As scientific understanding of head injuries has evolved over the past decade, it has become clear that even relatively “minor” brain trauma can result in significant consequences both in the short term and over time. As a result, it is critically important that brain injury victims explore their legal options as soon as they can after suffering harm. If another’s negligence, recklessness, or intentionally dangerous conduct contributed to the cause of the harm in question, a victim may be in a position to hold those responsible for all related medical care, lost wages, etc. When a worker suffers head trauma on the job, they may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits as a result of their injuries. Because California is a “pure” comparative negligence state, many brain injury victims are entitled to compensation even if their conduct was partially to blame for the circumstances that led to their head trauma.

Exploring your legal options in the wake of brain injury will help to ensure that you retain access to the compensation you’ll need to recover as fully as possible. In addition to supporting your need for medical care, rightful compensation awards and insurance settlements will help to guarantee that your family’s finances aren’t unnecessarily burdened by the consequences of your injuries, including any lost wages you may incur as you rest and recuperate. If your brain trauma is moderate or severe and will be impacting your quality of life for some time, exploring your legal options can help facilitate your best life under the circumstances.

Common Causes of Brain Trauma

Brain injuries occur for many reasons. No two brain injuries are sustained under exactly the same circumstances. As a result, it is important that our legal team learns as much as we can about the situation that led to your injury. Once we assess the details of your circumstances, we can determine whether anyone can be held legally liable for the cause(s) of the harm you’ve sustained. Some of the most common causes of brain injury that our firm has handled include the following circumstances:

• Abuse and assault
• Birth trauma resulting in lack of oxygen or acute injury
• Collisions caused by contact sports
• Cycling accidents
• Dangerous and defective products
• Explosions
• Medical mistakes
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Near-drowning accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Slip and fall trauma and other premises liability accidents
• Workplace accidents
• 
  

Building Your Case: Fault and Causation

If you sustained a head injury while slipping and falling in your own bathroom, it is unlikely that you’ll have grounds for a cause of action, absent a negligent caregiver or a defective product that may have contributed to the situation. Why? If your child left a wet towel on the floor and you slipped on it, the only individual or legal entity at fault in this scenario is your child. Even if you wanted to sue your child, there is nothing in the law that suggests that your child owes you a duty of care to keep the floor clear of wet bath towels. This is an example of a situation in which an injury has occurred, but no grounds for legal action exist.

It is possible that you suffered harm under circumstances that aren’t legally actionable, as illustrated by this example. However, California has enacted broad legal protections for injury victims. Therefore, chances are good that you are entitled to some form of compensation at this time, even if you were partially to blame for the circumstances that led to your harm. As a result, it is important to avoid making assumptions about whether you have reason to file a lawsuit, an insurance claim, a workers’ compensation claim, etc. until you’ve attended your free consultation at our firm. You may be entitled to far more compensation than you might first be inclined to believe.   

In order to build a strong personal injury case on your behalf, our reputable legal team will need to prove the three fundamental elements of successful personal injury claims:

• First, we’ll need to prove that the defendant named in your case owed you a duty of care under the law. This means that the law governs something about your relationship which rendered the defendant responsible for your safety in some way. For example, motorists owe all other travelers on the road a duty of care involving safe operation of their vehicles. When motorists drive without due regard for the safety of others and someone is hurt as a result, they can be held liable.
• Second, we’ll need to prove that the defendant breached their duty of care towards you by acting in an intentionally dangerous way, recklessly, or negligently.
• Third, we’ll need to prove that the defendant’s conduct served as a substantial factor in the cause of your injuries.

It’s okay if you’re unsure of whether your situation meets these foundational criteria. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of any given case is our job. Once we learn about your unique situation, we’ll explain whether we believe you have strong grounds to file legal action, how we arrived at our conclusions, and the relative merits and potential drawbacks of your legal options moving forward.