Suffering a brain injury after an accident can mean that you have a long road to recovery. Motorcyclists are more likely to get into accidents that cause brain injuries. Your recovery after a motorcycle accident can get very expensive. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury in an accident, contact an Bakersfield brain injury lawyer immediately to protect your legal right to compensation.
Motorcycle Accident Statistics
The National Safety Council (NSC) has published motorcycle accident statistics for several years.
Some of the most important facts for travelers include:
- Motorcycle accidents account for three percent of all registered vehicles across the country.
- Although motorcycles represent a small portion of vehicles on the road, they account for 14 percent of all nationwide traffic fatalities.
- Motorcycle accidents accounted for three percent of occupant injuries.
- Motorcycle accidents account for 17 percent of all accidents with occupant fatalities.
- There were 5,932 motorcycle accident deaths, which reflects an accident rate of 30.05 accidents per 100 million vehicles.
- The NSC found that using a helmet corresponded with the number of deaths for riders and passengers in motorcycle accidents.
- The number of motorcycle accident fatalities for riders and passengers decreased by 8 percent.
Brain injuries often happen after a blow to the head or a violent jolt. Accident victims may suffer a temporary or permanent brain injury after the sudden impact of the crash.
What Are The Effects of a Brain Injury?
Brain injuries have short-term and long-term effects. Each of these complications can significantly affect the way that you live. The following are some of the effects that brain injury victims tend to face after a car accident.
Immediate Effects of Brain Injuries
Each patient’s situation is different, but there are some common immediate effects of traumatic brain injuries, including:
- Brain infections
- Coma
- Stroke
- Blood clots
- Narrowed blood vessels
- Nerve damage
- Seizures
Long-Term Effects of Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries also have effects that can last a lifetime. Long-term issues from brain injuries can significantly limit what an accident victim can do. Examples of the long-term problems that a brain injury victim can suffer include:
Emotional
Any impact on your brain will affect your emotions. Many brain injury victims have emotional consequences, including mood swings, anxiety, depression, and irritability, among other emotional problems.
Cognitive
Accident victims may suffer from cognitive issues. After the accident’s impact, you might suffer issues with your memory, decision-making abilities, learning, and reasoning.
Communication
Navigating life with a brain injury can put a dent in your ability to communicate effectively. For some accident survivors, everyday tasks like speaking, writing, reading, or even expressing thoughts become a bit more challenging.
The impact of these injuries ripples through different aspects of communication, making day-to-day interactions a bit more complex.
Behavioral
A change in your brain can change your behavior. Some brain accident victims report difficulty socializing, easily feeling aggression or anger toward others, or an inability to exercise self-control.
Senses
An injury to your brain can ravage your basic motor functions. Some victims say they lose their ability to taste food normally and have double vision, ringing in their ears, and pain.
Some accident victims also have long-term degenerative effects like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
How Do My Injuries Affect My Settlement?
Each of the above effects of a brain injury can decrease your quality of life, leave you unable to work and provide for yourself, and create massive medical bills.
A brain injury attorney can assist in identifying and addressing all your losses following an accident, ensuring you gain access to the compensation necessary. So, how does an injury affect your settlement?
An attorney experienced in handling brain injury cases can guide you in determining the compensation you are entitled to following an accident. Having a legal team is the best way to ensure a successful settlement after suffering from a brain injury in a car accident.
How Are Brain Injury Settlements Valued?
Usually, the more severe your injuries after an accident, the larger your settlement. While no attorney can guarantee you an exact number for your final settlement, if you suffer permanent injuries, you might recover more financial compensation—for example, if you suffer from post-concussive syndrome.
Liability Determination
Every accident victim and their legal team must show that the other side is liable to collect damages. Liability means that someone handles causing the accident
Deciding liability is one of the toughest fights you will face after an injury-causing car accident. The insurance company will not roll over and pay for your losses. An attorney will be your advocate as you try to prove that the other driver is liable for your injuries.
Insurance Policy Limits
Every insurance policy has a coverage limit. The insurance policy limit is the largest amount an insurance company will pay for an accident. Policyholders choose their insurance policy limits when they apply for their policy.
For example, if an insured purchases a policy with a $25,000 limit for property damage, the victim can only recover $25,000 for their property damages after an accident.
If your injuries exceed the insurance policy limits, don’t worry. You can pursue other options for compensation. Speaking with a brain injury attorney is the best way to ensure you get the financial compensation you deserve.
Medical Expenses or Rehabilitation Costs
Treating a brain injury can get expensive. Similar to the settlement you can expect, the more severe your injuries are, the more expensive medical treatment will be.
Brain injury victims typically undergo treatment, including surgery to stop brain bleeds, long-term hospital stays, and inpatient rehabilitation, which can last for weeks. The cost of treating a brain injury can quickly add up.
Severity of Injuries
Severe injuries tend to lead to higher settlements. In addition to the high cost of paying for medical treatment, there are other effects of severe brain injuries. If you suffer from a brain injury, you might experience a significant reduction in your quality of life. You might have lost precious memories or cannot make new ones. These losses are compensable.
Depending on your prognosis, you may never fully recover. Speak to an attorney to discover whether you are entitled to compensation for your losses after a car accident.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering damages are part of many brain injury settlements. Pain and suffering refer to the emotional and physical fallout from the accident. As a victim of a brain injury accident, you may have the right to seek compensation, not only for your losses but also for the pain and suffering you endured during the recovery period.
Lost Income and Lost Earning Capacity
Some brain injuries are so severe that the victim cannot return to work. If you suffered an injury that kept you from returning to work, you might be entitled to recover damages for lost income.
You can also be entitled to damages for lost earning ability. You have lost earning ability if you can return to work but not in the same industry or at the same rate as you did before the accident.
Losing the ability to return to your earlier profession can cause emotional distress. As an accident victim, you have the right to seek compensation for the losses associated with the emotional trauma caused by the brain injury.
How Will My Attorney Help Me?
An adept brain injury lawyer can aid in recovering your losses following a car accident. Attempting to get compensation alone after an accident might be tempting, but brain injury victims fare better when they have a legal team supporting them. Your legal counsel can support you through the following means.
Settlement Negotiations
Negotiations often resolve many civil cases during the settlement phase. Negotiating with an insurance company without an attorney can mean leaving money on the table.
Insurance companies take advantage of unrepresented victims and their lack of experience. An attorney will use their experience to get you the best settlement offer.
Identify and Calculate Damages
Sometimes, accident victims do not realize how hurt they are, or they downplay their injuries. An attorney will meet with you and discuss the facts of your case.
During your meeting, you can tell your attorney about all the damages you have faced since the accident. Despite the temptation, downplaying your injuries does not do you any favors. Be upfront about your damages and the pain you’ve felt after the accident.
Investigate the Cause of the Accident
Insurance companies want to shift the blame from their insured to you in any way they can. Insurance companies use several tactics to blame-shift after the accident, like delaying contact, offering you a quick but inadequate settlement, or reviewing your medical records to assign your current injuries to past issues.
Your lawyer will support you in resisting any pressure you may encounter from the insurance company.
The insurance company will investigate the accident to figure out the cause. Because the insurance company will complete its investigation, you need a team to complete an independent investigation.
An attorney and their legal team will investigate the accident by reviewing your medical records, examining traffic camera footage from the scene, speaking to witnesses, etc.
Review Your Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Sometimes, the cost of treating your injuries exceeds the other driver’s insurance policy limits. Suppose the cost of treatment is more than what the other driver’s insurance will pay. In that case, you might need to pursue your car insurance policy’s uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the liable driver does not have insurance coverage. State law requires that every driver have a minimum amount of accident coverage.
Despite the law, many drivers do not have insurance coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is optional, allowing you to use it to pay for your injuries and damages if the other driver does not have insurance coverage.
Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the driver is insured, but their policy limit is insufficient to cover your losses. You must file a claim against your insurance company to access your underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage.
Although you have paid premiums to the company, possibly for years, your insurance company does not want to pay claims. Engaging an attorney can aid in avoiding stubborn insurance companies.
Filing a Lawsuit
If your underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage is insufficient to pay for your losses, you might have a right to file a lawsuit against the responsible driver. Filing a lawsuit can be hard and emotionally draining. It also comes with strict procedural rules.
Your legal team can guide you in adhering to the civil rules of procedure and safeguarding your case against dismissal.
Should I Accept This Settlement Offer?
Before accepting a settlement offer, you should first consider whether the amount covers your current and future expenses. Remember, you only get one shot at a settlement.
If you accept an offer prematurely and your losses increase after settling, you cannot negotiate your deal. A seasoned brain injury attorney can guide you in understanding the components of a satisfactory settlement offer.
Contact a Brain Injury Attorney Today!
Mickey Fine, Bakersfield Brain Injury Lawyer
Getting financial relief after a brain injury can get complex. You might need serious medical intervention to get back on track. The more severe your injuries, the more money you’ll need. The journey to getting the compensation that you need to fully recover can be long and difficult.
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury in a car accident and are living with a brain injury, contact an attorney today. Getting the right legal team behind you is the best first step to getting the monetary recovery you deserve.