Newport Beach Brain Injury Lawyers
With heavy traffic on State Routes 1 and 55, motor vehicle accidents in Newport Beach are unfortunately all too common. Moreover, slip and fall accidents at local businesses—or construction site accidents at developing beachfront hotels, high-rises, and condos—may lead to severe injuries.
When an individual hits their head with significant force, they may suffer a traumatic head or brain injury. While some TBIs are more severe than others, accident victims should always take head trauma extremely seriously and seek medical treatment immediately after a TBI.
If you suffered a head injury in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, retain a knowledgeable Newport Beach brain injury attorney at Bentley & More LLP right away.
The skilled legal team at Bentley & More LLP can help you file the appropriate claim or lawsuit to recover monetary compensation for your brain injury and related losses. We can also help you negotiate with insurance company adjusters to ensure that you recover the favorable monetary damages you deserve.
If the insurance company questions your brain injury and will not offer you the total compensation you need, our legal team welcomes the opportunity to litigate your case in court and take your case to a jury trial or binding arbitration hearing.
Rest assured that our team will do everything possible to maximize your monetary recovery and obtain the total compensation you deserve. Our legal team has recovered millions of dollars on behalf of accident victims, including victims of severe head injuries, and welcomes the opportunity to advocate for you.
For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with a Newport Beach brain injury lawyer, please call us or contact us online to learn more.
Special note for other law firms: Our legal team represents accident victims who suffer catastrophic injuries. We also regularly accept referrals for severe injury claims from other firms. Feel free to contact our office and let us know if we can help you with a difficult or complicated injury case. We have the resources to protect the rights of severely injured clients.
What are the Common Types of Brain Injuries?
Individuals may suffer different types of brain injuries in a serious accident. Some conditions you might suffer include severe TBI, concussions, and even coma.
Sometimes, a forceful jolt to the head can lead to chronic migraines. Migraines are severe headaches that sometimes last for days or weeks on end. When a person suffers from a migraine, they may also experience sensitivity to light and sound. As a result, they may be in constant pain and cannot work for an extended amount of time.
Another common head injury is a concussion, which typically happens when an accident victim experiences a significant blow to the head, such as from a fall accident or a violent car crash. With a concussion, the accident victim’s brain moves around inside the skull and hits the side of the skull, causing damage to the brain tissue. This damage can disrupt the brain’s internal hardware system, affecting your overall functioning.
Concussion victims may experience various short-term symptoms that may develop into persistent and long-term symptoms.
Common short-term symptoms of concussions include:
- Frequent headaches
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Short-term amnesia
- Sleep disturbances
- Confusion
- Irritability
Longer-term symptoms of a concussion might include:
- Permanent memory loss
- Permanent brain damage
- Post-concussive syndrome
- Cognitive impairments
- Physical challenges with balance and coordination
- Emotional and behavioral control issues
When an accident victim experiences a very forceful blow to the head, they may suffer from a short-term or permanent coma. While they are in a coma, the accident victim is unconscious and unresponsive. In the worst-case scenario, an accident victim may remain in a permanent vegetative state or rely on around-the-clock caregivers for their daily needs. In the latter instance, an accident victim may need to reside full-time at an assisted living facility or nursing home.
If you or a person you care about suffered one of these traumatic brain injuries in a recent accident, you should receive the medical treatment you need, both initial and ongoing. Medical treatment may include an initial hospital visit, follow-up appointments with your primary care doctor, or consultations with a neurologist or other medical specialist.
While you focus on recovering from your head injury to the greatest extent possible, the skilled legal team at Bentley & More LLP can begin handling the legal aspects of your claim by gathering the necessary medical records and bills.
We can also assemble supporting documentation and submit a settlement demand package to the insurance company after you finish your medical care.
Accidents that Cause Head Injuries
Various accidents may lead to a traumatic head or brain injury.
Those accidents include:
- Motor vehicle crashes, especially when the accident victim’s head strikes a hard surface inside the car, like the window, steering wheel, or headrest
- Slip and fall accidents, where the accident victim strikes their head on the ground surface with a significant amount of force
- Motorcycle and bicycle accidents, especially where riders are not wearing helmets
- Construction accidents, where a construction worker or builder falls from a ladder or scaffolding—or becomes injured while working on a piece of dangerous and heavy construction equipment
- Defective product malfunctions, where a product explodes or otherwise injures a consumer when they are using it in the proper manner
- Pedestrian accidents, where a negligent motor vehicle driver strikes a pedestrian, knocking them to the ground and causing them to strike their head, neck, or back
If you suffered a traumatic head or brain injury in one of these accidents that resulted from someone else’s negligence, the skilled legal team at Bentley & More LLP is ready to help you recover the monetary damages you deserve.
We can investigate the circumstances of your accident after hiring an accident reconstructionist or another expert to piece together the likely cause. If you are eligible to file a personal injury claim or a lawsuit, we can begin the process for you and start negotiating with an insurance company adjuster on your behalf.
What Are Legal Elements of a Brain Injury Claim?
Head injury claims fall under the umbrella of personal injury law. To recover monetary compensation for a head injury, an accident victim has a duty to satisfy their legal burden of proof. If they fail to satisfy the necessary legal elements, they will not be eligible for monetary recovery in their case.
First, the accident victim must show that the responsible individual or entity owed them a legal duty of care. For example, in a head injury case that stems from an auto accident, drivers have a duty to follow all California traffic laws and drive carefully and safely at all times.
Next, an accident victim must prove that the responsible party violated the standard of care by acting unreasonably in some way. For example, in the context of a motor vehicle crash, the at-fault driver must have violated a traffic law, engaged in distracted driving, operated their vehicle while intoxicated, or exhibited some other type of negligent behavior.
Next, the head injury victim must establish that the negligent party’s breach was both the actual and foreseeable cause of their accident, as well as their head injury. In many instances, insurance companies will allege that head injuries are the result of prior medical conditions or prior accidents and injuries.
Therefore, to establish a causal relationship between the accident and the claimed head injury, a personal injury lawyer will typically need to retain a medical expert to testify in the case. That medical expert may be a treating doctor, such as a neurologist. To prove a causal relationship, the medical provider must state in writing, to a reasonable degree of medical probability, that the claimed head injury directly resulted from the accident.
In some instances, a medical provider can also establish that the claimed head injury is permanent in nature. In other words, the injury is unlikely to get better with time and will likely present the accident victim with ongoing symptoms and other difficulties going forward.
Pursuing Compensation in Your Brain Injury Case
To recover monetary compensation for a head injury, the first step in the process is to pursue a claim—usually with the responsible party’s insurance company. To file your claim, a lawyer must obtain copies of essential documents in your case to present to the insurance company adjuster.
Those documents include copies of your:
- Medical bills
- Medical treatment records
- Lost income documents
- Imaging studies, including MRIs and brain scans
- Photographs of property damage from your accident
In addition, you may wish to prepare a personal statement describing the effects of the brain injury on your life and overall well-being.
Your lawyer can then submit all these documents to the insurance company adjuster as part of a settlement demand package. Once the adjuster reviews the information, they will decide whether or not to accept fault for your accident. If the adjuster accepts liability, settlement negotiations can move forward. Otherwise, you will need to file a personal injury lawsuit in the court system.
During the litigation stage of a head injury case, negotiations typically occur between the accident victim’s lawyer and the insurance company adjuster. These negotiations may take a long time since insurance companies are often skeptical.
Many adjusters will try and relate an accident victim’s claimed head injuries and symptoms to other ongoing issues. However, a neurologist or other medical provider can testify otherwise—either at a deposition or jury trial. They can also draft a medical report that supports your case.
The experienced Newport Beach brain injury attorneys at Bentley & More LLP can help you throughout every step of your personal injury claim. We can negotiate with insurance company adjusters on your behalf and retain the necessary experts to maximize the total monetary recovery you receive for your head injury.
Recoverable Monetary Damages in Head Injury Cases
Accident victims who suffer head injuries often have lifelong complications. For example, they may suffer long-term memory loss or rely on caregivers for daily needs. The total monetary recovery that a head injury victim receives in their case will depend upon the nature and extent of their injury and whether or not it is permanent. The cost of their medical treatment will also play a part in determining the overall damage award for the case.
Potential monetary damages in head injury cases include compensation for:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost income
- Loss of earning capacity
- Inconvenience
- Past and future pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Permanent injuries and disabilities
- Lifetime care costs
- Loss of life enjoyment
- Permanent cognitive impairments
- Loss of the ability to use a body part
The skilled legal team at Bentley & More LLP can help you maximize your head injury compensation by aggressively negotiating with insurance company adjusters on your behalf and fighting for your rights during litigation. If your case must go to a civil jury trial or binding arbitration hearing, our legal team will be by your side, advocating for you every step of the way and working to maximize your total monetary award.
Call a Newport Beach Brain Injury Lawyer Today
Greg Bentley & Keith More, Brain Injury Lawyers
There is no disputing the severe effects that head injuries typically have on accident victims. When victims experience lifelong complications, they must recover the maximum amount of monetary compensation available to them in their case. The stakes are too high when a brain injury occurs because a brain injury will likely affect the victim for the rest of their life. Reach out to a Newport Beach personal injury lawyer.
At Bentley & More LLP, our legal team will work hard to ensure that you receive monetary damages that are favorable and that truly compensate you for all of your losses. Our legal team fully understands the tricks and tactics that insurance companies routinely use to try and undervalue head injury cases. Furthermore, we can combat those tactics and maximize your overall monetary recovery.
For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with a Newport Beach brain injury attorney, please call us at (949) 870-3800 or contact us online for more information. If you have a severe brain injury, you want our legal team on your side.
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Bentley & More LLP – Newport Beach Office
4931 Birch Street
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Phone: (949) 870-3800