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Brain injuries, especially moderate to severe injuries, can profoundly impact a person’s life. They can affect a person’s ability to think, move, communicate, and function normally and often require extensive medical care. With help from our skilled Austin brain injury lawyers at Shamieh Law, you can pursue compensation for your injuries and hold the responsible party accountable for their actions through a personal injury lawsuit.
Brain injuries can be life-altering events that have profound physical, emotional, and financial consequences. They can occur as a result of various incidents and accidents, such as motor vehicle accidents, sports, domestic violence, slip and falls, work-related injuries, and more.
These injuries can quickly lead to a financial burden, with lost wages, steep medical bills, and lost earning capacity piling up and creating significant stress. With help from our skilled Austin brain injury lawyers at Shamieh Law, you can fight for compensation to offset your losses and expenses.
Why Work With Shamieh Law’s Brain Injury Attorneys in Austin
A skilled Austin brain injury attorney can help you seek compensation and hold negligent parties accountable after your accident. The lawyer you choose matters.
At Shamieh Law, we champion our clients’ interests and believe in “Winning With Awareness.” We treat every client like a family member and take pride in helping residents of our community, whether they need help finding medical care or navigating their settlement.
We understand the unique challenges that can accompany a traumatic brain injury and strive to provide kind, compassionate service that lets you focus on healing. Our experience, work ethic, dedication to communication, and strong track record speak to our stalwart commitment to our clients.
We offer complete legal services, from your initial consultation and investigation to negotiating settlement offers and representing you in court. If you or a loved one sustained a brain injury due to another’s actions, our Austin personal injury attorneys can help you understand your legal options and seek justice.
Settlements Recovered for Brain Injury Victims
At Shamieh Law, we strive to help our clients secure the compensation they deserve. We’ve recovered millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients who have sustained brain injuries. Our results attest to our dedication:
- $1.325 million after an 18-wheeler failed to yield, causing a wreck resulting in a traumatic brain injury.
- $1 million after a drunk driver caused a single-car collision that resulted in a broken femur, disc herniations, and a traumatic brain injury.
- $700,000 after an 18-wheeler rear-ended the plaintiff’s vehicle, resulting in a traumatic brain injury and a spinal injury with a fusion recommendation.
- $650,000 after the defendant caused a three-car collision after failing to yield, resulting in a traumatic brain injury.
- $375,000 after a stilt walker at a circus fell on the plaintiff, resulting in a traumatic brain injury.
- $350,000 after the defendant failed to stop at a red light and ran through it at a high speed, causing their vehicle to roll over and resulting in a traumatic brain injury and lost wages.
- $300,000 after a drunk driver caused a rear-end collision that resulted in a traumatic brain injury and a spinal injury requiring multiple lumbar injections.
- $275,000 after a Lyft crash resulted in spinal injuries and a traumatic brain injury.
- $250,000 after a single-car high-speed accident resulted in a shoulder tear, multiple fractures, and a traumatic brain injury.
- $225,000 after the defendant ran a red light and caused a multiple-vehicle wreck that resulted in a traumatic brain injury.
Causes of Brain Injuries
Brain injuries can be the result of numerous incidents and accidents, including:
- Car and truck accidents, such as drunk driving or failure-to-yield accidents
- Sports
- Domestic violence
- Slips and falls
- Work-related injuries, such as construction site accidents
- Recreational activities
How To Prove Liability in a Brain Injury Lawsuit
Proving liability in a brain injury lawsuit often comes down to the evidence available in the case, including witness statements, surveillance or dashcam footage, expert testimony, and police reports.
Your lawyer will piece together the evidence to recreate the accident. They will then use this evidence to prove the four elements of negligence: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Duty of care refers to the legal obligation we all have to act reasonably in order to protect others from foreseeable harm. For example, all drivers have a duty to operate their vehicles in the same manner that a reasonable driver would, which includes following traffic laws. Once you establish that the other party owed you a duty of care, you must demonstrate how they breached that duty. For example, you might use video footage or eyewitness testimony to show a driver ran a red light before hitting you.
Next, you must show how their breach of duty caused your injuries, resulting in the damages associated with your injury. Finally, you have to show that you suffered damages you can be compensated for, such as medical expenses. Each element plays a vital role in Austin brain injury cases. Your lawyer for head injuries can help you uncover essential evidence by conducting a thorough investigation.
Damages Available in Brain Injury Lawsuits in Austin, Texas
After a brain injury, you might be eligible for multiple types of compensation in a personal injury lawsuit, including economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
The amounts and types of compensation you may recover hinge on factors specific to your case. A knowledgeable Austin TBI lawyer can help you determine fair and meaningful compensation amounts based on your case.
Economic Damages
Economic damages in a brain injury case extend to all monetary expenses associated with your injury, including:
- Medical expenses
- Rehabilitation
- Lost wages
- Loss of future earning capacity
- Property damage, including vehicle repairs
- Travel and lodging expenses while traveling to receive medical care
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages cover non-monetary aspects of your brain injury case. Since they’re not associated with the costs resulting from your accident, these damages are more challenging to quantify.
Generally, your lawyer will base these amounts on economic damages. However, the amount may vary based on the severity and longevity of your injury. These damages cover the following:
- Disability
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Pain and suffering
- Mental, physical, and emotional distress or anguish
- Disfigurement
- Lower quality of life
- Loss of consortium
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages, known as exemplary damages in Texas, are available in select brain injury cases. Texas courts only award these damages in cases with clear and convincing evidence that gross negligence, deliberate malice, or fraud caused the victim’s injury.
The damages are awarded to punish the negligent party for their behavior. These damages are capped at an amount no greater than either $200,000 or two times the amount of economic damages plus an amount equal to any non-economic damages with a maximum of $750,000.
A skilled Austin head injury attorney can help you determine whether you’re eligible to seek punitive damages based on the circumstances of your situation.
How Long Do You Have to File a Brain Injury Lawsuit in Austin, Texas?
Under Texas’ personal injury statute of limitations, victims who want to pursue compensation in a personal injury lawsuit must do so within two years of their injury date. The same timeframe applies to incidents involving wrongful death.
If you don’t file a claim against the responsible party within this two-year timeframe, you may forfeit your right to seek damages. Given these constraints, acting quickly and seeking legal guidance from a knowledgeable Austin brain injury attorney as soon as possible following your injury is essential.
Common Types of Brain Injuries
There are two categories of brain injuries: non-traumatic and traumatic. Non-traumatic injuries often occur from internal forces, such as oxygen deprivation or an illness, while traumatic injuries are the result of external forces.
Non-Traumatic Brain Injuries
As the name implies, non-traumatic brain injuries don’t involve external trauma, like a blow to the head. These injuries stem from internal causes, including metabolic disorders, aneurysms, oxygen deprivation, cardiac arrest, or similar conditions.
Non-traumatic brain injuries can impact multiple or all areas of the brain. These injuries can also impact the brain’s cellular structure and potentially cause severe, irreversible damage.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Unlike non-traumatic brain injuries, traumatic brain injuries often involve serious trauma to the head. These injuries are further classified into two subcategories: penetrating and non-penetrating. A victim can suffer both types of injuries in the same incident.
Penetrating traumatic brain injuries, also known as open brain injuries, are the result of an object penetrating the skull and entering the brain tissue. Various objects can do this, but it takes a substantial amount of force to penetrate the skull. Bullets, weapons, shrapnel, and bone fragments are commonly involved in these injuries.
Non-penetrating traumatic brain injuries involve a jolt to the head when an external force jostles the brain within the skull. The tissue may become damaged when the brain comes into contact with the skull. Falls, sports injuries, motor vehicle accidents, and strikes by an object are common causes of non-penetrating brain injuries.
Common Symptoms of Brain Injuries
Brain injuries of all kinds and severities often display similar symptoms, including:
- Headache
- Fatigue or drowsiness
- Dizziness or balance loss
- Speech problems
- Loss of consciousness
- Nausea or vomiting
- Abrupt mood changes or mood swings
- Dazed, confused, or disoriented state
- Sleeping difficulties
- Sleeping more frequently than usual
- Blurred vision
- Bad taste in the mouth
- Ringing in the ears
- Changes in the ability to smell
- Sensitivity to sound or light
- Memory or concentration issues
- Feelings of depression or anxiety
More severe brain injuries often display severe versions of these same symptoms, including:
- Slurred speech
- Coordination loss
- Profound confusion
- Convulsions or seizures
- Constant or worsening headaches
- Weakness or numbness in the fingers and toes
- Dilation of one or both eye pupils
- Inability to awaken from sleep
- Coma or other consciousness disorders
- Repeated vomiting or nausea
- Clear fluid draining from the nose or ears
What To Do if You Think You Have a Brain Injury
Brain injuries can have lifelong consequences, especially if left undiagnosed and untreated. If you suspect you’ve experienced a brain injury, seek medical attention as soon as possible.
While many mild brain injuries don’t require treatment beyond rest and over-the-counter pain relievers, getting help promptly can help your doctors detect and treat serious injuries more quickly. If the symptoms are too severe for you to go to the doctor or hospital on your own, have passersby, a friend, or a family member call 911.
Once you get medical care, your doctor will explain the recovery process, what you should and shouldn’t do while recovering, and the best practices to promote healing. Remember to follow the doctor’s orders and attend all follow-up appointments.
Talk to Our Skilled Austin Brain Injury Lawyers at Shamieh Law
Brain injuries can have a life-altering impact and often lead to expensive medical bills and lost time from work. If your injury was caused by another person’s negligence, a personal injury lawsuit can help you fight for compensation to offset your expenses and losses.
Our knowledgeable Austin brain injury lawyers at Shamieh Law have extensive experience with these cases and can help you navigate every step of the process. Call us at (512) 888-3333 or complete our online contact form to get personalized assistance with your case.
