A brain injury can immediately and dramatically alter the course of your life. It may affect your ability to earn income, your relationships with loved ones, or your ability to function as you had previously. Even in cases diagnosed as ‘mild’, the person injured may never be the same.
If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury caused by another person’s negligence, it is imperative that you reach out to an experienced Denver personal injury lawyer. The lifetime costs of a brain injury are significant and an attorney can help you fight for the compensation you and your family need to move forward. You can reach our brain injury attorneys at Dan Caplis Law by calling (303) 770-5551 or by contacting us online. We offer a free and confidential case evaluation and handle all brain injury cases on a contingency fee basis.
The Denver Brain Injury Attorneys at Dan Caplis Law Understand the Strategic Points of Brain Injury Litigation
At Dan Caplis Law, our brain injury lawyers in Denver have significant experience litigating brain injury cases. That experience has helped them to understand that litigating brain injury claims requires a steady hand, patience, and an eagerness to do a deep dive into complex legal and scientific issues.
Our brain injury attorneys at Dan Caplis Law regularly:
- Perform a deep dive on our clients’ academic, employment, and medical records to help us paint a picture of who they were before sustaining a brain injury and who they are now that they live with the challenges imposed by the brain injury;
- Work with expert witnesses to prove both that the defendant caused the brain injury and that the brain injury is causing the person to suffer cognitive, emotional, and/or physical deficits; and
- Act as trusted counsel to our clients to help them make the best decision for themselves and their families.
There are many critical strategic points in the lifecycle of a brain injury case. It is entirely understandable that clients and their families want to resolve a brain injury case quickly; however, this is often an unwise course of action. Brain injury cases tend to increase in value over time as the full consequences of the brain injury become better understood.
Our brain injury attorneys in Denver provide counsel to our clients with a steady hand because they understand settling a case early simply for the sake of resolving the case is a disservice to them. Our clients will need to use the money from these cases for the rest of their lives, and failing to maximize the compensation they receive could be disastrous for them.
Common Causes of Brain Injuries in Denver:
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, brain injuries are most commonly caused by:
Slip and Falls: Slip and falls are the most common cause of brain injuries, and they occur most often among the youngest and oldest people. Our Denver slip-and-fall attorneys have your back.
Motor Vehicle Accidents: People who are involved in car crashes or pedestrian accidents in Denver are very likely to suffer brain injuries. The risk of suffering a brain injury in a car crash increases when any of the involved drivers has been drinking alcohol or consumed drugs prior to getting behind the wheel. Contact our Denver car accident lawyers today.
Assaults & Violence: Sadly, abuse-related brain injuries are common, especially in the context of domestic violence situations, shaken baby syndrome, and shootings.
Sports Injuries: Many brain injuries are the result of sports injuries, and they are more common in contact sports such as football, boxing, and hockey.
Industrial Accidents: Brain injuries frequently occur in industrial settings.
Explosive Blasts: Sadly, many servicemen and servicewomen suffer brain injuries due to the blast trauma from the bombs they encounter while deployed. Researchers have come to believe these explosions release a pressure wave that passes through the brain, thereby disrupting its proper function.
Further, men are significantly more likely to suffer a brain injury than women and brain injuries are significantly associated with the frequent consumption of alcohol.
What Are the Symptoms of a Brain Injury in Denver, Colorado?
There is a growing cultural awareness of brain injuries and the impact they have on people afflicted with them. There are improvements in the technologies available to diagnose these injuries, but the available technologies are not perfect and cannot always diagnose every brain injury. Further, the effects of a brain injury on a person will be varied in the effect it has on different people, and symptoms of a brain injury may develop over different lengths of time.
Ultimately, the varied symptoms that a brain injury may present further emphasize the need to have the injured person seen by a medical provider as soon as possible. While not every brain injury will present these symptoms, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke advises healthcare providers to look for the following symptoms when treating a possible brain injury:
- Physical symptoms such as headaches, blurred or double vision, nausea or vomiting, or slurred speech;
- Convulsions or seizures;
- Clear fluids draining from the nose or ears;
- Cognitive problems such as confusion or disorientation, memory issues, lapses in concentration, or erratic decision-making;
- Changes in sleep patterns, including significant increases in sleep, difficulty falling asleep, or inability to wake;
- Behavioral symptoms such as increased frustration or irritability;
- Loss of consciousness for any period of time;
- Mood swings or changes;
- Anxiety or depression; and
- Sensitivity to light or sound.
It bears repeating that no two people will experience exactly the same symptoms nor will those symptoms occur at the same time for every person struggling with a brain injury.
Even “Mild” TBI Can Be Devestating
As medical science progresses, it is becoming more evident that there is really no such thing as a “mild” traumatic brain injury (or a “TBI”). The problem with saying that a TBI is “mild” is that the current system of classifying TBIs describes only the neurological severity of the brain injury without considering the degree of impairment faced by the person with the TBI. Meanwhile, the person living with a brain injury may be struggling with long-term physical, emotional, and cognitive deficits, some of which will not present themselves until years after the incident in which the person actually sustained the injury.
Brain injuries can be difficult to prevent because they can be caused in so many different ways. Many people do not immediately present the expected symptoms after sustaining a brain injury, and their onset can take years.
Proving the Existence of an Invisible Injury: How to Establish Liability for Denver Brain Injury Claims
One of the most significant challenges in litigating a TBI case is providing that the defendant is liable for the brain injury. The late onset of the effects of a brain injury is just one of the myriad problems faced by people bringing suit alleging they sustained a brain injury due to the defendant’s conduct. Proving that a defendant is liable for a brain injury requires evidence of an invisible injury, the cause of which is never going to be susceptible to immediate proof. Though there are difficulties, people who bring successful brain injury lawsuits often receive extensive financial compensation because the brain injury affects them so significantly.
Under Colorado law, a plaintiff suing a defendant for wrongfully causing a brain injury must prove the following:
- The plaintiff has a TBI;
- The defendant’s conduct is the cause of the TBI; and
- The TBI is the cause of the physical, cognitive, and emotional deficits faced by the TBI plaintiffs.
There is an immediate hurdle in brain injury cases: brain injuries are rarely going to be immediately apparent. Often, the only way to prove that a brain injury occurred is to show scientific evidence showing that the triggering incident was capable of causing a brain injury and to use the documentary evidence of the person’s life—such as employment, academic, and medical records—to paint a picture of what the person was like before suffering the injury and what they are like now.
Even if one is successful in proving a brain injury exists, there is continued difficulty in proving that the brain injury is the cause of any cognitive, emotional, or physical difficulties that the person is facing. Proving that the brain injury is causing these symptoms is a high hurdle for most attorneys and is one of the primary reasons you need to call an experienced brain injury like our Denver brain injury lawyers at Dan Caplis Law to handle your case.
Denver’s Legal Compensation for People Afflicted With Head and Brain Injuries
People who suffer brain injuries due to the negligent behavior of others are entitled to financial compensation in the form of damages under Colorado law. Colorado law seeks to place injured people in the position they would have been in absent the brain injury by awarding damages, though it’s likely impossible to fully restore someone to that position in the wake of a brain injury. Still, people who suffer brain injuries and their affected family members can seek damage awards for:
- Lost income;
- Loss of earning capacity;
- Pain & suffering;
- Loss of enjoyment of life;
- Loss of consortium;
- Emotional distress; and
- All of their reasonably and necessarily incurred medical expenses.
People suffering from the most serious brain injuries are likely to need a lifetime of future medical care. Their families are going to be seriously impacted by the person’s newfound inability to perform the tasks and activities they did prior to the injury.
Due to these problems, the person suffering from the brain injury will likely need a long-term care plan that will result in high damage awards. That lifecare plan will need to account for the monetary cost of the services required by the person with the brain injury as well as the medical expenses he or she will face in the future. Furthermore, if a brain injury results in the death of a person, our Denver wrongful death attorneys will be by your side to help your case.
Contact a Brain Injury Lawyer in Denver Today
If you or a loved one have suffered a serious brain injury, you are not alone. These injuries are extremely significant disruptions of normal life, but they are compensable injuries under Colorado law.
Our Denver brain injury lawyers at Dan Caplis Law are here to provide a free consultation to you about your legal options. Reach out to our legal professionals to schedule that consultation by calling us at (303) 770-5551 or by contacting us at our online.