When it comes to traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases, the appropriate settlement amount can vary greatly, as can the impact on an individual's life. Therefore, hire an experienced attorney to accurately assess your damages and fight for the compensation you deserve.
One of the first questions that you may ask a brain injury lawyer is how much you can expect as compensation for your injuries. Money is a paramount concern, mainly because you are dealing with steep bills and will likely have financial challenges far into the future.
Your brain injury attorney cannot tell you a concrete number for how much you can expect the very first time that you speak with them. It is only after an extensive amount of research that your brain injury attorney can give you a better idea of what you can expect.
You need to know the underpinnings of your brain injury compensation to understand more about the process. With the advice of your brain injury attorney, you will have to decide in your case whether to accept one of the many settlement offers that the insurance company may extend to you.
There is only one way that you have a chance of getting the best possible result in your brain injury case: You need to hire an experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer who will lead the fight for you to get fully paid.
To determine the value of your TBI claim, an attorney will consider various factors, including medical expenses, future medical treatment and therapies, lost earnings, loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. It may take considerable time and effort, but a brain injury attorney can put you in a position to succeed.
The Insurance Company Can Make Offers But Not Determinations
It is misleading to say that insurance companies get to calculate your TBI settlement. They only have the power to make you a settlement offer that reflects their belief of your pain and suffering damages, which you are entirely free to reject if it is not in your best interests.
In fact, you will likely have to turn down settlement offers that do not fully pay you for the harm that someone else caused. You only get one chance to settle a brain injury claim, and there are no do-overs if you do not get enough money the first time.
How to Value Your Brain Injury Claim
You may wonder how you can know how much to seek in compensation, given that your brain injury settlement also encompasses future damages. That is a valid question. Ask a brain injury attorney.
When you hire a TBI lawyer, they may work with the following experts who can help quantify your damages:
- Medical experts to understand the full extent of your injury and your future prognosis
- Vocational experts to learn whether you can work in the future, what work you can do, and how much you can have earned from your job had you continued your career without interruption
- Life care planning experts to know what level of care you may need in the future and how much assistance you may require with the activities of your daily life
- Economic experts to learn how earnings and costs may change in the future in light of potential inflation
Your Brain Injury Attorney Must Prepare Before They Can File Your Claim
Only after your brain injury lawyer has performed extensive work can you file a claim or lawsuit seeking compensation for what happened. You have the burden of proof to demonstrate that someone else caused your injuries due to their negligence and prove your damages.
Insurance companies will never take your word for anything when it means that they will have to write an extensive check. You can be sure they will have their own doctors and experts reviewing your claim to determine where they can dispute and challenge you.
No matter how serious your injuries are, insurance companies will always be challenging to work with because their foremost interest is saving money.
Economic Damages Are a Large Part of Your TBI Settlement
The first significant part of your brain injury settlement is economic damages, and the medical costs of your brain injury alone can be prohibitive. Even the in-hospital costs for the initial treatment of your brain injury can top $400,000 (depending on the severity of your injury).
Then, you need to pay for ongoing medical treatment and possibly rehabilitation costs. If you have suffered a severe brain injury, you may need extensive medical care for the rest of your life.
You may also need other forms of care. If you cannot take on your daily activities, you may need someone to help you periodically or even require assistance around the clock.
Your brain injury may affect your movement, requiring you to retrofit your house or purchase expensive medical equipment.
More than half of people who have suffered a serious brain injury are unable to return to work within a year of their injury. Some cannot work again for the rest of their lives, whereas others may only work on a limited basis.
Either way, you have the legal right to receive compensation for lost earnings for the time you have missed from work and what you cannot earn in the future. The responsible party must also pay you for any reduction in your capacity to earn money, even if you can still work to a limited extent.
Unfortunately, you and the insurance company have many differences of opinion over whether you can work and how much you could have earned.
Non-Economic Damages Can Greatly Increase Your Settlement
The non-economic damages element of your pain and suffering damages is an inherently subjective part of your claim that is open to multiple interpretations. From your standpoint, you want to receive compensation for everything that you endured because of your brain injury.
The insurance company wants to get away with paying you as little as possible based on what it thinks of your pain and suffering.
Insurance companies like to present your pain and suffering damages as the product of an objective formula that they magically plug into a calculator to determine your pain and suffering damages.
In reality, that should be very far from the truth because pain and suffering damages should reflect your situation and the effect that your brain injury has had on you.
Insurance companies will try to use the multiplier method to calculate the damages caused by your pain and suffering. The linchpin for your calculation is your past and future medical expenses, which can be significant when you have suffered a brain injury.
Often, with harm that is as severe as a brain injury, the insurance company will use a multiplier of as much as five. However, even this multiplier may not accurately capture and compensate you for your damages.
A serious brain injury may cause you even more pain and suffering than the insurance company’s calculation reflects, depending on how it has affected your life.
Your Brain Injury Lawyer Fights for You to Get the Most Money Possible
It is your brain injury lawyer’s job to fight for you throughout the legal process. When you hire a traumatic brain injury attorney, you are no longer in a position where you have to take orders and dictation from the insurance company.
It may offer you a settlement, but it is precisely that - an offer. Your TBI lawyer will evaluate the offer and give you reasoned professional advice about whether you should accept it.
You may need to reject more than one settlement offer before reaching an acceptable figure. Negotiations with the insurance company will unfold over many months. It will certainly not be in any hurry to write you a check, especially considering it likely owes you a considerable amount of money.
You Can Keep Negotiating When Settlement Offers Are Low
The question is, what happens next after you have rejected a settlement offer? Rejection automatically takes the existing offer off the table, but it is not necessarily a bad thing.
Turning down a low settlement offer for a brain injury sends a strong message to the insurance company that you mean business.
Your traumatic brain injury attorney can make a counteroffer to the insurance company for it to consider. It will likely reject your counteroffer but may come back with an improved settlement offer.
Over time, your figures and those of the insurance company may converge to the point where you will settle. Although it may seem like you will never get a settlement agreement at the outset, a potential accord may come into view over time.
You Can File a Brain Injury Lawsuit
You always have the option to litigate your case. You can begin in court with a lawsuit, or you may take your case there if the insurance company denies your claim or will not fully compensate you.
Insurance companies are afraid of litigation because a jury will calculate your award. Then, the insurance company has less control of your case, and a jury may be far more accepting of your arguments. It is common for juries to award more compensation than the insurance company would pay you in a settlement.
Although the principles underlying your brain injury compensation are the same, a jury may rule you deserve more damages than the insurance company. That prospect may make the insurance company act more reasonably in settlement negotiations.
Remember that a brain injury settlement is only final once you have accepted the terms and signed on the dotted line. A release clause is always part of a settlement agreement, meaning that you waive your right to return for additional compensation if you underestimated your damages.
What to Do After a Brain Injury
Your brain injury attorney needs time to work on your case. Further, you can only file a brain injury claim once you reach the point of maximum medical improvement. Accordingly, you must immediately get complete medical care and stick with your treatment.
Hire a brain injury lawyer as soon as possible so they can establish and protect your legal right to financial compensation. Otherwise, the insurance company will take advantage of you.
You do not need to stress over the day-to-day details of the legal case when you hire a brain injury lawyer to represent you.
Do Not Worry About How You Will Pay a Brain Injury Lawyer
Brain injuries lead to significant upfront expenses, causing you to worry about money while the legal process unfolds. The one thing that you do not have to spend your limited funds on is a brain injury lawyer.
An attorney will never ask you to pay them anything as a condition of their legal representation.
The only way that your traumatic brain injury attorney gets paid is when you receive money in connection with your injuries, whether in the form of a settlement or jury award. Then, your brain injury lawyer will take their compensation from the proceeds of your case. They will not ask you for any money until that point.
A TBI Attorney is Standing By
Every TBI case is unique, and the settlement amount will depend on the specific circumstances of your situation. Experienced personal injury attorneys understand TBI cases and will fight to secure the maximum compensation possible for their clients.
By retaining a knowledgeable attorney, you can have peace of mind knowing that your case is in capable hands and that someone will pursue the justice you deserve on your behalf.
