Brain Injury Lawyer in Santa Ana

When discussing brain injury, most people think of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. However, brain injuries can also happen after an accident. Even the most minor hit to the head can lead to changes within people’s bodies. In the chaos of navigating an accident, they tend to overlook brain injuries until one day they notice troubling symptoms that weren’t present prior to the accident.

Our Santa Ana brain injury lawyers are familiar with these developments. A traumatic event such as a car accident can leave victims on the mend for weeks, even months as their symptoms develop.

Our team of Santa Ana personal injury lawyers at Vaziri Law LLP, prides themselves on building injury claims around real stories and our client’s well-being. We work with our clients to provide them with access to the support and compensation they deserve.

What is a Brain Injury?

A brain injury is the destruction of brain cells. It can happen due to internal trauma such as a stroke or an external force like a fall. Brain injuries fall into two broad categories: Acquired brain injuries (ABI) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

ABIs develop from internal issues like stroke, lack of oxygen, or infections. These brain injuries typically do not qualify as a part of a personal injury case.

TBIs happen when an external force shakes the brain and/or the cranium, leading to an injury. These injuries are typically what a brain injury attorney will look for when determining the extent of a client’s injuries after an accident.

There are two ways medical experts identify brain injuries, penetrating and non-penetrating.

• Penetrating TBI. A brain injury is classified as a penetrating TBI when there is a foreign object lodged in the brain. This can be the result of a gunshot or an injury that broke pieces of the skull that are now lodged in the brain.
• Non-Penetrating TBI. This brain injury is caused when a strong force rattles the brain, such as a ball to the face or a slip and fall. These injuries do not typically cause physical damage like a penetrating TBI, but it can lead to changes to someone’s mental faculties.

Common Brain Injuries

The following are common brain injuries that brain injury attorneys at Vaziri Law LLP, have worked with.

• Concussions. These are prime examples of non-penetrating TBIs as they can affect cognitive functions after a blow to the head.
• Comas. Sometimes after an accident, people may remain in a long period of unconsciousness where they’re unable to engage with their environment or the people around them.
• Vegetative states. Victims can become paralyzed and unable to move or speak but occasionally move their eyes or spasm against their will.
• Amnesia. After an accident, victims can wake up with memory loss.
• Diffuse axonal injuries. This is caused by high speeds followed by sudden stops. This is common in high-speed car and motorcycle accidents.
• Anoxic and hypoxic brain injuries. These happen when the brain lacks oxygen in near-drowning cases.
• Brain injuries in children. When children get into accidents that lead to brain injuries, they require specialized medical and legal help to determine the damage to their development.

Can TBI Lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?

Yes. Repeated TBIs can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. This neurodegenerative disease is associated with sports-related concussions and blast-induced trauma often seen in the military. While CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem, healthcare professionals take extra care in treating individuals with backgrounds in these professions.

Diagnosing a Brain Injury

After an accident, clients sometimes report feeling “off” for a few weeks. Even after a checkup at the doctor, the full extent of brain injuries can go undetected. Victims start to report that something’s changed with their brain, but they get dismissed or misdiagnosed with anxiety.

However, our team knowns there’s often more to the puzzle. Our job as brain injury lawyers is to prove that your injury is a result of an accident. We use medical records, testimony, and experts to get a clear image of the events that transpired and the effects they had on our clients.

Symptoms of a TBI

These symptoms may appear to indicate a TBI after an accident:

• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vertigo
• Coma
• Dilated pupils
• Memory problems
• Mood swings
• Seizures
• Slurred speech
• Double vision

What are Common Brain Injury Accidents?

Brain injuries can happen anywhere and at any time. Our team has helped clients who were injured at busy intersections like Bristol and 17th, stairwells at local hotels, and warehouses on Harbor Boulevard.

Other accidents include:

• Car accidents
• Bike accidents
• Sports injuries
• Slips and falls
• Premises accidents
• Workplace injuries
• Pedestrian accidents

How to Start a Brain Injury Case

To start building a brain injury case, you need to collect evidence from the scene. Depending on the accident you find yourself in, evidence can vary. It is important to collect as much information as possible.

1. Photo and video evidence. It’s highly recommended to gather photo and video evidence to help attorneys reconstruct accident scenes and document injuries.
2. Witness testimony. After an accident, collecting witness testimony can help verify your story to attorneys.
3. Car/insurance information. If you find yourself in a car accident, getting the other driver’s license, insurance, and other car information can ensure a smooth process and protect yourself from legal consequences.
4. Police record. If you called the police to the scene, getting a police report afterwards allows attorneys to get a third-party analysis of the scene and provides evidence of time, date, location, and any anomalies with the accident in question.
5. Medical records. After an accident, it’s highly recommended to go to the doctor to get an initial check up on any injuries and start a medical report.

What Can a Parent Do If a Child Suffers a Brain Injury?

If a child suffers a brain injury, there are many things a parent can do, depending on the accident.

Sports Injury

If the child is injured while playing sports, it’s recommended to take them to the doctor and have them checked, especially if they show symptoms of a brain injury. If the child plays on a sports team, they will be asked to take a break from playing until they are cleared by a medical professional.

Other Accidents

If the child is involved in an accident or if their sports injury is due to someone’s negligence, they will have the option to either wait until they turn 18 to file a personal injury case, or their parents can file a case in their stead. This decision depends on the severity of the injuries and how it affects a child’s development.

How a Brain Injury Lawyer Makes a Case

Using evidence, a brain injury lawyer will determine fault, calculate compensation, and the full extent of your injuries.

Fault

Finding fault in a California brain injury case can be a complicated matter. California practices comparative negligence, which means that everyone involved in an accident may be held liable for a part of the accident.

This is why an attorney will always advise against admitting fault in an accident. You never know how fault will be divided up until after an investigation. Sometimes a party can be found to be negligent, and the share of fault will shift to them.

Some examples of negligence include:

• Running a red light
• Ignoring safety standards
• Failing to maintain property
• Selling faulty equipment

Actions like this tip the scales of negligence in a case, so it’s important that you provide as much evidence as possible to prove that you were not acting in a negligent manner.

How Compensation is Calculated

Using the evidence provided, attorneys calculate their damages to their clients. Brain injury compensation can be divided into two types of damages: economic and non-economic.

Economic Damages

Economic damages encompass all damages with a set monetary value. Common examples include:

• Hospitalization and imaging
• Therapy/rehab
• Missed income
• Job loss
• Loss of earning potential
• Future medical costs
• Future care

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are harder to calculate due to the nature of psychological injuries. These injuries do not have a set value. Common examples of non-economic damages include:

• Emotional and mental damages
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• PTSD
• Anxiety
• Depression

Punitive Damages

In some extreme cases of negligence, a grossly negligent party will be given a penalty known as punitive damages. This fine punishes the grossly negligent party for their lack of care. This number varies from case to case.

How to Estimate Compensation Totals

Every case varies on compensation totals based on the damages incurred after an accident. However, once a victim knows the total of their economic damages, calculating non-economic damages becomes simple.

How Attorneys Calculate Non-Economic Damages

Attorneys will use the total of the economic damages as a starting point to determine the costs of non-economic damages. Afterwards, they will either use the multiplier method or the per diem method.

1. Multiplier method. The multiplier method takes the total amount of economic damages and multiplies it by a number between 1.5 and 5. This number depends on the severity of the pain.
2. Per diem method. This method assigns a daily rate to the non-economic damages and pays the victim that amount for the number of days they are expected to endure pain and suffering. This daily rate usually reflects the injured person’s daily wage prior to the accident.

Finding the Extent of Injuries

What a lot of people don’t know is that there is a cap to medical damages. This is known as Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). In some cases, a recovery to the state someone was in prior to the accident is highly improbable. In these cases, medical professionals aim for a stabilized condition that cannot be improved with further treatment.

Brain injuries are common examples of injuries that stabilize but may not fully heal. For example, after a penetrating TBI, patients may require rehabilitation to relearn how to do certain actions based on the severity of their injury. This can include relearning how to walk, talk, and even grip.

Even if the patient does relearn these actions, it may not be to the same level they had prior to the accident. While further practice may help a patient, more therapy is not expected to help improve the overall treatment.

Once a patient completes this portion of the recovery process, the state begins to calculate permanent disability benefits, If applicable.

How Permanent Disability Benefits are Calculated

After treatment has run its course, the patient can start the process to file for permanent disability. If the patient has been working with a brain injury lawyer, the process is simpler since they already have most of the evidence they need to prove they have a lasting impairment. However, there is one key piece they need to start the process.

Standardized Impairment Rating

At the end of the recovery process, a medical professional will give a patient a standardized impairment rating to categorize the severity of impairment. This is a key piece of evidence that will help determine a final number in a settlement and disability benefits, if any.

0% means a patient has no impairment, while any number above that signals some form of it. If a patient believes that their rating is too low or they still have not reached MMI, they can get a reevaluation from another doctor, like an independent medical examiner.

Qualifying for Benefits

Calculating permanent disability benefits is a complicated process that includes social security, workers’ compensation, and private insurance. These entities require evidence that proves the patient has a permanent impairment that is confirmed by an impairment rating. They also require evidence from all the medical professionals involved in the recovery process that shows the extent of the impairment and how it affects the patient’s ability to work.

Using this information, the state will consider an initial amount and then adjust it based on the patient’s age, occupation, and future earing capacity. For example, a 60-year-old office worker and a 25-year-old maintenance worker will get different ratings and compensation for the same brain injury.

Insight from a Santa Ana Brain Injury Lawyer

Our team has worked with clients in Santa Ana’s most visited areas-quiet residential neighborhoods, busy retail areas, and industrial parks where speed is a bigger priority than safety.

We know how eager insurers are to dismiss brain injuries, especially in job settings. We also know how to counter their arguments and work in our client’s best interests.

What to Do if You Suspect a Brain Injury in Santa Ana

While we highly recommend that you visit a doctor immediately after an accident, they may not always detect a brain injury within the first 24 hours. The following are things you can do to help document your personal journey.

• Find a brain injury doctor and tell them your history relating to the injury in question
• Keep a daily journal that documents any pain or developing symptoms
• Confide in a friend or family member about your experience
• Avoid working or any high-stress environments until you get a doctor’s clearance
• Partner with a brain injury lawyer in Santa Ana before speaking to any insurance adjusters

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Do I Have to File a Case?

For most brain injury cases, clients have two years to file a case. If the accident that caused the brain injury involves a government vehicle, then clients have six months to file a case before it’s considered void.

It’s highly recommended to reach out sooner than later with a brain injury case. Symptoms may emerge gradually, sometimes weeks after the incident. You might get discharged with no diagnosis, then start noticing changes weeks later. Stay one step ahead by partnering with a brain injury lawyer in Santa Ana.

What Happens if Someone with a Brain Injury Cannot File a Case?

If brain injury leaves a victim in a state where they are unable to file a case on their own, like a coma, family members or a court appointed legal guardian can file a case in the victim’s stead. Only immediate family members may file a case on behalf of the client, unless otherwise ruled by the court. This includes a spouse, parents, or adult children.

What Happens if They Wake Up in the Middle of Negotiations?

If the victim wakes up during negotiations, the claim can be adjusted to reflect any changes in their condition and potential needs such as future care.

How Much is a Brain Injury Lawyer?

Brain injury lawyers are a subset of personal injury lawyers. This means that brain injury lawyers will work on a contingency basis in most cases. A contingency basis means that a lawyer will take a case, and if they win said case, they will take a percentage of the winnings.

The average attorney will take anywhere between 30 and 40 percent of earnings. Confirm with your attorney to learn about their specific rates.

How Long is a Brain Injury Case?

Due to the severity of brain injuries, they can often take longer than the average personal injury case. In many cases, they can take anywhere between 6 months and three years to settle.

Should I Accept the First Offer I’m Given?

If you have not discussed compensation with an attorney, it’s highly recommended to speak to an attorney before accepting an offer. In many cases, the insurers would like to pay out as little as possible and move on. However, without a proper investigation into the total amount of damage, it’s difficult to determine if the compensation offered reflects a fair amount.

Once you agree to take the initial compensation, it’s extremely difficult to take it back. Avoid losing out on fair compensation by partnering with a brain injury lawyer in Santa Ana.

Why Do Attorneys Advise Against Using Social Media During an Open Case?

Many times, the insurers and/or the other party’s lawyers will be looking for ways to poke holes in your case. Think of social media like a magazine someone would pick up and flip through in the middle of a long grocery store line. The other party can pull up your name, phone number, or email on social media and easily find your account.

This gives them access to the personal life you share with the public, which can be dangerous. What you think is an innocent photo of a cup of coffee can be turned into an argument to say you’re faking the extent of your injuries since you have time to post coffee and write a caption that says, “What a lovely day!” It sounds ridiculous, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

How to Defend Myself from My Social Media Being Used Against Me in a Case?

In most cases, an attorney would recommend not posting and, if possible, changing the settings on your social media pages to stop people from tagging you in posts.

Do I Need an Attorney?

Not always; however, due to the complications that arise from a brain injury case, it’s highly recommended to have an attorney. The other party will do their best to poke holes in your statements and try to dismiss your brain injury claim, so having a lawyer who knows how to counter their arguments is a good idea.

What If My Loved One Passed Away Due to a Brain Injury Mid-Investigation?

If your loved one passes due to a brain injury in the middle of an investigation, a wrongful death attorney can help you and your family recover compensation for funeral costs and other economical and non-economical expenses. In addition, your loved one’s estate can file a survival action to get compensation for their injuries that will go directly into their estate.

Partner with a Brain Injury Lawyer in Santa Ana Today

Our team at Vaziri Law LLP, uses their 200+ years of combined legal experience to fight for their clients. We’ve partnered with people across California whose injuries were not believed until we helped them get access to people who did.

If you are in a car crash, workplace accident, or even a simple slip and fall, our team will hear your story and do our utmost to assist you. We build every case with care, clarity, and the understanding that brain injuries don’t follow a script.

Call today to speak with a brain injury lawyer in Santa Ana that will stand by your side.