What is the average settlement for a traumatic brain injury? While there is no true average settlement for a brain injury claim, there are several factors that determine how much each unique case is worth.
Our North Charleston traumatic brain injury lawyer will fight for the maximum amount your case allows.
When You Have Grounds to Pursue a Settlement
You may be eligible to seek compensation for your TBI and its subsequent effects through a personal injury claim. Recognizing your eligibility requires knowing what a personal injury or accident case is. Simply stated, a personal injury claim is a victim’s legal pathway to get paid back for the damages they sustain from injuries caused by someone else.
To get this payback, you must be able to prove that someone else’s careless, reckless, or intentional act of violence caused your injury. In legal terms, this means you must prove negligence. To prove negligence, you must provide evidence showing:
- The at-fault party owed you a duty of care.
- The at-fault party breached their duty of care.
- The breach of duty–not something else–was the direct cause of your accident.
- The accident cost you measurable losses.
Understanding Duty of Care and TBIs
A duty of care is a legal obligation one party owes another to preserve that other party’s safety. For example, drivers owe every other person on the roads a duty of care to avoid unsafe driving practices and follow the rules of the road. If a speeding driver crashes into you and this breach of duty (the speeding) causes your TBI, that driver may be culpable for paying you damages.
Your TBI could also result from medical malpractice. Perhaps you were deprived of oxygen during surgery. The practitioner overseeing your oxygen levels and delivery may have breached their duty by ignoring warning signs of a problem or making an error, and this breach in duty could make them accountable for paying you compensation.
Determining the Amount of a Settlement for a Traumatic Brain Injury
Though there is no average settlement for a traumatic brain injury, you can expect your traumatic brain injury lawyer in South Carolina to assess your losses in detail and fight for the highest amount possible. Our team knows how a personal injury settlement is determined and will immediately get to work calculating your losses. Damage from a TBI often extends into the physical, cognitive, emotional, and financial areas of victims’ lives.
Physically, victims can lose balance and motor control and experience dysfunction in body-system operation as the brain’s ability to communicate with other parts of the body is compromised. Victims may also lose or experience diminished cognitive functioning, finding it difficult to communicate, remember, learn new things, follow steps in a process, think critically, or make sound judgments. The brain also affects emotional regulation, so some victims can experience emotional dysfunction and personality changes.
It is not difficult to see how the damage inflicted in these areas can affect victims’ and their families’ financial stability and overall happiness. Disabilities can prevent victims from working and earning, and family members may have to take on caregiver roles. These and other stresses can become overwhelming.
Getting financial justice can give families a sense of financial peace and help pay for services or other opportunities to prevent that overwhelm and restore some quality of life.
How a Skilled Lawyer Can Protect Your Settlement for a Traumatic Brain Injury
By partnering with a South Carolina brain injury attorney soon after your or your loved one’s accident, you are protected from accepting a settlement for a traumatic brain injury that is too low. Sometimes, an at-fault party’s representatives know what you truly deserve but do not want to pay that much. They may jump in quickly with a low offer before you have secured your own representation, and without realizing what your case truly deserves, you may offer a verbal agreement.
So, what happens when you verbally accept a settlement? As long as you have not signed any written agreements, you can change your mind and continue negotiating. An experienced attorney knows the value of your case and will not be convinced to settle for less, so it is in your best interest to leave the negotiation to us.
Our team also understands South Carolina Code 15-38-15. This statute allows eligible victims to seek damages for their injuries but states the amount of those damages will be reduced by the percentage of fault the victim owns for the accident leading to those injuries. We will fight to defend you against claims of fault that could lead to an unwarranted reduction in compensation.
How Long It Takes to Secure a Settlement for Traumatic Brain Injury
Just as there is no average settlement for traumatic brain injury, there is no set average timeline for when you can expect your settlement. Cases that resolve with a settlement through negotiations typically end sooner than trials, and we will work hard to keep negotiations productive and efficient.
Throughout the process, we will keep you well-informed and answer your questions so you are not left wondering about the status of your case.
Get the Substantial Settlement Your Case Deserves from Shelly Leeke Law Firm
We may not be able to tell you the amount of an average settlement for traumatic brain injury, but we can promise to provide you with compassionate treatment and aggressive advocacy as we fight to get you the maximum.
The far-reaching and devastating effects of a TBI demand compensation of equal significance. Shelly Leeke Law Firm will work to gather convincing evidence of the at-fault party’s negligence and detailed proof of your losses in an effort to get you a sense of financial peace and a more hopeful future.
