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Seattle Brain Injury Attorney

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, you may be struggling with the next steps forward or how to cope with your new life. One of our knowledgeable Seattle brain injury attorney’s can walk you through the process of financial compensation.

Call us today at (206) 489-5140 to speak with one of our Seattle personal injury attorneys about your case. We know traumatic brain injuries are life-changing events.

Seattle Brain Injury Lawyer

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Choose Us for your Brain Injury Case

If you or a close family member has suffered a brain injury due to another party’s careless, reckless, or wrongful actions, you shouldn’t be left with the undue burden of expenses as well as the physical impacts of the injury. At Fang Law Firm, we also understand that your focus must remain on reaching your maximum medical improvement. We’re ready to assertively navigate your brain injury claim while you focus on your health. We provide many legal advantages in your case including the following:

  • You’ll have a winner on your side: We’ve won 98 percent of our 10,000 litigation cases.
  • Access to your brain injury attorney 365 days a year: We promise to return your call within 24 hours.
  • Attorney representation the entire time: We won’t hand you off to our support staff.
  • The collaborative efforts of a staff dedicated to advocating for our injured clients
  • The personalized attention of a lawyer working diligently on your case with a results-oriented approach for prompt action
  • A team with limited caseloads so every client’s case gets the time and attention it deserves

Fang Law Firm has a renowned track record of success including a recent $775,000 win for a brain-injury client harmed in a car accident. Attorney Remmington Fang has secured tens of millions of dollars for his Seattle clients. A former DA for the Fourth Judicial District, Attorney Nicole Fang has a strong history of litigation experience defending disabled clients around the country. With three other skilled and experienced partners and a team of sharp legal specialists on staff, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by choosing Fang Law Firm for your Seattle brain injury claim. We offer free case consultations and contingency-based payment so you owe us nothing until we settle or win your case.

What is a Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury usually results from a significant blow to the head or jolt to the body. The blow or jolt causes the brain to violently move around inside your skull, causing damage to the brain tissue permanently. Traumatic brain injuries can range from moderate to severe and result in mild cognitive dysfunction, physical impairment, or even death. You or a loved one may be suffering from a brain injury if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

  • Loss of consciousness
  • Slurred speech
  • Mood changes or mood swings
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Dizziness
  • Blurred vision, ringing in your ears, or changes in the ability to smell
  • Weakness or numbness in your fingers
  • Clear fluids leaking from your nose or ears
  • Unusual behavior

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms it is imperative to seek medical attention immediately. If you leave a brain injury untreated, it can result in death.

Recovering Damages in a Seattle Brain Injury Case

You shouldn’t have to pay for costly therapies and surgeries for a brain injury caused by someone else. A skilled brain injury lawyer can help you seek financial compensation from the party that caused your injury. There are two ways to seek recovery for a brain injury.

The At-Fault Party’s Insurance

If your brain injury occurred during a car accident, a Seattle brain injury lawyer can assist you in recovering from the at-fault party’s vehicle insurance company. Dealing with an insurance company can be stressful and an attorney can handle all negotiations on your behalf. Insurance companies know that you’re in a vulnerable state and will take advantage of that to deny your claim or talk you into taking a lower settlement amount than you deserve.

Here’s the catch, Washington only requires drivers to carry insurance coverage well below the amount you may have to pay for brain injury recovery. Washington only requires the following minimum insurance coverage:

    • Bodily injury liability coverage: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident
    • Property damage liability coverage: $10,000
    • Underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident
    • Underinsured motorist property damage coverage: $10,000 per accident
    • Basic personal injury protection: $10,000 per accident

An at-fault party’s insurance company will do everything they can to convince you to take a lower insurance settlement. With the help of a knowledgeable brain injury attorney, you can recover from the at-fault party’s insurance for more than you would have on your own. A Seattle brain injury lawyer can also help you file a personal injury action against the at-fault driver to recover economic and non-economic damages including lost wages, disability payments, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and much more.

A Personal Injury Lawsuit Against The At-Fault Party

You can pursue a civil action for negligence or personal injury against the at-fault party. An attorney can counsel you through the complex court process. A skilled attorney will help you develop a case that will win you the highest financial compensation award possible. Damage awards are intended to return you to how you were before the accident through financial compensation.

What Compensation Can I Recover After a Brain Injury in Seattle? 

Brain injuries are painful, debilitating, and expensive to treat, requiring ongoing medical care and rehabilitative therapy. Depending on the severity of the injury, the individual may be unable to return to work in their previous capacity or unable to work at all. A successful brain injury claim or lawsuit cannot erase the injury, but it alleviates financial hardship and makes it easier for brain injury victims to focus on their physical recovery. Common compensation in brain injury claims in Seattle includes amounts for the following damages:

  • Medical expenses
  • Future medical expenses
  • Lost wages
  • Future income loss
  • Diminished future earning capacity
  • Compensation for pain and suffering
  • Loss of life quality or loss of enjoyment of life compensation
  • Loss of consortium (the ability to have a complete relationship with a loved one)
  • Emotional anguish/PTSD

Brain injuries cause a wide range of physical, emotional, and personality changes that make it difficult for injury victims and their families to cope. Often, victims require long-term therapy for the emotional impacts of the injury as well as medical care for the physical effects. Financial compensation helps make this possible for brain injury victims.

Causes of Brain Injuries

Brain injuries can occur in any number of situations. The most common are the following:

  • Vehicle collisions
  • Sports
  • Falls
  • Acts of violence

Brain injuries can occur in any situation involving contact with your head. The second leading cause for traumatic brain injuries are car accidents. It is imperative to wear your seatbelt when in a vehicle to reduce the chance of suffering from a brain injury if you are involved in a vehicle collision.

Recovery for Brain Injuries

Treatment following the diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury will depend on the extent of your brain injury. You or a loved one could experience a variety of treatments and therapies in the hours, days, weeks, and even months following your diagnosis.

  • Surgery. You may need to undergo surgery to remove blood clots, stop brain bleeds, repair skull fractures, or relieve pressure inside your brain to allow it to heal.
  • Rehab. After surgery and in recovery you may experience cognitive and physical changes. You may have to undergo a lifetime of physical therapy, speech therapy, behavioral therapy and more in order to return to a somewhat normal life.

Unlike other injuries from car accidents, brain injury recovery could last a lifetime. On average, brain injury recovery costs $85,000 – $3,000,000 over the lifetime of a patient. Many people who suffer a brain injury can no longer work or no longer work in the job they had before the accident. It can be stressful trying to figure out how to financially recover from a car accident, let alone facing a lifetime of recovery and up to 7-figures worth of medical and rehabilitation bills. A Seattle brain injury lawyer can help.

contact our seattle brain injury lawyers from fang law firm

What are Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)?

A traumatic brain injury results from a sudden blow, bump, or jolt to the head. The blow, bump, or jolt causes your brain and skull to collide and permanently damages your brain tissue. The term Traumatic Brain Injury refers only to damage caused by an external force. Damage resulting from a stroke, tumor, or other medical condition is not the same as a TBI.

The human brain is a soft and delicate mass of tissue. Despite protective fluid and three layers of protective membranes covering the 3-4 pound brain, a powerful enough blow to the head may cause the brain tissue to shake violently inside the skull, causing compression, stretching, pulling, and even tearing of the brain tissue.

There are differences between closed head injuries and open head injuries but both types may cause traumatic brain injury. In a closed head injury, the brain experiences damage from a blow or from the head stopping suddenly after moving at high speed, such as in a collision car accident. In a closed head injury the brain may experience the following trauma:

  • A jarring back-and-forth or a side-to-side motion against the bony skull, causing bruising
  • A rotational movement inside the skull, causing stretching and tearing of the axons and blood vessels
  • Depending on the amount of force, a closed head injury may cause localized damage or diffuse, widespread damage.

An open head injury means that something has penetrated the skull and the protective layers covering the brain, exposing the sensitive tissue to air. Open head injuries typically cause smaller areas of damage than closed head injuries but may be just as destructive depending on the pathway of the penetrating object and what area of the brain is damaged or destroyed.

Understanding Secondary Injuries vs. Primary

The primary injury to a brain occurs at the time of the accident, injury, or blow to the head. Examples of primary injuries include:

  • Skull fracture with denting or breakage of the skull, often with bone pressing or piercing the brain
  • Localized bruising or bleeding in the brain
  • Diffuse axonal injuries with damage throughout the brain from stretched, pulled, or torn axons

Secondary injuries occur hours or even days after an initial injury and happen as a result of swelling or lack of oxygen.

Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries

Most TBIs fit into one of three major categories depending on the type of injury and amount of damage it caused. Doctors determine this based on the amount of time a patient lost consciousness — if they lost consciousness at all.

  • Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: occurs when a patient either loses consciousness only for a few minutes or not at all, though they may have confusion or feel disoriented. Injuries may not even be noticeable on medical imaging, but doctors closely monitor the patient for problems with mental functioning, mood, and other symptoms. A concussion is an example of a mild traumatic brain injury.
  • Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: may include longer periods of unconsciousness for up to several hours and longer-lasting confusion. Physical, mental, or cognitive complications may be ongoing for months or could be permanent and typically require treatments.
  • Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: results from heavily crushing blows or penetration through the skull and into the brain. These injuries are catastrophic and life-changing. They sometimes result in death. Both open and closed head injuries may cause severe TBIs.

Treating a Traumatic Brain Injury

Treatment for a TBI depends on the injury’s severity. Every accident victim with a head injury should seek treatment immediately so a doctor can determine whether there has been a TBI and its severity. Mild TBIs like concussions and contusions typically require only rest, pain medication, and observation.

Moderate to severe TBIs require immediate emergency medical treatment to maintain the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain and to reduce swelling to minimize damage. Patients may need medications and surgery to repair damage or relieve pressure on the sensitive brain tissue. Once stabilized, treatment includes any necessary ongoing medications and rehabilitation services to maximize a patient’s quality of life.

Traumatic Brain Injury Prevention

Wearing a seatbelt and using approved, age-appropriate child car seats at all times in a moving motor vehicle minimizes the risk of a driver or passenger experiencing a traumatic brain injury in a crash.

Wearing a helmet on a motorcycle and when cycling, skating or participating in other wheeled sports and activities protects against TBIs in the event of an accident or fall.

Install window guards and stair-safety gates in homes with children and provide safe places for children to play. Keep chairs and beds away from windows in multi-story homes or apartments. Asking for help and protection in domestic violence situations and securing away all firearms in the home minimizes the risk of TBIs from violence, accidental shootings, and suicides.

If you or a loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury due to another party’s negligence or reckless behavior, the skilled litigators at Fang Law Firm can put their decades of experience with TBI claims to work on your behalf.

Traumatic Brain Injury Statistics

In recent decades, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have become a leading cause of death in the United States. It is also the leading cause of injury-related accidental deaths. Data reveals that 1.70 million people sustain some degree of TBI per year. An average of 52,000 people die from traumatic brain injuries annually. Car accidents, falls, and work-related injuries are common causes of TBIs. The effects of traumatic brain injuries vary according to the severity of the injury, but all brain injuries are significant and can have long-term effects.

What to Do After a Brain Injury

If you suspect you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury, it’s critical to seek immediate medical care, preferably by calling 911 and getting stabilizing medical support during transportation to a hospital. While at the scene, use your cell phone—or have an uninjured companion use it for you—and do the following:

  • First, call 911 to report the accident and request emergency medical services, ask for the police if the injury resulted from a criminal attack or traffic accident
  • Use the cell phone’s camera to take photos of anything relevant to the cause of the accident such as the damaged vehicles and accident scene after a car accident, or the cause of a slip-and-fall accident
  • Take photos of any visible injuries
  • Gather the contact information of anyone involved such as another driver or the owner of a business where a fall occurred
  • Add the contact information of any eyewitnesses. Often they are the key to proving fault and liability for a brain injury if the accident or incident occurred in a location where there are no surveillance cameras or traffic cameras
  • Ask the medical providers to keep detailed medical records throughout the evaluation and diagnosis
  • Obtain copies of the medical records with the treatment recommendations and prognosis
  • Keep copies of all medical bills and receipts for related expenses
  • If the brain injury occurred because of violence or a traffic accident, obtain a copy of the police report

Call the attorneys at Fang Law Firm before speaking to insurance company representatives. Your lawyer from Fang Law Firm can anticipate and counteract common insurance company tactics used to protect their profits at the victim’s expense.

Avoiding Common Insurance Company Tactics to Minimize Payouts on Your Seattle Brain Injury Claim

Insurance companies prioritize their profits just like any other business despite their compassionate commercials. They hire adjusters to find reasons to lowball claims or deny them completely. Your attorney will advise you on the following common pitfalls to avoid:

  • Accepting a fast, early settlement offer which is almost always far lower than the amount available to you and requires signing away your right to a lawsuit
  • Talking on a recorded line which allows the insurance company to take your remarks out of context and use them against you
  • Giving the insurance adjuster unlimited access to your medical records which allows them to scour your entire medical history to look for a previous injury or medical condition they can claim is the cause of your symptoms
  • Posting photos and comments on social media that the insurer can use out of context against you

Insurance companies may also use Washington’s pure comparison negligence insurance laws against you in an attempt to assign you an undue percentage of fault for the injury. If they claim you were partly at fault for the accident they can lower the amount they must pay on the claim by the percentage of your fault for the injury.

Proving Liability in a Seattle Brain Injury Claim

Before a claim for damages is successful after a brain injury, the injury victim (plaintiff) must prove the at-fault party (defendant) was negligent by failing to take reasonable measures to prevent the injury. For example, a careless driver who fails to follow traffic laws or a negligent store owner who fails to repair a leaking water pipe to prevent a slip-and-fall accident in a restroom. Proving liability in a brain injury claim requires showing the following:

  • That the at-fault party had a duty of care to take reasonable measures to prevent injuries to others
  • They breached their duty through an act of negligence
  • Their negligent breach of duty directly caused the brain injury
  • The brain injury victim experienced economic and non-economic damages from the injury

In personal injury cases, the plaintiff and their attorney must prove the defendant’s liability through a preponderance of the evidence. In brain injury cases that go to court, the judge instructs the jury to ask themselves if another, reasonable person or business would have conducted themselves the same way under the same circumstances. If the answer is no, then the party at fault is liable for the victim’s damages, including medical costs, lost income, and compensation for pain and suffering.

Do I Have to Go to Court for a Brain Injury Claim?

The majority of brain injury claims are settled out of court through a skilled attorney’s negotiations with the at-fault party. First, your attorney from Fang Law Firm will investigate all aspects of the injury and document evidence of liability. Then they present the evidence to the appropriate insurance company in a detailed demand package with a list of your damages. Sometimes mediation meetings take place to work out a mutually acceptable settlement agreement. Only in the event of an insurance company’s bad faith practices, unreasonably low settlement offers, or the wrongful denial of a valid claim does the case go to court. Lawsuits in court must be filed within the state’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims.

Your lawyer from Fang Law Firm is more than ready to take your case to court and walk you through the process so you’re fully prepared should it become necessary. Although a court case takes longer to resolve than a settlement, jury awards are often substantially higher than the amount you’d recover in a settlement.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Brain Injury Claims in Washington?

Washington has a three-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims, including brain injury cases. However, some exceptions may apply that extend this time limit, for example:

  • If the brain injury leaves the victim unconscious or incapacitated for a period of time, the time limit begins on the date they regain cognition rather than the day of the injury
  • If the injury isn’t diagnosed or discovered until some time later, the statute of limitations begins on the date of discovery
  • If a minor suffers a brain injury, they have until three years after their 18th birthday to file a claim

Your attorney from Fang Law Firm can answer your questions about how the statute of limitations applies in your unique brain injury case.

Contact Our Seattle Brain Injury Lawyers Today

The Seattle brain injury attorneys at Fang Law Firm are standing by to help you with your brain injury claim. Don’t delay; contact Fang Law Firm today at (206) 489-5140. One of our knowledgeable brain injury attorneys in Seattle will walk you through a free case consultation.

Fang Law Firm offers 100% remote and contactless meetings & representation.