Los Angeles Brain Injury Lawyers

In personal injury cases, brain injuries often result from violent accidents or falls. Motor vehicle accidents (car, truck, motorcycle crashes) are a top cause of TBIs; the sudden jolt or impact can make the brain strike the skull. Slip or trip and fall accidents are another leading cause, especially for older adults (e.g. falling on a slippery supermarket floor or tripping over uneven pavement). Sports and recreation injuries (bike accidents, contact sports, skateboard or scooter crashes) frequently involve concussions or worse. Workplace accidents, particularly in construction (being hit by falling objects or falls from scaffolding), can cause severe head injuries. And unfortunately, intentional acts like assaults can also lead to TBIs. If any of these incidents happened because someone failed to act responsibly, such as a driver running a red light, or a property owner ignoring a hazard, you likely have grounds for a claim. Our Los Angeles brain injury lawyers will pinpoint exactly how your injury happened and who was at fault, which is the first step in pursuing compensation.

Proving negligence in a brain injury case involves establishing a few key elements. First, we must show the at-fault party owed you a duty of care (for example, drivers have a duty to follow traffic laws and watch for others, property owners have a duty to maintain safe premises). Next, we prove they breached that duty by doing something wrong (or failing to act). This could be a driver texting behind the wheel, a landlord who didn’t fix broken stairs, or a business that left a spill on the floor. Then, crucially, we connect that breach to your injury, in legal terms, we establish causation. We gather evidence like accident reports, surveillance videos, eyewitness testimony, and expert analysis to show that the incident directly led to your TBI. Because brain injuries aren’t always visible on the outside, medical evidence is vital. We’ll use CT/MRI scans, doctor’s reports, and expert opinions to explain the injury. Finally, we document the damages you suffered, the medical bills, lost income, pain, and life changes. All of this evidence together builds the story of negligence. 

Our attorneys have extensive experience in compiling and presenting such evidence. We often use neurologists or biomechanical experts to testify on how the trauma caused the brain injury. Rest assured, we will handle the heavy lifting of proving fault while you focus on recovery.

Yes. It’s quite common with concussions and other TBIs for symptoms to be delayed. You might have walked away from an accident thinking you were okay, only to develop headaches, confusion, or dizziness days later. Delayed diagnosis does not bar you from compensation. Insurance companies, however, may question the connection between the accident and a later-discovered injury, that’s where we come in. 

Providence Law will gather medical expert opinions to confirm that your TBI likely resulted from the trauma of the accident, even if it wasn’t immediately diagnosed. We will explain, for instance, that adrenaline and shock can mask brain injury symptoms initially. We’ll also point to any evidence of you hitting your head or feeling dazed at the time (maybe noted in an EMT report or by witnesses). It’s important that once you did notice symptoms, you sought medical care as soon as possible; doing so creates a medical record linking the injury to the accident. Our attorneys will work to prove the timeline, perhaps using doctor testimony that delayed onset of symptoms is normal in TBIs. Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t get immediate treatment. Focus now on following through with your doctors. We will handle the legal strategy to make sure the delayed symptoms are not used against you unfairly. This is a situation we’re very familiar with, and we’ve successfully won claims for clients whose brain injuries were diagnosed days or even weeks post-accident.

In California, the general statute of limitations for personal injury cases, including brain injuries, is two years from the date of the injury. If you don’t file a lawsuit within two years, you’ll likely lose your right to do so. 

However, there are a couple of nuances to be aware of. If your brain injury resulted from an incident involving a public entity (for example, you fell and hit your head on a defective city-owned sidewalk or you were injured in a crash with a city bus), California law requires that you file a formal claim with the government entity within 6 months of the incident. Missing that deadline can bar your claim, so it’s a much shorter fuse. 

Another nuance: if the brain injury wasn’t immediately discoverable, say you had a mild TBI that wasn’t diagnosed until a bit later, the “clock” might start on the date the injury was discovered (this is called the delayed discovery rule). But that can be a gray area and not something to rely on if it can be avoided. The safest course is to consult an attorney as soon as possible after an accident. We will make sure all timelines are met. Even if you think you might be outside the 2-year window, talk to us, there are occasionally exceptions (for example, if the victim was a minor, the time limit may be extended). The key takeaway: don’t delay. Brain injury cases are complex and benefit from prompt action to preserve evidence. Our team will immediately start working and ensure that all legal deadlines are satisfied.

Yes, absolutely. If a person has suffered a severe brain injury and is not mentally or physically capable of pursuing legal action themselves, a close family member or legally appointed representative can step in. Typically, the court can appoint a guardian ad litem or conservator to represent the injured person’s interests in the lawsuit. Often it’s a spouse, parent, or adult child who takes on this role. We have handled cases where the TBI victim was in a coma or had such cognitive impairment that they couldn’t make legal decisions; we guided their family through the process of obtaining the authority to act on their behalf.

Our Providence Law team will help prepare the necessary court petitions to have a guardian ad litem appointed if needed. This ensures that the lawsuit can move forward and that the injured person’s rights are protected despite their incapacity. The compensation won in such a case would be for the benefit of the brain injury victim (to cover their care, etc.), and we make sure it’s managed appropriately for them. It’s understandably a difficult situation for families, but know that you do have the right to seek justice for your loved one. We will handle the procedural steps so you can focus on caring for the injured person.

In a brain injury case, you can pursue several categories of damages to cover the wide-ranging effects of the injury. Firstly, economic damages: these cover tangible financial costs. Examples include all medical and rehabilitation expenses (hospital bills, surgeries, medication, doctor visits, physical therapy, cognitive therapy, home nursing care, medical equipment, etc.), future medical costs (if you’ll need ongoing treatment or assisted living, we claim those anticipated costs too), lost wages for time missed from work, and loss of earning capacity if the TBI affects your ability to work in the future (for instance, if you cannot return to your prior job or work full-time). If you had any property damage (maybe your helmet, bicycle, or car was damaged in the accident), that can be included as well.

Then there are non-economic damages, which are just as important: these compensate you for intangibles like pain, suffering, emotional distress, and the loss of enjoyment of life. A brain injury can cause personality changes, depression, anxiety, we seek recovery for those life impacts too. Family members of the injured person may also have a claim for loss of companionship or support in certain cases (for example, a spouse might claim loss of consortium if the injury affects the marriage). In California, unlike some states, there’s generally no cap on pain and suffering damages in personal injury cases, so we will argue for an amount that truly reflects your experience. Lastly, as noted, punitive damages could be available if the defendant’s actions were especially egregious (like drunk driving or an intentional assault) – these are awarded to punish and deter. They’re not common, but we will seek them when warranted. Overall, our approach is comprehensive: we identify every possible damage you’re entitled to and back it up with evidence (medical expert reports, economic expert calculations, and more). Our goal is a settlement or verdict that provides you the financial means to get the best care and rebuild your life as much as possible.

It would be nice if insurance companies voluntarily paid full and fair compensation, but that is very rarely the case, especially for a costly injury like a TBI. Insurance adjusters are trained to protect their company’s bottom line. You might receive an early settlement offer, but it will likely be a lowball amount that barely covers immediate medical bills, let alone your long-term needs.

We often see insurers downplay brain injuries, particularly if you looked “okay” on the outside or if you didn’t lose consciousness. They might argue that a concussion is minor or that your ongoing cognitive symptoms are unrelated or exaggerated. This is why having Providence Law represent you is so critical. We won’t let them sweep the long-term consequences of your brain injury under the rug. We will calculate a true value of your case – factoring in future care costs, lost earning potential over a lifetime, and substantial compensation for the suffering and life changes you’ve endured. Then we’ll back up that demand with solid evidence. When insurance companies see that we have built a strong case and are prepared to go to trial (we have a track record of success in Los Angeles), they often get much more reasonable.

Simply put, with our attorneys fighting for you, you’re far more likely to get a fair settlement. We handle the negotiations aggressively but professionally. And if the insurer still refuses to pay what’s needed, we will not hesitate to file a lawsuit and let a jury decide. Statistics show that injury victims with legal representation recover significantly more on average than those without, even after attorney fees. Our no-fee-unless-we-win arrangement also aligns our interests with yours. We’re motivated to maximize your compensation. So, while an insurance company might not offer a fair settlement at first, Providence Law will work to ensure that any final outcome is fair and fully accounts for your brain injury’s impact.