People who suffer concussions in accidents and incidents they didn’t cause can seek compensation from the parties at fault and potentially others. Through a lawsuit or insurance claim, concussion victims may recover compensation for their physical, emotional, and financial harm. An experienced brain injury lawyer can handle the claim to ensure a victim receives the maximum available payment.
Here’s a review of how concussion injury claims work, the compensation you can recover from them, and the role a lawyer can play in getting you paid.
Concussions and the Damage They Cause
Concussions have an undeserved reputation as minor injuries. Some readers may even remember the days when adults would tell a young person who suffered a concussion to shake it off or play through it.
Back then, many people didn’t even call a concussion a concussion, instead using milder terms like seeing stars or getting your bell rung that minimized the severity of the condition.
But make no mistake: concussions are no joke. They’re a form of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
They can cause severe, lasting disruptions in a person’s life and impairments of their physical and mental abilities, including:
- Confusion
- Brain fog
- Difficulty reasoning or making decisions
- Memory loss
- Insomnia and sleep disruption
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Light and sound sensitivity
- Irritability, depression, and mood swings
- Impaired balance and depth perception
- Diminished motor skills
Treating and recovering from a concussion can come at a significant financial expense. People suffering from the effects of a concussion may miss work or school or experience a decline in their job or academic performance, with dire consequences for their current and future income and ability to make ends meet. They may also need extensive, costly medical interventions and therapies to return to their pre-concussion baseline.
Medical evidence also suggests that concussions may increase the risk of developing devastating, degenerative brain diseases like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Parkinson’s, and dementia. Research indicates that those who sustain multiple concussions — such as athletes who play contact sports, soldiers exposed to concussive blasts, and child victims of domestic violence — may face elevated danger. However, just one concussion can still constitute a significant risk factor.
In short, there’s nothing “minor” about a concussion. It can have major impacts on your life and deserves to be taken seriously.
Concussion Victims Have Legal Rights
By law, you can seek compensation for the harm you suffered due to someone else’s careless, reckless, or intentional actions. Virtually any injury that inflicts physical, emotional, or financial harm qualifies for compensation, including concussions.
Do not listen to anyone who tells you that a concussion isn’t severe enough to warrant making a claim. It is. Here’s an overview of who might owe you damages and what you could claim.
Liability for a Concussion
Anyone who caused your concussion through their unreasonably dangerous decisions, actions, or inaction may owe you damages. So might other parties with a legal obligation to answer for an at-fault party’s conduct. Multiple individuals, businesses, or entities can be liable for your losses, and the more of them you can pursue, the greater your odds of obtaining fair compensation.
The identity of the party or parties who could owe you monetary damages for a concussion depends entirely on the circumstances of your injury.
To illustrate, here are a few examples of parties who could face liability to you:
- A careless driver who caused the motor vehicle accident that left you concussed.
- The owner or tenant of commercial, residential, or public property where you fell and suffered a concussion.
- The perpetrator of an assault in which you took a punch to the head.
- A coach or school that failed to take precautions to protect athletes from violent hits.
- The manufacturer of a defective helmet that failed to protect you when you fell off your bike and hit your head.
These are just some examples. The most reliable way to learn who may owe you compensation for a concussion is to consult an experienced lawyer. The sooner you contact an attorney for a free case evaluation, the greater the opportunity to identify multiple parties who could face liability to you.
Potential Compensation for a Concussion
You may have the right to receive compensation for all physical, emotional, and financial harm you suffered because of a concussion. It might surprise you to learn just how broadly your rights sweep.
Depending on the specifics of your case, a skilled lawyer could secure payment for your:
- Past and future medical expenses in treating a concussion and any long-term effects.
- Past and future non-medical costs for goods and services you need to help you live with and recover from your concussion.
- Loss of pay and benefits due to missing work or reduced hours while recovering from a concussion.
- Future lost income and opportunities due to a concussion that leaves you temporarily or permanently disabled.
- Physical pain and discomfort from the concussion or your medical treatments.
- Emotional suffering and mental health challenges stemming from your concussion.
- Diminished quality and enjoyment of your life.
Sometimes, a lawyer can secure a court award of punitive damages when the at-fault party engages in extreme or malicious conduct, such as committing a violent crime against the concussion victim. Contact a lawyer for a free case evaluation and an initial assessment of the types and amounts of damages you might claim for your concussion-related losses.
The Concussion Injury Claim Process
Obtaining payment for a concussion caused by someone else’s misconduct should be easy. But it rarely is. The misconception of concussions as minor injuries persists in insurance and legal circles, creating obstacles for people seeking compensation.
Frequently, it takes the skill and hard work of an experienced concussion injury lawyer to break the logjam and get you the money you need to pay your bills and return to living your life. Here’s an overview of the steps a lawyer may take to secure monetary damages for your concussion.
Concussion Injury Claim Investigation
A lawyer’s first order of business often involves examining how you suffered a concussion to determine who should face liability for your losses. A lawyer may, for example, interview you, speak with eyewitnesses, review police reports and medical records, visit the accident scene, or track down video footage.
Lawyers also sometimes work with forensic, medical, or other subject-matter experts to uncover facts and reach conclusions that might not appear obvious to laypeople.
A concussion investigation aims to pinpoint the party or parties who deserve the blame for your injury and anyone else who may have a legal obligation to answer for those parties (all of whom may have liability to you). The more of them a lawyer can identify, the higher your odds of receiving fair compensation.
Insurance Analysis
Insurance covers at least part of the cost of most accidental injuries, including concussions. Accordingly, a concussion injury lawyer will usually research and review all insurance policies that may cover your losses.
Those policies typically fall into one of two categories:
- Insurance someone else purchased to cover their liability for your concussion; or
- Insurance you purchased to protect yourself against the cost of an unintentional injury.
A lawyer can analyze the scope of coverage under either type of policy and determine the amount you could claim as a payment. The available insurance coverage often sets a baseline for how much you might receive.
Demanding Payment
Having identified the parties liable to you and any insurance policies covering your concussion, a lawyer can demand payment from them on your behalf.
In the typical concussion injury case, the lawyer has three options for how to communicate that demand:
- An informal letter sent to an at-fault party (or that party’s lawyer) summarizing their liability and your losses and requesting immediate payment;
- A formal claim submitted to an insurance company under the terms of a policy covering your losses; or
- A lawsuit filed in court against a liable party seeking monetary damages.
A lawyer will usually choose the option most likely to achieve a quick, favorable outcome. If that strategy doesn’t get results, the lawyer can move on to the next one. Or a lawyer might pursue several strategies to exert maximum pressure on liable parties.
Negotiation, Litigation, and Resolution
Regardless of which avenue a lawyer chooses, the demand made on your behalf will usually prompt a response from an insurance company or at-fault party. Ideally, the answer will admit liability and offer to pay you immediately.
Unfortunately, that’s not usually what happens. Far more commonly, the at-fault party or insurer will deny some or all of your claim or ask your lawyer for more information. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. It just means your lawyer may have to litigate and negotiate your claim before the other side pays.
Litigation is the process of preparing your claim and, if necessary, presenting it to a court for resolution. It ends in a trial where your lawyer argues your case to a judge or jury. But few concussion injury claims actually reach the trial stage. Instead, most concussion injury claims get resolved through a negotiated settlement.
A settlement is an agreement between you and the at-fault party or insurer to resolve your claim. In the typical settlement, you receive money as compensation for your losses, and, in exchange, you release the paying party from further liability and drop any lawsuits against them. Settlement negotiations can happen immediately after the at-fault party or insurer receives your demand for payment, after filing a lawsuit, or even on the eve of (or during) trial.
Of course, if a concussion injury claim doesn’t settle, your lawyer may have to present it to a judge and jury to get you fair compensation. That’s why hiring an attorney with extensive experience resolving claims in and out of court is always crucial. That way, no matter what direction your case takes, you have a lawyer up to the task of securing the maximum available compensation for you.
If all goes well, a settlement or court decision will award you compensation for your concussion. A lawyer can take steps to ensure the liable parties pay you what they owe on time and in full.
Can You Afford a Concussion Injury Lawyer?
Do not let money worries keep you from contacting a lawyer about your concussion case. Most personal injury law firms offer free case evaluations for concussion victims and their loved ones. You’ll never have to pay for the time a legal professional spends with you in a consultation, even if you decide not to proceed with taking legal action.
Lawyers for concussion victims like you also routinely work on a contingent fee basis. That means they don’t charge upfront fees or bill their clients by the hour. Instead, they collect a portion of any money they recover on your behalf as their fee. In other words, you only pay them if they get you results.
Personal injury attorneys work on contingency because they understand that a concussion can cause severe financial hardship. They want their services to be available to anyone who needs them, and contingent fee arrangements make that possible.
Contact an Experienced Concussion Injury Lawyer Today
Andrew Finkelstein Concussion Injury Lawyer in New York
If you or someone you love sustained a concussion in an accident or incident that was someone else’s fault, the law may entitle you to significant compensation. But you must act quickly. Concussion victims like you have a limited window of opportunity to file a claim against an at-fault party or insurance company. If it closes before you take action, you could lose your rights.
An experienced personal injury attorney in New York can handle pursuing compensation on your behalf. Without charging you a penny upfront, a lawyer can take care of all the details of your concussion injury claim, giving you the time and space you need to heal from your brain injury and get your life back on track. So don’t wait to get the legal help you need. Contact an experienced concussion injury lawyer today for a free case evaluation.