Traumatic brain injuries can range in severity, but even a mild brain injury can have serious consequences. When you or your loved one suffers a traumatic brain injury, and someone else’s lack of care or caution caused the incident, you may have grounds to sue for compensation.
Consult a Connecticut traumatic brain injury lawyer about your legal options. The experienced catastrophic injury attorneys at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, have been helping people secure appropriate compensation for head injuries for decades. With their help, you can ensure the responsible parties pay for the harm they caused you.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) could happen in one of several ways. A forceful blow to the head could cause a TBI, but any violent movement of the head could result in brain injury. Babies who are shaken forcefully sometimes develop TBIs. Penetrating injuries, like those caused by a bullet wound or shrapnel, also cause TBIs.
Accidents like motor vehicle collisions, falls, and sports injuries cause most TBIs in Connecticut. Violence and suicide attempts are responsible for some of these injuries as well.
A mild TBI is often called a concussion. These injuries may heal quickly with few side effects, or healing might slow and involve lingering and permanent symptoms. In general, the more concussions you suffer, the longer they will take to heal and the more severe your symptoms.
A person with a concussion might experience a short loss of consciousness when the injury occurs; however, a brain injury can have permanent consequences even in the absence of any loss of consciousness. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, after a concussion you might have:
Some people experience confusion and memory loss in addition to the abovementioned symptoms.
Moderate and severe TBIs can be life-altering injuries. The symptoms depend in part on the area of the brain that was damaged. They can include:
People with moderate TBIs often must relearn basic life skills.
A severe TBI is a life-threatening injury. People with severe TBIs may be in a coma or vegetative state. Even if the person regains consciousness, they frequently need 24/7 nursing care for the rest of their lives.
Regardless of a TBI’s severity, you could seek compensation if it required medical treatment, made you miss work, or suffer significant symptoms. Any person, company, or government agency whose negligence contributed to the incident could be liable for paying compensation, also called damages. A party is negligent when they do not make reasonable efforts to prevent a foreseeable injury to someone else.
A Connecticut TBI attorney can investigate the incident to determine who was negligent. If the TBI resulted from a car accident, the at-fault driver could be liable, but so might others, like a vehicle manufacturer or the town that did not properly maintain the street. Bringing claims against all the potentially responsible parties increases the pool of insurance coverage and can help ensure you receive appropriate compensation.
When you bear some responsibility for the accident but are not primarily to blame, you still can collect damages from other negligent parties. However, the amount you collect will be reduced by a percentage reflecting your degree of fault. For example, if you were 10 percent responsible, you could collect 90 percent of your damages.
Connecticut General Statutes § 52-584 requires you to file a lawsuit within two years of the date of injury in most cases. However, a Connecticut brain injury lawyer from D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, can offer the most effective representation when you contact them immediately after the accident.
In many TBI cases, investigation reveals that a local government or government agency bears some responsibility. Examples include TBIs suffered in an accident with a city bus, at a school-sponsored sporting event, or in a fall on a sidewalk. When the government could be responsible for an injury, you must comply with strict procedural requirements or lose your right to file a claim. Sometimes, you must notify the proper office of your potential claim within just a few months of the injury.
Engaging legal representation soon after the accident gives your attorney time to identify all the responsible parties and send out the proper notices. This preserves your rights and helps ensure all the parties that contributed to your injury are held accountable.
Even a relatively minor TBI can have a significant impact. When another party’s careless or reckless conduct caused the injury, they owe you compensation.
A Connecticut traumatic brain injury lawyer at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC can help you pursue the compensation you deserve. Set up a free remote or in-person consultation today.
