What’s a Typical Settlement for Injury Claims Involving Brain Injuries?
| March 14th, 2022
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a severe form of personal injury. TBIs are a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. According to the Brain Trauma Foundation, an estimated 2.5 million Americans suffer from a TBI every year. This results in about 50,000 deaths and 80,000 cases of permanent disability.
If you or a loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury due to another party’s negligence, malpractice, or intentional acts, here’s how much you can expect from your claim.
What Constitutes a Traumatic Brain Injury?
Like most other injuries, traumatic brain injuries may vary significantly in severity. However, the highly delicate nature of the brain often means even the mildest TBI can result in lasting damage.
TBIs: Concussions
The most common type of TBI is a concussion, medically known as a mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). The most common causes of concussion cases in the U.S. are falls, impacts to the head, and car accidents.
According to a 2017 study, most concussion symptoms resolve after three months. However, a small number of individuals may suffer from a rare condition called Post-concussive Syndrome (PCS).
Other types of TBI
Other forms of traumatic brain injury include:
- Brain contusions: An impact or concussive event causing the brain to bruise and start bleeding. Some brain contusion cases require surgery.
- Coup-Contrecoup injury: A coup-contrecoup injury (from the French words for “blow” and “backlash”) is the result of a violent impact (the coup) causing the brain to hit the back of the skull on the opposite side (the contrecoup).
- Diffuse axonal injuries (DAI): DAIs are a more severe form of concussion. They form tears inside the brain, which often cause comas or death.
- Penetrating brain injuries (PBI): A PBI occurs when foreign objects or projectiles pierce the skull and damage the brain (e.g., bullets). PBIs are one of the deadliest forms of TBI, with a mortality rate of 90%.
How Much Can I Expect From a TBI Claim?
According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, traumatic brain injuries comprise over 30% of all injury-related deaths in the U.S., totaling more than $60 billion in medical and economic losses.
It is important to remember that each case is unique. The specific compensation amount you might receive depends on many factors. Contacting a team of experienced California brain injury lawyers is necessary to assess the full extent of your economic and non-economic damages.
How Are TBI Damages Calculated?
Brain injury lawyers assess the value of your settlement by calculating the damages you’ve suffered. There are two primary types of damages you can recover in California: economic and non-economic.
Economic damages
The economic damages are the calculable losses you sustained due to your injury. These can include:
- Lost or reduced wages and salaries
- Property damage assessments
- Repair or replacement bills
- Medical expenses, including medications, assisted living, and nursing personnel
If the exact value of a loss sustained due to your injury can be financially quantified, it is a form of economic damage. Your settlement value typically at least includes the totality of the monetary damages sustained, reimbursing you what you can demonstrate you’ve lost due to the injury.
Non-economic damages
The non-economic damages are the pain, suffering, anguish, and other trauma you’ve suffered due to the injury. Although these aren’t easily quantifiable, skilled brain injury lawyers use various methods to put a specific value on the pain and suffering their clients sustain.
One of the most common approaches is to add together the total economic damages and apply a multiplier (typically ranging from 1.5 to 5, depending on the severity) to this value. Due to the severity of a typical TBI case, they tend to command higher multipliers.
Another approach is the Per Diem method, a daily rate calculator. According to the Per Diem principle, your lawyers estimate a specific dollar value for each day you’ve had to live with pain and trauma (usually based on your salary), then multiply this value by the number of days spent in pain.
For example, if your yearly salary is $50,000 and you work 250 days a year, your daily rate is $200. If you wear a neck brace for 3 months and use pain medication for another 3 months following an accident (totaling 6 months of days in pain), an example formula may be:
- $200 daily rate calculated from your salary x 180 days spent in pain = $36,000 in non-economic damages
Count on Berg Injury Lawyers for Your Brain Injury Case
Don’t take on the responsibility of handling your settlement case alone while you’re dealing with the pain and suffering of a TBI. Instead, call Berg Injury Lawyers and schedule a free consultation with one of our highly skilled brain injury lawyers.
We can help you calculate the value of your claim and fight to get you the maximum compensation you need.
