Virginia Beach Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer
Head trauma is one of the most serious injuries anyone can suffer, causing far-reaching and permanent consequences. In tragic cases, brain injuries can result in coma or even death. If you suffer a serious blow to the head, it’s important to hire an experienced Virginia Beach TBI lawyer to fight for your rights.
If you or a loved one is coping with brain damage caused by the negligence or recklessness of another, you need an aggressive lawyer to take on the responsible parties and their insurance companies on your behalf. At Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers, John Cooper and our team of personal injury attorneys take your injury and related needs seriously — we provide experienced counsel for you and your family in a time of crisis.
Although brain injuries can be catastrophic, you may not always be initially aware you sustained a trauma to the head after an auto accident or a fall at a business. For this reason, you should never rush into reaching a settlement with the insurance company. Often, the cognitive impacts of a TBI do not become apparent until weeks after your accident.
Many people who suffer a blow to the head receive a ‘mild traumatic brain injury’ or a concussion without loss of consciousness. The term is misleading because a mild traumatic brain injury can have serious consequences and impact your job and your education. An experienced Virginia Beach brain injury lawyer will advise you on your options.
Brain Injury’s Impact on Quality of Life
TBIs can result in serious, long-term problems. These can include:
- Paralysis
- Coordination issues
- Intellectual disabilities
- Behavioral issues
- Memory loss
- Sensation loss
- Seizures
- Speech or vision issues
Traumatic brain injuries are common in car accidents where a person’s head can be jerked around upon impact.
Sometimes it takes time for the symptoms of a TBI to develop. You may not realize you sustained a significant concussion for days following a collision or accident. You might not focus on the headache and dazed feeling because some other injury like a neck or shoulder injury is so painful. This makes it essential to seek medical attention and specifically mention any possible loss of consciousness, amnesia, or dizziness to the ambulance or other EMS staff. At a hospital emergency room such as at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital or Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital after a crash or accident with injuries. A lawyer in Virginia Beach could help someone who has suffered losses as a result of their traumatic brain injury pursue compensation.
Potential Damages After a TBI
Often suffered through car accidents or slip and fall accidents, traumatic brain injury (TBI) involves any kind of trauma to the head. No matter what causes TBI, the consequences are often life-altering. Some of the types of compensation that a lawyer may be able to pursue following your brain injury include:
- Expensive medical care — Whether your injury requires short-term care in a hospital or long-term care in a rehabilitation facility or your home, you deserve compensation for what are often huge medical expenses.
- An inability to work — Disability pay, if you have any, covers only a fraction of most people’s income. Being unable to work also affects a sense of well-being and purpose.
- Quality of life — Following a TBI, you may never be able to enjoy the kind of life you once did, in your career and your personal life. That consequence deserves compensation, which our brain injury lawyers could help with.
- Impaired concentration and memory — Head trauma can affect your ability to understand and retain information, making it difficult to carry on conversations or read or, more importantly, work.
- Pain and suffering — The physical and emotional damage suffered in TBIs may be difficult to quantify but qualifies as an avenue for recovery of damages.
If your brain injury was caused by another person’s recklessness or neglect, your suffering demands justice. Each case’s merit is based on its own facts, but our TBI attorneys have proven results. Personal injury lawyer John Cooper was a member of the legal team that successfully obtained a $46 million verdict for a client who suffered a brain injury in Virginia Beach. After the verdict, a new trial was ordered because the judge found the amount to be excessive, and the case was subsequently settled for an undisclosed sum. This remains one of the largest jury awards for a closed-brain injury ever.
A traumatic brain injury is a factor in many auto accident claims in which we have represented clients in Virginia. Head trauama suffered in a car crash may derail a young life, as in the case of our client who was hit by a red light runner in Virginia Beach. It meant he was not able to pursue his chosen career as a truck driver. He was awarded $815,000.
Recovering From a TBI
In many claims, it is impossible to reverse the damage from a brain injury. Usually, initial medical treatment focuses on minimizing further damage and may include one or more surgeries or an induced coma. Once a patient has stabilized, medical personnel put together a rehabilitation plan that may include treatment by:
- Physical therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Speech therapists Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
Specialized treatment is exorbitantly expensive. When you factor in losing the ability to work, necessary home health care, and the suffering of both the injured party and the TBI victim’s family, putting a number on fair compensation may seem impossible. Brain injuries are very complicated. A sufferer may experience a wide range of cognitive deficits depending on which part of the brain was injured in an accident. Our Virginia Beach lawyers work with your family as if they were our own to fully assess the damages and to fight for every dollar you are due following your brain damage.
Liability for VA Beach Traumatic Brain Injuries
To show a jury that the defendant is liable for the brain trauma and damages suffered by the claimant, an experienced attorney must be able to prove certain elements. Specifically, they must carefully and thoroughly prove each of the following points:
Duty
For a traumatic brain injury case to be successful, a Virginia Beach lawyer must show that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. That means the defendant had to act in a way that a reasonable person in the same position would act. In the event of a car crash, for example, this could be a truck driver and his employer if he was driving a truck for them.
Breach of Duty
For whatever reason, the defendant must have breached their duty, meaning they were acting negligently. They may have failed to stop at a red light, rear-ended you, or driven while drunk. If they broke the rules of the road that is a breach of duty.
Proximate Cause
In addition, the attorney for the plaintiff must show the jury that the breach of duty was the proximate cause of the victim’s TBI. In other words, the traumatic brain injury was were directly caused by and naturally flow from the breach.
Damages for Brain Injuries
The jury must believe that the plaintiff suffered damages due to a TBI as a result of the collision. Personal bodily injury claims are based on injuries that required medical care. Damages can include physical pain and suffering, as well as financial harms like lost wages and medical bills.
Getting Compensation With a VA Beach Brain Injury Attorney
If you or a loved one has suffered brain damage in an accident caused by the carelessness of others, contact a lawyer from our firm today. Our experienced Virginia Beach brain injury lawyers at Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers offer free case evaluations. Our TBI lawyers have a main office in downtown Norfolk and client meeting locations in all of the cities of Hampton Roads and on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We can also travel to your home or hospital if you cannot come to us and help you file a brain injury claim.
Call our firm for your no-cost initial consultation. We can determine if your case has merit and if you could receive compensation for your injuries. Contact us today to get your traumatic brain injury claim started.
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