Traumatic Brain Injuries in California Personal Injury Cases

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can change your life in an instant. Whether caused by a car accident, fall, or other trauma, brain injuries often result in lasting physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges that affect every aspect of daily living. If you or a loved one has suffered a TBI due to someone else’s negligence, understanding your legal rights is essential to securing the compensation you need for recovery.

What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a traumatic brain injury is an injury that affects how the brain works. It may be caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or by a penetrating injury such as a gunshot wound. TBI is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, with over 69,000 TBI-related deaths in 2021 alone—approximately 190 deaths every day.

TBIs range from mild (commonly called concussions) to severe. While healthcare providers may describe some brain injuries as “mild,” the CDC notes that even mild TBIs can have serious effects. The term “mild” refers to the initial presentation, not necessarily the long-term impact on your life.

Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries

Brain injuries can occur in many types of accidents. The most common causes include:

Falls. Falls are the leading cause of TBI, particularly among young children and older adults. Slip-and-fall accidents, falls from heights, and falls on stairs can all cause serious brain injuries.

Motor vehicle accidents. Car crashes, motorcycle accidents, truck collisions, and pedestrian accidents frequently cause TBIs. The violent forces involved in these collisions can cause the brain to strike the inside of the skull, resulting in bruising, bleeding, or tearing of brain tissue.

Being struck by or against an object. Sports-related injuries, falling objects, and workplace accidents often cause TBIs when the head impacts an object or surface.

Assaults. Physical violence, including domestic abuse and other intentional acts, can cause traumatic brain injuries.

Recognizing TBI Symptoms

TBI symptoms vary depending on the severity of the injury and which areas of the brain are affected. Symptoms may appear immediately or develop over hours or days following the trauma.

Physical symptoms may include headaches, nausea or vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, balance problems, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light or sound, and sleep disturbances.

Cognitive symptoms can include difficulty concentrating, memory problems, confusion, slowed thinking, difficulty finding words, and problems with planning or organization.

Emotional and behavioral symptoms may include irritability, mood swings, anxiety, depression, personality changes, and difficulty controlling emotions.

Severe TBI symptoms requiring emergency care include loss of consciousness, persistent or worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizures, slurred speech, weakness or numbness in limbs, and clear fluids draining from the nose or ears.

If you experience any head trauma, seek medical attention promptly—even if you feel fine initially. Some TBI symptoms don’t appear for hours or days after the injury.

The Long-Term Impact of Brain Injuries

Unlike a broken bone that heals within weeks, traumatic brain injuries can have effects that last months, years, or a lifetime. The brain controls virtually every function in your body, so damage to brain tissue can affect physical abilities, thinking and memory, emotions and behavior, and communication skills.

Some people with moderate to severe TBI require ongoing rehabilitation services, including physical therapy to address motor function and balance issues, occupational therapy to relearn daily living skills, speech and language therapy for communication difficulties, cognitive therapy to address memory, attention, and problem-solving challenges, and psychological counseling to cope with emotional and behavioral changes.

For severe injuries, individuals may need long-term care, assistance with daily activities, or residential treatment. These ongoing needs can result in substantial lifetime costs that must be accounted for in any personal injury claim.

Compensation for Traumatic Brain Injuries

TBI claims often involve significant damages due to the serious and lasting nature of these injuries. If someone else’s negligence caused your brain injury, you may be entitled to compensation for:

Medical expenses. This includes emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, diagnostic imaging, medications, rehabilitation services, therapy, and anticipated future medical needs. TBI treatment costs can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars over a lifetime.

Lost income and earning capacity. Brain injuries frequently prevent people from returning to work, either temporarily or permanently. You can recover compensation for wages lost during recovery and for diminished future earning capacity if the injury affects your ability to work long-term.

Pain and suffering. TBI victims often experience significant physical pain and emotional distress. California allows recovery of non-economic damages for these intangible losses, and there is no cap on pain and suffering damages in most personal injury cases.

Loss of enjoyment of life. If your brain injury prevents you from participating in activities you previously enjoyed, you can seek compensation for this diminished quality of life.

Home modifications and care. Severe TBIs may require home modifications for accessibility, specialized medical equipment, or in-home nursing care.

Our firm has experience with significant TBI cases. As discussed in our blog post on TBI case values, the value of a brain injury claim depends on factors including the severity of the injury, the extent of permanent impairment, the victim’s age and pre-injury earning capacity, and the quality of medical documentation.

Proving a Traumatic Brain Injury Claim

TBI claims can be complex because brain injuries don’t always appear on standard imaging tests, and symptoms may be subjective. Building a strong case requires comprehensive medical documentation establishing your diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, expert testimony from neurologists, neuropsychologists, or other specialists who can explain your injuries and their long-term effects, documentation of how the injury affects your daily life including testimony from family members and caregivers, and evidence linking the TBI to the accident through medical records and expert analysis.

Working with medical experts is often essential in TBI cases. Neuropsychological testing can document cognitive deficits that might not be visible on brain scans, and life care planners can project the cost of future medical needs and care.

California’s Legal Framework for TBI Claims

California personal injury law applies to TBI claims just as it does to other injury cases. You must prove that the defendant owed you a duty of care, breached that duty through negligence, and that their negligence caused your brain injury and resulting damages.

California’s statute of limitations gives you two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit in most cases. Given the complexity of TBI claims and the time needed to understand the full extent of your injuries, it’s important to consult with an attorney as early as possible.

Remember that California’s comparative fault rules apply. If you’re found partially at fault for the accident, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault—but you can still recover damages even if you share some responsibility.

Why You Need an Experienced TBI Attorney

Traumatic brain injury cases are among the most complex personal injury claims. Insurance companies often dispute the severity of brain injuries, particularly mild TBIs that may not appear on imaging studies. They may argue that your symptoms are exaggerated, unrelated to the accident, or caused by pre-existing conditions.

An experienced attorney understands how to document brain injuries thoroughly, work with medical experts who can explain your condition to a jury, calculate the full lifetime cost of your injury, and counter insurance company tactics designed to minimize your claim.

Attorney Jerry Rulsky has over 12 years of experience handling serious injury cases throughout California, including traumatic brain injuries. He understands the devastating impact these injuries have on victims and their families and fights to secure compensation that accounts for both current and future needs.

Our California personal injury lawyers offer free consultations to evaluate your TBI claim. We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.