Brain Injury Attorney in Norwalk, CT
Traumatic brain injuries can have life-altering consequences, affecting your health, finances, and future. If your injury resulted from someone else’s negligence, you deserve compensation to help cover your losses and secure the care you need.
Contact Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge today for a free consultation with an experienced Norwalk brain injury lawyer, and let us fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.
Every nine seconds in the United States, someone suffers a brain injury. Nearly half of these injuries occur from falls, with car accidents coming in as another common cause of traumatic brain injuries. These kinds of injuries can have devastating consequences, impacting your entire life and requiring ongoing medical care.
If your injury was the result of someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to compensation to cover your losses. At Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge, our team of Norwalk traumatic brain injury lawyers offer the help you need to file a personal injury claim. But what is a traumatic brain injury, and how can a lawyer help?
Understanding Brain Injuries: Causes, Types, and Symptoms
A traumatic brain injury is an injury that affects the way your brain works. It can occur if you suffer a jolt, bump, or blow to the head or if an object penetrates the skull.
Mild traumatic brain injuries are concussions. A blow to the head can lead your brain to bounce in your skull or to twist, causing chemical changes to the brain and also stretching and otherwise damaging brain cells. Although they’re considered mild traumatic brain injuries, concussions are still serious. They can cause symptoms like:
- Confusion
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Ringing in the ears
- Blurred vision
- Changes in sleeping patterns
- Mood changes
- Behavioral changes
Brain hemorrhages are another type of brain injury. They occur when there’s uncontrolled bleeding on the surface of the brain or within the brain itself. These tend to affect only the area in which they occur, but they can still be life-threatening if not treated quickly. Symptoms include:
- Severe headaches
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Weakness
- Facial paralysis
- Seizures
- Difficulty swallowing
- Slurred speech
- Impaired vision
- Feeling lethargic
Coup-contrecoup brain injuries are actually two injuries that occur at the same time. They most commonly happen when the head slams into a stationary object, like a steering wheel. The brain moves forward, hitting the front of the skull, and the force of the impact causes it to bounce and hit the back of the skull as well.
One of the most severe types of traumatic brain injuries is diffuse axonal injuries. These occur when your brain is twisted or shaken in the skull, leading the cerebral tissue to slide back and forth, causing the connective fibers in the brain, called axons, to tear.
Torn axons impact the messages that neurons transmit, resulting in loss of function. The severity of the symptoms depends on the extent of the tearing. The more torn axons, the more serious the injury is. Symptoms include headaches, fatigue, vomiting, and more.
If an object penetrates the skull and impacts the brain, it’s a penetrating brain injury. People with these kinds of injuries are more likely to experience seizures and have a higher risk of developing epilepsy.
After suffering a brain injury, it’s important that you contact a lawyer. Schedule a consultation with at Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge to speak with a Norwalk personal injury attorney.
John Kennedy Jr.
Founding Partner
John J. Kennedy, Jr., is the founding partner of Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge, P.C. In 1988, John formed Kennedy & Johnson, along with David Johnson. John is an accomplished trial attorney, spending most of his more than 42 years practicing in Connecticut, representing injured clients before juries.
How a Norwalk Brain Injury Attorney Can Help
If you suffered a brain injury in an accident that occurred because of someone else’s negligence, you have a right to claim damages. It’s not always simple to prove liability, however, so it’s not something you want to attempt on your own. You need to hire a Norwalk brain injury lawyer for help.
In Connecticut, proving negligence requires that you demonstrate the person owed you a duty of care and breached it. For example, one of the most common causes of brain injuries is slip and fall accidents, which involve premises liability doctrines.
A property owner has a duty to ensure their premises are reasonably safe for visitors. If they failed to fix a broken stair step or didn’t put out “wet floor” warnings and you slip and fall, they breached their duty of care.
You then have to show that the breach led to your injuries and that you can be compensated for them. That means that if you didn’t need to get medical treatment, you can’t file a claim.
Although it appears to be a straightforward process, it can become complex if the accident happened in a commercial property or if you suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in which there are many parties involved. You’ll be dealing with a serious injury, so the last thing you want is to worry about legalities.
By hiring Norwalk brain injury lawyers, you have the chance to focus on your treatment while we do the work of investigating the accident and gathering evidence. We have access to expert medical witnesses and accident reconstructionists who can offer their testimony to show what really occurred.
Insurance companies are always looking for ways to keep from paying you what you deserve. They may make low offers and then try to bully you into accepting them. If you have an attorney by your side, they will negotiate to get you the best possible settlement.
If negotiations don’t go as well as hoped, your lawyer can also take your case to court. Often, that threat is enough to get insurers to make better offers.
If you’ve been in an accident, contact us at Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge. Our team of Connecticut brain injury lawyers can help you get compensation.
Contingency Fees
At Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge, P.C., we handle all Brain Injuries cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that we do not get paid unless and until you receive a settlement or a jury award.
Schedule a free, confidential consultation with a skilled Connecticut personal injury lawyer today. Contact us online or call our Norwalk law firm directly at 203-354-4559.
Brain Injuries FAQs
What Damages Can I Claim After Suffering a Traumatic Brain Injury?
After suffering a brain injury because of someone else’s negligence, you can claim compensatory and, sometimes, punitive damages. Compensatory damages are economic and non-economic.
Economic damages compensate you for tangible losses you sustained because of the accident. They cover medical bills for treatment you received as well as helping you cover future care that you may need to treat a brain injury.
Traumatic brain injuries may take a long time to heal, which means you will miss work and lose out on income you’d otherwise have received. Economic damages cover these lost wages, including salaries, commissions, and more. If you’re not able to return to work in the same capacity, you can get compensation for future lost wages, too.
Non-economic damages compensate you for the pain and suffering you experienced as a result of the injury. If you’re unable to live your life as you did before, you can claim loss of enjoyment of life. In instances when a loved one dies because of the accident, family members can also claim loss of consortium.
Punitive damages are available in Connecticut if the defendant’s behavior was particularly egregious or malicious. These damages aren’t meant to compensate your losses but to punish the other party.
What Is the Average Settlement for a Traumatic Brain Injury Claim?
Each case is unique. Traumatic brain injuries can leave plaintiffs with significant, life-altering consequences, which increase the amount they can claim. The more serious the injury and the more it impacts your daily life, the more the case is worth.
To get a clearer idea of the kind of settlement you could receive, schedule a consultation with our Norwalk personal injury lawyers.
How Much Will It Cost to File a Claim?
At Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge, we know how much you’re struggling. You likely have mounting medical bills and other expenses as a result of the accident. We don’t want to add to your financial burdens, so we offer our services on a contingency fee basis. We don’t get paid unless we win.
How Do I Prove the Defendant’s Negligence?
To demonstrate that the other party’s negligence led to your traumatic brain injury, you need to show that they owed you a duty of care and breached it. If they were texting while driving, for example, they owed you the responsibility of driving safely and following traffic laws, but they didn’t adhere to that responsibility.
Then, you have to show that their breach caused your injuries. In the example above, you need to demonstrate that you suffered a blow to your head as a result of the accident their texting while driving caused. Finally, you have to show that you can be compensated for the injuries.
Contact KJSR to Speak With Norwalk Brain Injury Lawyers
A traumatic brain injury can upend your life. You could develop mobility or cognitive issues that require long-term care, and you may not be able to return to work. To get compensation for the losses you suffered as well as for future losses you’ll experience, we can help at Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge.
Schedule a free consultation with our Connecticut traumatic brain injury lawyers to get started with your claim.
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