Traumatic Brain Injury

A traumatic brain injury is a disruption in normal brain functioning caused by a forceful blow or penetration. These types of injuries are a major cause of disability and death, and people who do survive may face a range of repercussions, sometimes including a need for lifelong care and help. The effects of a traumatic brain injury include impaired thinking or memory, sensation, and emotional functioning. These issues may be felt by an accident victim's family as well. If you experience a traumatic brain injury that was caused by someone else, you may be able to recover much-needed compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. At Siegel & Siegel, our Middlesex County brain injury lawyers help individuals and families seek damages for injuries that resulted from negligence or wrongful conduct by others. We also represent people who need a spinal cord injury attorney in Middlesex or Mercer County.

Brains often define identity, and the consequences of a traumatic brain injury may be quite severe, including alterations in personality and relationships with family members. Often, they do not heal in the way that other injuries do, and the long-term consequences are somewhat unpredictable. Sometimes an accident victim does not even know that a change has taken place.

After an accident occurs, an insurer for the responsible party may contact you and try to offer a settlement. However, in many cases, the full scope of damages after a traumatic brain injury does not become clear right away. It may take weeks, months, or a full year to learn what the prognosis is and just how much your life or the life of a loved one has been disrupted. In addition, the insurer may be trying to secure an admission of fault from you, and any admissions given may be used against you should you decide to file a personal injury lawsuit.

A common defense in personal injury lawsuits is that the victim was also negligent. Our brain injury attorneys can help Middlesex County victims fight back against this argument. In New Jersey, a finding of comparative negligence means that your damages will be reduced by an amount equal to your degree of fault. You will be barred from recovering compensation at all if a jury finds that you were more than 50% responsible for the accident. Accordingly, insurers may work hard to find ways in which a victim was at fault for an accident, including trying to secure direct admissions of fault from them.

Sometimes multiple parties are responsible for a traumatic brain injury. For example, on a construction site, there may be several subcontractors that were responsible for a dangerous condition that resulted in a penetrating head injury. Fault may be apportioned among the responsible parties. Generally, each defendant is only responsible for a share of damages equal to their degree of fault. However, a defendant that is 60% or more at fault may be held jointly and severally liable.

Joint and several liability means that a defendant with 60% or greater responsibility may be held responsible for all of the damages if needed. If a judgment cannot be collected against defendants that were less responsible, the plaintiff may collect the total amount from the jointly and severally liable defendant.

Often, the damages in a traumatic brain injury case are quite extensive and require the help of various professionals. For many people with severe brain injuries, bringing a personal injury lawsuit is their best hope of being able to afford sufficient care to regain some semblance of a normal life. Damages that you might be able to recover include your past and future medical bills, lost income, lost ability to do your job, household services, rehabilitative services, pain and suffering, and mental anguish.

Traumatic brain injuries may change your life or the life of a loved one forever. Our firm focuses on helping victims pursue the greatest possible amount of compensation from those responsible. Our Middlesex County brain injury attorneys represent accident victims in Plainsboro, Cranbury, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, New Brunswick, Edison, Piscataway, Trenton, Princeton, Hamilton, and West Windsor, as well as other areas of Middlesex, Mercer, Burlington, Monmouth, and Union Counties. Contact us online or call us at 609-799-6066 for a free appointment if you need a car accident attorney or assistance with another personal injury claim.