The Jones Firm represents people across Columbus and central Ohio who have suffered a traumatic brain injury because of someone else’s negligence. A brain injury can change how you think, work, and relate to the people around you, sometimes permanently. These injuries are also among the easiest for insurance companies to downplay, which is why how a case is built and documented matters so much.
What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, happens when a blow or jolt to the head or body disrupts normal brain function. The force can stretch and tear the brain’s nerve fibers, bruise tissue, or cause bleeding. Injuries range from a concussion, which is a mild TBI, to severe injuries that cause lasting impairment or leave a person in a coma. Even a “mild” TBI can produce symptoms that last for months.
Brain Injuries Are Often Invisible, and Insurers Use That
This is the part most injured people are not prepared for. A serious brain injury frequently does not show up on a standard CT scan or MRI. The damage is real, but it can be microscopic, which means the proof often comes from symptoms, cognitive testing, and the accounts of people who knew the person before and after the injury.
Insurance companies know this, and they use it. When the injury cannot be pointed to on a scan, adjusters argue the person is exaggerating or that the symptoms come from something else. Overcoming that argument takes the right medical experts and thorough documentation, not just a stack of bills.
Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries
A TBI can result from almost any serious accident. The most common causes we see include:
- Car, truck, and motorcycle crashes
- Falls, including slip and falls on poorly maintained property
- Workplace and construction accidents
- Pedestrian and bicycle collisions
- Sports and recreation injuries
- Assaults
Symptoms and Long-Term Effects
Brain injury symptoms can be physical, cognitive, and emotional, and they do not always appear right away. They include persistent headaches, dizziness, memory and concentration problems, trouble sleeping, sensitivity to light and noise, depression, anxiety, and changes in personality and behavior. In severe cases, a TBI can mean a lifetime of medical care and an inability to return to work. Our overview of the costs of a brain injury covers the long-term financial picture, and our page on signs of a brain injury explains what to watch for.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
A brain injury claim can recover both economic and noneconomic losses. Economic damages cover the tangible costs, including:
- Past and future medical treatment and rehabilitation
- Long-term and in-home care
- Lost income and reduced earning capacity
Noneconomic damages cover the human cost, including pain, cognitive and personality changes, and the loss of the life you had before. Because future care for a serious TBI can extend for decades, valuing these cases properly often means bringing in medical and economic experts. Our pages on TBI compensation and who pays for treatment go further.
Ohio’s Deadline and Fault Rules
In Ohio, the deadline to file most injury claims, including brain injury claims, is generally two years from the date of injury under Ohio Revised Code § 2305.10. Missing it usually ends the claim.
Ohio also follows modified comparative negligence. If you are found more than 50 percent at fault for the accident, you cannot recover. If you are 50 percent or less at fault, your compensation is reduced by your share of the fault.
The Damages Cap and Catastrophic Injuries
Ohio limits noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering in most injury cases. There is an important exception for catastrophic injuries, including permanent and substantial physical injuries that prevent a person from caring for themselves. The most severe brain injuries can fall within that exception, which can significantly change what a case is worth. Our page on how catastrophic injuries are different explains why these cases are handled differently from ordinary claims.
How Brain Injury Cases Are Valued
The value of a brain injury case depends on the severity and permanence of the injury, the cost of current and future care, lost earning capacity, the strength of the medical evidence, and the available insurance. Anyone who quotes a figure before reviewing the medical records is guessing. Our discussion of TBI settlements walks through the factors involved.
