Brain Injury Attorney in Orange County

A blow to the head in a car accident, a fall, an assault, or some other incident can cause a life-altering brain injury. Suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can adversely affect your ability to work, communicate or enjoy daily life. Even a concussion, a mild TBI, can be disruptive and costly.

brain injury

At Sam & Ash Injury Law, our Orange County brain injury attorneys take a compassionate approach to helping clients and the families of TBI accident victims seek compensation to lessen the financial strain that a serious accident can cause. Our reputation for helping accident victims fight for What’s Right after a traumatic brain injury is well-earned. In total, our personal injury attorneys at Sam & Ash Injury Law have recovered more than $400 million for accident victims.

If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in an accident someone else caused, reach out to us by phone or online for a free case review. Our attorneys in Newport Beach, CA, can review the details of what you’ve been through and discuss how we can help.

What You Need To Do After a Traumatic Brain Injury in Orange County

If you are dealing with a traumatic brain injury that has left you or a loved one hospitalized or out of work, you should consult a qualified personal injury attorney. The initial consultation won’t cost you anything. If someone else caused your injury, you should not have to bear the financial burden of the accident alone.

It is vital to have a skilled Orange County brain injury lawyer involved in your case as soon as possible. The attorneys at Sam & Ash Injury Law can investigate how your brain injury occurred and secure vital evidence before it is lost, altered, or destroyed. Our objective is to determine who should be held accountable for the harm you’ve suffered and demand justice for you.

Sam & Ash Injury Law will act as your advocate as you recover from your injury. We’ll make sure you are receiving all the treatment you need, and that all your losses and everything you have been needlessly put through are documented. We will seek to recover the maximum financial compensation available to you.

Our service starts with a free, no-obligation consultation to assess your accident, injuries, and legal options. If we can pursue a claim, we will not charge a fee for our legal services unless we recover compensation for you. We stand ready to help you. Contact us now.

Common Causes of Brain Injury in Orange County

A bump, blow, jolt to the head, or penetrating head injury can disrupt the normal function of the brain and cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A mild TBI is known as a concussion, which usually resolves itself with rest. A more serious TBI can cause lasting brain damage requiring long-term medical care.

Common causes of TBI include:

Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury

Any head injury that causes sharp pain, the sensation of seeing stars, or momentary confusion should be evaluated by a doctor. An individual with a head injury needs emergency medical care if they experience:

  • Loss of consciousness, extreme drowsiness, or inability to wake up
  • Convulsions or seizures
  • Weakness, numbness, decreased coordination
  • Lasting headache that gets worse
  • Repeated vomiting
  • Slurred speech or unusual behavior
  • One dilated pupil
  • Inability to recognize people or places
  • Confusion, restlessness, or agitation

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, it is likely to have been described as mild, moderate, or severe.

A person with a mild TBI, or concussion, might momentarily lose consciousness or suffer a few moments of confusion when first injured. Additionally, a concussion may cause:

  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Dizziness or balance problems
  • Lack of energy, grogginess
  • Problems with concentration or short- or long-term memory
  • A roller coaster of emotions with feelings changing without cause
  • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much

Usually, a concussion victim fully recovers after a few weeks of limited activity. After one concussion, a person is more susceptible to significant injury if they suffer additional head trauma.

An individual with a moderate to severe TBI has typically suffered bleeding on the brain and torn or bruised brain tissue (intracranial hematoma). The individual may also suffer an extended period of unconsciousness or memory loss.

In suffocation accidents, such as near-drownings, carbon monoxide poisoning or a child becoming trapped in a car trunk or another confined space, the loss of oxygen to the brain causes brain cells to die, which leads to hypoxic or anoxic brain injury.

A moderate or severe TBI is a lasting and often disabling injury. Its severity depends on how widespread the damage is and what part of the brain is injured.

A moderate or severe TBI can cause:

  • Loss of motor skills, coordination, and balance
  • Weakness in arms and legs
  • Loss of vision or hearing
  • Losses in sensory perception, such as feelings of touch
  • Cognitive (thinking and learning) problems, such as difficulty understanding, thinking clearly, communicating, remembering new information
  • Loss of emotional or behavioral control, personality changes, depression

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says people with moderate to severe TBIs typically face a variety of chronic health problems, such as repeated infections and bouts of pneumonia, and are more likely to die prematurely.

Among moderate to severe TBI patients alive five years after their injuries, 50% have returned to a hospital at least once and a third rely on others for help with everyday activities. Twelve percent are in nursing homes or other long-term care institutions, the CDC says.

Proving Negligence in a TBI Claim

After a brain injury accident, Sam & Ash Injury Law can work with the accident victim or their family to pursue compensation for their losses. This requires being able to demonstrate another party’s responsibility for the accident and injuries. In addition to investigating to identify all parties potentially liable, we will identify the insurance coverage they have, which in most cases is what would provide compensation for your losses.

To win your case, we would need to show that the defendant – the party that caused your injury – was negligent by demonstrating that:

  • The defendant should reasonably have foreseen that his or her actions might cause an injury
  • Their negligence was directly related to the injuries suffered

For example, after a car accident, we would need to produce evidence that the defendant’s negligent driving is what caused the car accident, and that the accident is what led to your TBI.

In a slip and fall accident, our attorneys would seek evidence to show that the owner of the property had a duty to ensure it was safe for lawful visitors but negligently allowed a hazard to exist that they knew about or should have known about. If that hazard led to your accident and injuries through no fault of your own, you would be entitled to claim compensation for your losses.

We would seek to settle your claim by presenting our case to the insurance company that had extended liability coverage to the party at fault. We then negotiate an acceptable payment. If the insurer refuses to agree to a reasonable settlement, the next step would be to file a lawsuit and ask a judge and jury to settle the issue.

Compensation in a Traumatic Brain Injury Claim

An individual injured because of someone else’s negligence in California may seek:

Economic damages, which may include payment for:

  • Medical expenses (past, current, and future)
  • Lost wages
  • Lost earning capacity
  • Property damage, such as in a car accident.

Non-economic damages, which may include payment for:

  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress
  • Physical impairment
  • Disfigurement
  • Unjust hardship
  • Inconvenience
  • Loss of life enjoyment

As we calculate the damages you are due, we consult medical experts and life care planners about the full extent of your injury and its impact on your life. Life-care planners provide detailed projections of the lifetime costs of disabling injuries, such as for future medical procedures, ongoing care requirements, assistive devices, and medications.

Most claims are settled by negotiating with insurers. We will present any settlement offer to you that meets your compensation needs, and the decision of whether it is acceptable will always be yours. If necessary, we will be ready to present a solid TBI lawsuit in court on your behalf.

Contact Our Orange County Brain Injury Lawyers

If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury because of an accident, Sam & Ash Injury Law is ready to help. Our dedicated traumatic brain injury lawyers will work to demand the compensation and closure you deserve. We have helped thousands of people get justice after accidents that caused serious injuries.

Contact us now in Newport Beach for a 100% free case review with an experienced Orange County brain injury attorney. You will only pay for our legal representation if our team recovers money for you.