Overview of TBI Lawsuit Settlements in California
Traumatic brain injuries can uproot lives. Depending on the severity of the injury, they can result in days, weeks, months, or, in severe cases, years of rehab or hospital stays.
Accident victims must wrestle with the financial, social, and psychological cost of the event. While they juggle medical bills and presenting to various medical providers, they must also heal physically and mentally.
For those wondering, What can I expect from my traumatic brain injury settlement in California? contacting an experienced attorney is your best bet for understanding your legal options. Because California personal injury claims can have a short statute of limitations, involving an attorney early on is critical.
If you file your claim after the legal deadline passes, you may be barred from bringing the claim at all, but exceptions may apply. An experienced brain injury lawyer can help you find out if you have a valid claim. They can also help you meet your deadline by filing a claim or lawsuit on your behalf.
How Can I Get a Fair Traumatic Brain Injury Settlement in California?
Filing a traumatic brain injury lawsuit may sound daunting, but it can be necessary for victims and their families to get the compensation they deserve.
A fair settlement for a traumatic brain injury takes into consideration the past, current, and future costs of the accident and your injury. Compensation might include reimbursement for medical expenses, lost wages, and rehabilitation services for both past and future costs.
Additionally, you may be eligible to receive money for your pain and suffering. While nothing can turn back the clock, a financial award can help to alleviate your burden, so you can continue on your healing journey.
Often, insurance companies contact victims to try to persuade them to accept quick-fix traumatic brain injury settlement offers. The insurance company may even tell the victim that this is the best offer that they can give. Oftentimes, this is not the case. The insurance companies’ goals are to resolve the case as quickly as possible and for as low as possible. At the end of the day, their bottom line is top of their mind.
Your best defense against these tactics is having an experienced lawyer that you trust. Your TBI lawyer performs many vital functions. They serve as your advocate, protector, and legal counselor. They work for you and your best interests—not for the insurance company.
Michael Beliz at The Beliz Law Firm has helped hundreds of clients successfully maximize their personal injury settlement. Michael founded The Beliz Law Firm with the express purpose of enriching the community and helping personal injury victims recover. A fierce legal advocate, he’s who you want on your side.
What Happens During Settlement Negotiations?
TBI settlement negotiations typically begin with your attorney sending a demand to the at-fault party’s insurance company outlining the liability, your damages, and the details of your brain injury.
The insurance company may then send you an offer. Many insurance companies also perform their own investigation into what happened. Investigators and insurance adjusters review the evidence, check the policy limits, and calculate their estimate of the accident and your injuries.
Based on this, they submit to you an amount of money that they say is fair under the circumstances.
Best practice after receiving a TBI settlement offer from an insurance company is to talk to an attorney. The attorney can review your case, the evidence, and the law to decide what they believe a fair settlement offer is. From there, they talk to you about your legal options and work with you to propose a counteroffer.
Ideally, the back and forth continues until everyone agrees on a settlement offer. In some cases, however, the parties can’t reach an agreement out of court. In that situation, filing a traumatic brain injury lawsuit and going to trial may be your best option. A brain injury lawyer can file the lawsuit on your behalf and gather additional evidence needed to prove your case.
What Happens If My Case Goes to Trial?
If your case goes to trial, then a brain injury lawyer can represent you in court. In the months—or, sometimes, years—before trial, the parties engage in activities like discovery.
During discovery, both sides ask the other side for key information about the accident, such as medical records, financial statements, and other important documentation. The parties use this information to prove their case (or disprove the opposing party’s case).
During discovery, the parties may also interview witnesses outside of court (called a deposition). Discovery is a long but crucial process, paving the way to trial. In some cases, parties agree to settle the case after they complete the discovery process.
At trial, both parties present their case to the jury (if a jury trial) or the judge (if a bench trial). They may call their witnesses to the stand and question the opponent’s witnesses.
After both sides present evidence at trial, they give a closing argument. After this occurs, the jury (or judge, if a bench trial) considers the evidence, law, and arguments for each side. Then, they issue a decision.
If the losing party does not agree with the decision that the jury or judge made, then they may be able to appeal.
The Beliz Law Firm Understands Your Hurt and Wants to Help
Suffering from a traumatic brain injury can take an immense toll on you and your family. At The Beliz Law Firm, we understand the pain endured by TBI victims and their families. We live to serve our clients—to help them heal and recover the compensation they need to move on.
Michael Beliz lives and serves the public in Long Beach, California. For over a decade, The Beliz Law Firm has provided clients with small firm attention and big firm results. We take pride in treating our clients like people, not dollar signs. We regularly give back to the community because we care and want to make it a better place. Contact us today for a free case review.
Michael Beliz
Michael A. Beliz, Esq., established The Beliz Law Firm in the spring of 2011. Michael has been a practicing attorney since 2006 and worked for two of the most prominent plaintiff’s personal injury law firms in Southern California. He has worked on and handled hundreds of cases as an attorney in all types of personal injury cases, including vehicle accidents, pedestrian accidents and dog bites, and successfully recovered millions of dollars for his clients.
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