Brain Injury Lawyer Pearland TX
A Pearland, TX brain injury lawyer understands just how catastrophic a brain injury can be for a victim and their family. Any type of brain injury – even a minor one – can have devastating consequences for a victim. When that brain injury is caused by the negligence of another party, the victim may be able to pursue legal action in order to obtain financial compensation for the losses the brain injury has caused. Because these cases can be so complex, it is important to have a lawyer who has extensive experience litigating brain injury cases handling the case, like the lawyers at Keith B. French Law, PLLC. Call us today to discuss next steps.
Know the Symptoms of Brain Injuries
Not every blow to the head will cause a brain injury, however, it is important to know what the symptoms of brain injuries are because the injury itself is not always evident. Even the symptoms of a brain injury can be silent for a period of time after the incident. This is why it is crucial for any accident victim to seek out medical attention right away after sustaining any type of blow or injury to the head.
The following symptoms are signs that something could be wrong:
- Blurry vision
- Difficulty concentrating
- Dizziness or balance issues
- Feeling fatigued
- Headaches that do not go away
- Lightheadedness
- Loss of memory
- Mood swings
- Nausea or vomiting
- Neck aches
- Sensitivity to light
- Slow thinking or speech
Filing a Brain Injury Claim
There are more than 1.5 million people who end up in emergency rooms each year with some type of brain injury. A Pearland brain injury lawyer knows that, sadly, approximately 50,000 of those victims will not survive their injuries.
Some of the most common types of accidents that result in brain injuries include:
- Vehicle accidents – Vehicle accidents are the most common cause of brain injuries. Those victims who are particularly susceptible to vehicle accident brain injuries are pedestrians, cyclists, and those riding motorcycles.
- Slip and fall accidents – Many victims of these types of accidents end up slamming their heads on hard flooring or pavement when they land. This impact is usually hard enough to injure the brain, often severely.
- Work accidents – Far too many work accidents result in brain injuries, especially on construction sites. Workers can fall off ladders or scaffolding, get hit by objects, or slip and fall because of spills or debris on the site.
- Malpractice – Medical errors and negligence can result in brain injury to the patient. For example, an error in anesthesia can cause a surgical patient to suffer a brain injury. Or an obstetrician failing to see a newborn in distress and not receiving enough oxygen during childbirth can result in brain injury to the infant.
Why Seeking Compensation Can Facilitate Healing
If you are wondering whether it makes more sense to connect with an experienced Pearland, TX brain injury lawyer at Keith B. French Law, PLLC now or later, the answer is “now.” If for no other reason than the fact that seeking compensation for your injuries can help to facilitate your recovery.
Healing from the brain injury takes a significant amount of time, even if a particular injury has been categorized as relatively mild or moderate. Therefore, brain injury victims tend to require a great deal of follow-up care and often need to limit their work-related activities until their brains have sufficiently rested. Medical bills, lost income, and even the productivity lost as a result of pain and suffering are all losses that may be compensated in a personal injury context.
By seeking the compensation that you are rightfully owed, you can better ensure that you’re able to receive any care that you need and that you’re able to afford the reality that you can’t work as hard as you ordinarily would while your brain recovers.
Settlement Offers
If you have already been offered a settlement by those responsible for your harm, do not sign anything until the legal team at Keith B. French Law, PLLC has evaluated the offer that you’ve been extended. Sometimes, it makes good sense to accept a settlement offer if it has been fairly valued. The settlement process allows victims to avoid the stresses of a prolonged legal case. However, it is absolutely not in your best interest to accept an offer if its value does not reflect a fair assessment of your losses.
When a savvy Pearland brain injury lawyer at our firm is alerted to your situation, we’ll evaluate causation, fault, the nature and extent of your losses, and the expectation of your additional losses moving forward, from medical bills to pain and suffering. Making these efforts will allow us to accurately value your case.
We’ll then assess the terms you have been extended. If the settlement is fairly valued, you may recommend that you accept it. If the settlement is not fairly valued, we will advise you of your legal options and help you to make an informed decision about accepting or rejecting the terms.
It is critically important to understand that if you sign a settlement offer, you will almost certainly be signing away your ability to file a lawsuit at any point in the future. You should not sign away this right in an informed capacity, as your losses may greatly exceed the amount that you’re being offered. Under these circumstances, you could be left holding the bill for costs that should be rightfully assumed by those who have caused you harm.
Taking an offer of compensation immediately may be understandably tempting. But failing to assess the fair or unfair nature of the terms offered could prove to be a “penny wise, pound foolish” course of action. Allow us to review the terms of your offer before committing to an acceptance or rejection of it.
Determining Fair Compensation
When you want to settle your traumatic brain injury case, you may be wondering how settlement is determined. In fact, there are many online calculators that a person can use and you might be getting a wide array of settlement numbers from these. The truth is, these online calculators may not even be in the same realm as what you might get. There are many different factors that will influence how much compensation the liable party owes you after an accident that caused you to have a brain injury. The best thing you can do to determine an accurate settlement amount is to speak with your lawyer, in detail, about what happened and what the repercussions are. Call our office when you are ready to pursue compensation for your brain injury.
What will determine how much compensation I get for my brain injury?
There are certain things your lawyer will bring up when fighting for fair compensation after your brain injury.
- How severe it is. One of the first things each party will want to know is how severe your injury is. Did you have a minor concussion with symptoms that lasted a few days? Have you been unable to work for months with no hope of returning to your regular job? When you have a serious brain injury, you may be impacted by this for the rest of your life.
- Whether you can work. This means your ability to return to your regular job pre-brain injury and your ability to work in the future, even in a new occupation. Your lawyer will fight for compensation for lost wages after your brain injury, whether you are only able to work part-time, are working in a different capacity, or are unable to work anymore.
- What your medical needs are. If you have long-term health issues related to your TBI and are younger, you can expect to get a higher amount of compensation than someone with fewer medical needs who is also older.
- The pain and suffering you’ve endured. Many people who have TBIs are not themselves. This means that they may be quick to anger, are more depressed, get frustrated easily, or have no interest in their former hobbies. These types of personality changes can influence the amount of compensation a person with a TBI gets.
- The accident was partially your fault. In Texas, if you were partially responsible for the accident that caused you to get a TBI, the jury may decide to reduce your compensation by the percentage you were responsible for. The liable party’s insurance agent will likely be trying to prove that you had some amount of responsibility regarding the accident.
- There was gross negligence involved. If the liable party acted in a way that was egregious or grossly negligent, there is a chance that the compensation amount will go up due to punitive damages.
When you have been involved in an accident that caused you to get a TBI, it is time to speak with our lawyers. We care about getting you the compensation you are owed. For more information on how we can help, call our team now.
Call Our Personal Injury Law Firm Today
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in an accident, contact Keith B. French Law, PLLC to schedule a free consultation with a dedicated Pearland brain injury lawyer and find out what your legal options may be.
