumatic Injury Claim

There are ways you can improve your personal claim, and we’d encourage you to do all of them.

Get Consistent Medical Care

Don’t assume that your head pain or memory loss will go away on its own after a mild traumatic brain injury. Instead, seek medical care and discuss all your symptoms with your doctors. This can help your medical team properly diagnose and treat your TBI. And your medical records will serve as powerful evidence during an injury claim.

Don’t Minimize Your Symptoms

It can be hard to talk about a brain injury, especially if you’re experiencing memory loss, mood changes, and other life-changing symptoms. However, if you aren’t honest with your family, your doctors, and your legal team, they won’t be able to help you. And if you’re having a hard time coping with the effects of a TBI, consider speaking with a counselor or another mental health provider.

Living With a Brain Injury? Speak With a Personal Injury Lawyer Who Can Help You Understand Your Legal Rights and Options

An experienced brain injury attorney will work alongside your doctors, medical experts, economists, life care planners, and other experts to fairly calculate your traumatic brain injury compensation. They will also identify each and every person or company that contributed to your brain injury and will aggressively negotiate with their insurance companies.

A lawyer also offers brain injury victims peace of mind. When you hire an attorney, you don’t have to worry about the details of your traumatic brain injury case, like compiling medical records and calculating economic and non-economic damages. Instead, you and your loved ones can focus on the healing process and managing all your doctor and therapy appointments.

Myers Law Firm: Schedule Your Free Consultation Today

The attorneys at Myers Law Firm help brain injury victims in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and all over North Carolina get the compensation they deserve. If you or a loved one has been injured due to someone else’s negligence, they’re here to help. When you choose Myers Law Firm to represent you, they’ll act as your advocate and use their legal experience and resources to fight relentlessly on your behalf until your case reaches a resolution.

Call the Myers Law Firm offices today at 888-376-2889 or fill out the contact form on our website to schedule your free consultation.

About Steve Gursten

Steven Gursten is a recognized leader in auto accident law both in Michigan and nationwide. He is the current president of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Distracted Driving Litigation Group, and a past-president of many other litigation groups and organizations. Steven speaks throughout the country every year, teaching lawyers on such subjects as trial advocacy, traumatic brain injury, truck accident litigation, and on maximizing auto accident settlements.

To learn more about his practice, please visit the Michigan Auto Law website.

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How Much Compensation Do You Get for a Brain Injury After a Car Accident?