A brain injury lawsuit is one of the most challenging types of personal injury cases because brain injuries often cause symptoms that are either undetectable or highly subjective.
In many cases, brain trauma does not show up on imaging, but it still impacts the cognitive ability of the victim. So, proving that these injuries occurred — and determining the appropriate settlement — is extremely difficult, especially when you’re up against a savvy insurance company.
We recently won a brain injury lawsuit that involved a Georgia man who suffered a mild brain injury. If you’re an attorney who’s serving such a client, or if you’re the victim of a brain injury, then this case may provide some insight into how these types of lawsuits play out and how you can win them with the help of an experienced litigation team.
About Schneider Williamson
Schneider Williamson is a personal injury litigation firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm handles litigation, discovery, and mediation for a wide variety of personal injury cases, including slip and fall accidents, car accidents, traumatic brain injury, and more.
The Accident
Disclaimer: Names have been changed to maintain confidentiality.
Keith was a small business owner who also served as the president of a national association for record store owners.
Keith was involved in a car accident that started with a collision between a tractor trailer and a Honda Civic. The Civic swerved across the highway and struck Keith’s car, causing it to tumble off the road and roll several times.
Keith suffered a mild traumatic brain injury.
No Such Thing as Mild
Following the car accident, Keith suffered very debilitating symptoms that impacted his daily life and also his career.
He began to experience short-term memory issues, and he would occasionally “freeze up” when speaking, losing his focus and train of thought. As the president of a business association, he would frequently speak at conferences, but this became much more difficult due to his injuries.
MRIs can detect some brain injuries, but “mild” brain injuries cannot always be seen by imaging. So, despite the fact that Keith was suffering from life-altering symptoms, there was no visual proof that his injuries existed.
“Mild traumatic brain injuries don’t show up on imaging,” says Campbell Williamson, a founding partner of Schneider Williamson. “Because they’re more mild, there’s no rock-solid evidence they exist.
“What you look for is the symptomology, and, to be honest, some of the symptomology could seem like someone who’s faking an injury.”
For that reason, Keith could not secure fair compensation from the responsible insurance carriers.
“High-Level Lawyering”
When the case came to Schneider Williamson, our attorneys first had to establish the facts of the car accident. Our team discovered that the cause of the accident had been inaccurately reported.
“The accident report filed by the police officer blamed the tractor trailer,” says Campbell. “But once we dug into the case, we recognized the majority of fault was with the Honda Civic’s driver for that collision with the tractor trailer, and then the subsequent collision with our client.”
With that knowledge in hand, the Schneider Williamson team started negotiations with the legal team representing the tractor trailer’s insurer. They were able to obtain the tractor-trailer’s dashcam video of the accident, which showed the Honda Civic driver’s erratic driving.
As part of the settlement with the tractor-trailer’s insurer, we entered into a consent judgment. This means that we agreed to keep the lawsuit in our county of choice so we could pursue a higher level of compensation for Keith.
“Venue laws in Georgia provide that you have the right to be sued in the county in which you live or have your principal place of business,” says Jason Schneider, a founding partner at Schneider Williamson. “The metro counties generally have higher verdicts and settlements than the more rural counties. So, venue is very important in personal injury cases.”
In the settlement with the tractor trailer company, its legal team agreed to pay a certain amount of compensation to our client, and to allow us to use their video evidence to seek the majority of compensation from the Honda Civic’s insurer.
“This negotiation was typical of the high-level lawyering we do at Schneider Williamson to maximize our clients’ recoveries,” says Jason.
Proving an Invisible Injury
With evidence that the Honda Civic was at fault for the accident — and that the Civic’s insurance would be liable for paying damages — we set out to prove that Keith’s “invisible injury” really did exist.
“How do you get a settlement for a client who has suffered a mild brain injury?” says Jason. “To everyone else, he looks fine. The damages are hard to quantify.”
First, our team got expert testimony from the neurologist who had treated Keith in the months following the accident.
“It’s important to have an early intervention by a neurologist, who can explain the problems that happen with short-term memory and cognitive functionality,” says Campbell. “Those are critical.”
Our team also collected statements from people who had known Keith for a long time and had witnessed how he had changed following the accident.
“You have to get evidence from someone other than the plaintiff,” says Campbell. “So we collected statements from his co-workers, family members, and people that interact with him on a daily basis, who know what he was like before the accident, and what he was like afterward.”
Settlement in the Brain Injury Lawsuit
A brain injury causes daily challenges for the victim, but it can also have dire, long-term health consequences.
The neurologist explained that since Keith still had symptoms two years after the wreck, his injuries were essentially permanent. Furthermore, he was at greater risk of developing severe neurological issues later in life, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s disease. Overall, he would have a lower life expectancy.
“The neurologist will tell you that there’s no such thing as a mild traumatic brain injury,” says Campbell. “It’s a clinical misnomer. Mild is serious to the person experiencing it.”
Using this evidence to make a substantive case for Keith, we were able to a secure a significant settlement.
“We recovered more than eight times the insurance coverage,” says Campbell.
While the settlement will not cure Keith’s injuries, it will help him pay for his ongoing medical expenses and ensure that he has the financial support to begin rebuilding his life.
Need help with a brain injury lawsuit? Contact Schneider Williamson today and set up a free consultation, or learn about referring cases to us.
