Brain injuries can devastate entire families in a matter of moments. While some are only minor and heal fully, a severe traumatic brain injury can cause the victim to suffer permanent physical, mental, and emotional impairments. These injuries are among the most expensive to treat, because they require extensive rehabilitation and high ongoing care costs.
If another person’s careless or unreasonable actions caused you or a loved one to suffer a brain injury in Long Island, the personal injury lawyers at Gacovino, Lake & Associates, P.C., may be able to help you file for compensation to cover the injury-related damages. Call us today at 631-600-0000 to schedule a free case evaluation with a brain injury lawyer in Sayville, Long Island.
How Can a Negligent Act Lead to a Brain Injury?
Many head injuries are entirely preventable. If everyone involved had acted in a careful and attentive manner, the injury would not have occurred. If another person was careless or reckless and caused your injuries, New York state laws allow you to hold them financially accountable for the cost of your treatment. Some of the most common ways we see brain injuries happen include the following accidents.
Falls
Falls are a top cause of brain injuries nationwide. Hitting your head during a slip and fall accident or falling from a height and striking your head can both cause significant damage. Falls frequently occur when a property owner fails to repair or warn of a fall hazard in a reasonable time frame. If this happened in your case, we can hold them responsible for the injuries this caused you based on New York’s premises liability laws.
Car or Truck Crashes
New York follows a no-fault auto insurance scheme. After a car accident, these laws require you to file a claim based on your own personal injury protection (PIP) policy instead of against the at-fault party in most cases. However, if your brain injury is serious enough to meet the state’s serious injury threshold, we can recover compensation based on the at-fault motorist’s liability insurance policy. This typically pays out much more than your own no-fault policy would.
Motorcycle Crashes
Motorcycle riders are exempt from the state’s no-fault auto insurance laws, so we can pursue a claim based on the at-fault driver’s liability insurance without needing to prove the serious nature of your injuries. This allows us to hold them financially accountable for their negligence and recover the compensation you deserve.
Violent Acts
Shootings, stabbings, beatings, and other types of battery can leave the victim with a traumatic brain injury. While the perpetrator will likely face criminal charges, we can also file a civil case against them to recover the money you need to pay your medical bills and cover other costs. Financial recovery through a civil suit may be possible even if they are not convicted of the crime.
Other Causes
A number of other accidents and incidents can also lead to brain injuries. If you believe another party acted in an unreasonable way and this led to your accident and injuries, we can help you understand your legal options for compensation. We also handle cases stemming from defective product accidents, defective drugs, medical malpractice, sports injuries, and more.
How Can I Get Compensation for My Brain Injury?
In most brain injury cases, we can recover the compensation you deserve by filing an insurance claim. We need to evaluate your case, identify the liable parties, and determine the applicable laws. Then, we can collect the evidence to show negligence and to prove the value of your damages.
Once we have this information, we approach the at-fault party’s auto, homeowner’s, or business liability insurance provider. We outline our proof of liability and the extent of your damages and ask for a payout to cover all your losses. This typically leads to settlement negotiations. With our skilled negotiators on your side, we can usually settle your claim for a fair payout at this point, getting you all the compensation you need to cover your medical bills, ongoing care costs, pain and suffering, and other damages.
Rarely, we will run into an insurance company who refuses to offer a fair settlement or denies our claim. If this occurs, we are not afraid to take your case in front of a judge if necessary to get the money you deserve. We will guide you through the legal process and pursue a civil suit against the at-fault party. This allows us to present all the evidence in your case to a judge or jury so they can determine fault and award damages.
What Type of Damages Can I Recover With My Claim?
Every accident is different—and so is every brain injury. This means there is no standard package of damages a plaintiff can expect in a brain injury civil suit or from an insurance claim. However, we will fight for compensation to cover the full range of your economic and non-economic losses. Some of the most common types of damages we recover for our clients include:
- Ambulance or air ambulance transportation costs;
- Medical bills, including emergency department treatment;
- Hospitalization and inpatient rehabilitation;
- Physical therapy, cognitive therapy, and occupational therapies;
- Future and ongoing care costs;
- Prescription drugs;
- Adaptive and assistive equipment;
- Mobility aids like walkers and wheelchairs;
- Lifts, hospital beds, and other medical equipment;
- Damage to property in the incident ; and
- Pain and suffering damages.
As a part of preparing your insurance claim, we will collect evidence to prove your economic losses. This allows us to approach the insurance company with a good idea of how much money you need to cover your expenses and recover financially from this ordeal. This is the only way we can ensure we know what a fair settlement looks like in your case.
How Can I Talk to a Brain Injury Lawyer in Sayville About My Case?
At Gacovino, Lake & Associates, P.C., our lawyers can answer your questions and offer legal advice based on our experience handling cases just like yours. Call our office today at 631-600-0000 to schedule a complimentary consultation. We handle all brain injury cases on a contingency basis, so you have nothing to lose.
