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Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer

Experienced Virginia Attorneys Handle Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

At Joel Bieber Law Firm, our team of seasoned attorneys specializes in handling Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) cases. With a strong presence across multiple states, we serve clients in Richmond, Virginia Beach, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Our expertise in TBI cases allows us to provide comprehensive legal support to victims and their families, guiding them through the complex landscape of medical evaluations, insurance claims, and legal proceedings.

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a form of acquired brain injury that occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. This can happen due to a violent blow to the head, a fall, or any other event that results in a sudden impact. TBIs can range from mild concussions to severe brain damage, affecting various aspects of a person’s life.

Signs and Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injuries

The signs and symptoms of a TBI can vary widely depending on the severity of the injury and the area of the brain affected. Common symptoms include:

  • Headaches or migraines
  • Memory loss
  • Confusion or disorientation
  • Dizziness or loss of balance
  • Nausea or vomitin
  • Changes in mood or behavior

What are the Effects of TBI?

The effects of a traumatic brain injury can be both physical and psychological, often requiring long-term medical treatment and rehabilitation. Victims may experience cognitive impairments, emotional instability, and even permanent disability. The financial burden can be overwhelming, not to mention the emotional toll it takes on both the victim and their family.

Common Ways Brain Injuries Happen

Traumatic brain injuries can occur in various settings and situations, including but not limited to:

  • Car accidents
  • Motorcycle accidents
  • Slip and fall incidents
  • Workplace accidents
  • Sports injuries
  • Assaults and violent attacks

Who Might Be Responsible for Your Traumatic Brain Injury?

Determining liability in a TBI case can be complex. Responsible parties may include:

  • Negligent drivers in auto accidents
  • Property owners in slip and fall cases
  • Employers who fail to maintain a safe workplace
  • Manufacturers of defective products
  • Healthcare providers in cases of medical malpractice

Contact a Compassionate Virginia Beach Brain Injury Lawyer for a Free Consultation

If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury, don’t hesitate to reach out to our compassionate team at Joel Bieber Law Firm. We offer free consultations to discuss your case and help you understand your legal options. Our dedicated attorneys are committed to fighting for the justice and compensation you deserve.

At The Joel Bieber Firm, we see many clients coming to us with undiagnosed problems of traumatic brain injury, often referred to as TBI – our experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers have a wealth of experience helping people that have suffered a TBI.

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, someone suffers a traumatic brain injury every twenty one seconds. The annual cost of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is estimated to exceed over 35 billion dollars.  Sometimes, the emergency technician at the scene, may reference some form of “hitting head” or loss of consciousness. However, as emergency technicians they are trained to treat visible, life-threatening injuries and also to get the patient transferred to the hospital. Thus, from the very beginning, a brain injury may go undiagnosed.

When hiring an attorney to represent someone who has suffered a traumatic brain injury, is it necessary that the attorney have specialized knowledge of brain injuries?  

Yes. The attorney you hire should have specialized knowledge and experience in the field of neurolaw and in representing people with acquired traumatic brain injury. Just as a person with a brain injury would not be treated by a general medical practitioner, he or she should not be represented by a lawyer who is a general legal practitioner. The tools for diagnosis and treatment are even specialized and an understanding of the mechanism of the injury, as well as the medicine is important.

Will my Brain Injury Claim end up in court? 

When you begin working with an attorney, it is important to understand the course that your claim may take. A lawsuit may take years, and there are many situations which occur which do not require the expertise of the attorney, but can easily be handled by the attorney’s associate or legal assistant. As a client you have many rights, including the right to be kept up to date on developments in your case, the right to review your file, and the right to speak with your attorney. At The Joel Bieber Firm, we stay in contact with our clients, provide them with copies or letters that are sent out and keep them updated regarding conversations with the defense attorneys. You must have confidence in your attorney. Your attorney is your advocate and the only person who will be fighting to get you what the law provides.

Can my insurance company and the defendant’s insurance company obtain my past medical records?

Yes, the law provides that when you put your medical condition at issue, your past medical history may be relevant. One of the most disturbing events for you is the intrusion into your privacy by attorneys and insurance adjusters. This intrusion is even more pronounced for the person with traumatic brain injury. At The Joel Bieber Firm, we will work to keep out anything that is not deemed to be “reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence.” We are used to dealing with these issues and will represent you at every stage of the claim.  

How much will a traumatic brain injury case cost me? 

At The Joel Bieber Firm, we work on a contingency. By contract, we only receive an attorney fee, if there is a recovery. This is separate from the hiring of experts and other case expenses. Because we have a great deal of experience in presenting these claims, it gives us the experience to be able to evaluate your claim to determine what is fair value and how much will also be advanced for costs. While a client remains ultimately responsible for costs, this usually is advanced by The Joel Bieber Firm and deducted at the time of settlement or from a jury verdict. All costs are fully explained to you and discussed throughout the claim.

How do I know if I have a Brain Injury?

If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident and are experiencing any of the following symptoms you may be suffering from a brain injury. You do not have to have a loss of consciousness to have a brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injuries may cause long term residual problems with symptoms that are not so obvious. “Mild Traumatic” is a medical term, but does not mean that it is a “minor” injury. Symptoms can include:

  • Physical Symptoms – Dizziness, headaches, light sensitivity, night blindness, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, confusion, hearing loss, loss of sense of taste or smell.
  • Mental Cognitive Issues – Amnesia, short term memory loss, difficulty concentrating, difficulty performing simple tasks such as counting change, disorientation, IQ issues and organization problems.
  • Emotional Symptoms – Irritability, apathy, confrontational, impatient, appetite disturbances, depression, lack of motivation and obligation.

Different Types of Brain Injuries

Of all types of injury, those to the brain are among the most likely to result in death or permanent disability. Unfortunately, those who suffer from a brain injury are considered “walking wounded” because on the outside, everything may seem normal. However, to family members and the injured person, it is very difficult. Severe brain injury results in easily observable symptoms including partial or complete paralysis, speech problems, impaired cognitive functioning, disability from employment, long periods of coma and huge hospital bills.

What Should You Do Now?

The traumatic brain injury lawyers at the Joel Bieber Firm have extensive knowledge in these cases and realize the special needs for those who have been injured. Our brain injury attorneys are committed to helping you and your family with the litigation, and making you aware of the top medical specialists in the field. We have handled many brain injury claims; some resulting from car or truck crashes, some from exposure to products. Our attorneys have resolved many traumatic brain injuries before filing suit. We also have experience with mediation and we have tried several brain injury jury trials.

Today, medicine has advanced to help diagnose and treat brain injuries. However, many times at the scene of the crash, the emergency medical team is looking at life-threatening injuries and not whether someone has suffered a traumatic brain injury. At the hospital, a brain bleed may be noticed only by a CT scan. However, cognition difficulties may show up later, despite not initially diagnosed with a brain injury.

Joel Bieber has been active in the field of Brain Injury survivors and is a founding member of the North American Brain Injury Society. Some of our TV commercials include the importance of wearing helmets while riding bikes. Joel is also an active member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Traumatic Brain Injury section. New advances in the diagnosis and treatment of Traumatic Brain injury are occurring and the Joel Bieber Firm is constantly learning to serve our clients better. For more information about our experience in  Virginia brain injury claims or for a free consultation, please fill out the form contact form. In addition, The Joel Bieber Firm works to help clients connect with other brain injury survivors and organizations, to assist in getting the help they need.

 

Get Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer Near You


Frequently Asked Questions

A brain injury lawyer represents individuals who have suffered a brain injury at the hands of another. They are personal injury lawyers who specifically work with brain injury cases and have the requisite knowledge to help clients in need.
Because of the complexity of the brain and associated injuries, a brain injury lawyer must possess a high level of knowledge regarding brain injuries. The attorney must know how accidents cause brain injuries and understand brain damage’s long-term implications and impacts.
With this knowledge and understanding, brain injury lawyers can better calculate and negotiate damage figures that will truly address the extent of their clients’ injuries. For this reason, if you are searching for a brain injury lawyer, you want to choose a lawyer with a strong grasp of the causes and consequences of brain injuries.
A brain injury lawyer also deals with all of the paperwork, documents, and evidence for your claim. They meet the filing requirements, draft and file appropriate motions and communications, and comply with all procedural rules.

A claim for damages based on brain damage must prove that the damage exists. Fortunately, various methods exist to prove the existence of brain damage. Medical tests, for example, can produce imagery and data that shows a brain injury. They include:
Computerized tomography scan (CT scan)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring
Also essential in demonstrating the injury is showing how it occurred. If your TBI is the result of a slip and fall, your attorney will present evidence of the spot where you struck your head and the condition that made you fall. If the TBI came about through a car crash, the police report and accident reconstruction experts might be needed.
The testimony of medical experts may also be effective in proving a brain injury. The various medical specialties and healthcare providers have tests and scales to determine the existence and severity of brain injuries.
Your TBI lawyer will use whatever evidence they need to demonstrate that you are suffering from a TBI.

Medical professionals agree that all brain injuries are serious. Any person who suspects they have experienced a brain injury, no matter how mild, should seek immediate medical treatment. The consequences of holding off on treatment could lead to a worsening of the brain injury and even death.
With that being said, within the spectrum of brain injuries, there are degrees of seriousness that correspond directly with the manifest symptoms. For example, the most serious brain injury is the one that leads directly to death. Car accidents and firearms are two common causes of fatal brain injuries.
On the other end of the spectrum, mild head injuries from sports, car accidents, and assaults can cause temporary symptoms such as:
Dizziness
Vomiting
Nausea
Tinnitus
Memory loss
Exhaustion
Although usually temporary, milder brain injuries are still considered serious. More severe brain injuries will lead to a higher risk of unconsciousness, permanent cognitive disruption and symptoms, and worse outcomes across the board, from impacted motor skills to paralysis.

Three major types of brain injuries are closed, penetrating, and nontraumatic brain injuries.
Closed brain injuries occur when the skull is left intact, and the brain is injured through violent impacts against the skull. They may be the result of repeated blows to the head or from one single traumatic strike. Boxing, football, and other sports often lead to TBIs as well as car and bicycle accidents.
Penetrating injuries occur when the skull becomes exposed, and the brain is pierced. Bullets and any other object moving with sufficient force can pierce the skull and damage the brain. The brain may also be damaged through the eye, which can be prevented with the use of safety goggles.
A non-traumatic brain injury is typically caused by forces from within the body, such as serious health conditions and events. Strokes, seizures, tumors, lack of oxygen, and exposure to neurotoxic poisons can all cause non-traumatic brain injuries.
Although no trauma is involved in these types of brain injuries, their consequences on victims can be just as dire.

Filing a brain injury claim begins by first determining who is responsible for your injuries. Most TBI claims involve negligence, and so it is likely you will need evidence of negligence.
Evidence of negligence is highly situational and based on duties people owe one another. In traffic situations, drivers have the duty to operate their vehicles in a way that doesn’t create unreasonable risks. Evidence of distracted driving, drinking, or excessive speeding could be used to show a driver was negligent.
Once you know and locate the party responsible for your injury, be it a store owner with slippery floors or a negligent doctor, you will file a claim against the appropriate insurance company.
If you are in a no-fault insurance state, such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, and the TBI is the result of a car accident, you will file a claim for some or all of your damages with your personal injury protection insurance. Damages not covered by your PIP may be sought in a lawsuit against the negligent driver.
Hiring an attorney is the recommended way to ensure you access all the compensation available to you.

The first thing you should do after experiencing a traumatic brain injury is to seek immediate medical care. In many TBI cases, the need for urgent medical care is obvious. However, sometimes, it is not, and victims forego or delay medical care with disastrous results.

After seeking treatment, the extent of your TBI will be much clearer. You will immediately begin to feel its effect on your life, from the missed paychecks to the medical bills piling up. At this time, you will need to seek compensation for your losses. 

As a brain injury victim, it is important to focus on your recovery and to let an experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer worry about your compensation. You can schedule a free consultation with an attorney to discuss the circumstances surrounding your injury and your compensation options.

Before arriving, it will be helpful to your attorney if you gather certain items. The most helpful will be any medical records that detail your injuries, as well as pre-accident medical records. Medical bills, injury-related expenses, and other similar evidence of loss will also be helpful.

It depends. Each state determines the length of time that injury victims have to file a brain injury lawsuit. Generally speaking, most states have either a one-year or a two-year time limit. Only a few states allow for more or less time.
There are some exceptions to the statute of limitations, which may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. One common exception becomes applicable when the injury victim is a minor. The statute of limitations is tolled until the minor becomes an adult. However, this only applies if the minor themselves brings the lawsuit and not the parents.
In terms of time limits and medical malpractice cases, each state has a statute of repose that provides an overall time limit for brain and other injury lawsuits based on medical negligence. In Virginia, there is an overall time limit of ten years from the date the injury was caused (not discovered) for lawsuits.
If you are unsure about these time limits and your case, it is important to contact a traumatic brain injury lawyer as soon as you can.

It depends. In most cases, attorneys who represent victims of traumatic brain injuries operate under a contingency model of payment. This means their fees become due at the end of your case when you receive your award for compensation.
If your traumatic brain injury lawyer was unsuccessful in recovering compensation for you, your bill would be zero dollars.
Because TBI sufferers are immediately saddled with losses, this fee arrangement works well for them. It allows them to conserve vital resources until a payout is reached. In some cases, proceedings may take a couple of years to resolve, placing an unbearable burden on most TBI victims.
In addition to lawyer’s fees, it is important to know the costs associated with your claim. Various expenses are separate from the fees for the lawyer’s work. They include:
Filing fees and other court costs
Costs to hire investigators and expert witnesses
Administrative costs, such as postage, copying, legal research, etc
These costs will also come from your compensation award and will be detailed in your attorney-client contract.

Perhaps the word traumatic is to blame for many believing that unconsciousness always results from a TBI. However, this is not the case. You can suffer a traumatic brain injury and not lose consciousness.
In fact, it is possible to suffer a TBI and not even know you have one. This refers, of course, to mild TBIs. A concussion, for example, is a form of mild traumatic brain injury and does not always cause a loss of consciousness.
However, when dealing with moderate and severe TBIs, it is widely accepted that TBIs in these two classifications always involve a period of unconsciousness. For moderate TBIs, some experts say that unconsciousness occurs for at least 30 minutes but no longer than 24 hours.
Others have a much higher threshold for their definitions of moderate brain injuries, with some stating six hours of unconsciousness is necessary. Most agree that short minutes- or seconds-long blackouts don’t qualify as signs of moderate brain injury. With a severe TBI, an injured victim remains unconscious for more than a day.

A traumatic brain injury is an injury suffered by the brain due to a blow or jolt to the head or a foreign object piercing the skull. TBIs are among the most serious injuries, as you would imagine, and lead to devastating losses.
When a TBI occurs due to blunt-force trauma to the skull, the brain impacts the skull one or more times, causing it to suffer damage. For this reason, some TBIs caused by blunt-force trauma may not be readily apparent if they are mild.
In serious cases, the brain swells in response to the impact and becomes damaged even further as it runs into the skull.
TBIs cause a whole host of health problems for brain injury victims. Cognitive disruption, loss of motor skills and other neurological faculties, and permanent mental incapacitation are all real outcomes for victims of TBIs.
Fortunately, many TBIs are temporary and are not severe. And they benefit from the availability of competent medical treatment.

TBI lawyers, also known as traumatic brain injury lawyers, specialize in providing legal assistance and representation to individuals who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to the negligence or wrongful actions of another party. TBI lawyers possess expertise in personal injury law and understand the specific challenges associated with brain injuries.