A Reading brain injury lawyer understands how devastating a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be for victims and families. These injuries often change how a person thinks, works, and interacts with the world. Even a supposedly “mild” TBI can have long-term consequences.
A traumatic brain injury can lead to overwhelming medical bills, lost income, and lasting physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges. When this type of injury is caused by someone else’s negligence, victims may be entitled to compensation for the full impact on their lives.
If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury, a Reading brain injury lawyer at Munley Law can help you pursue justice and financial recovery. Our Reading personal injury attorneys are prepared to protect your rights and guide you through every step of the legal process. Contact us today for a free consultation.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury is damage to the brain caused by external force or internal disruption. Of course, any injury to the brain, indeed any injury, is traumatic for victims. But a brain injury or traumatic brain damage has specific medical definitions. These injuries interfere with normal brain function and can range from mild to catastrophic.
At its core, brain damage results from injuries that destroy or deteriorate brain cells.
There are two primary types of brain injuries:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Caused by an external force that causes the brain to move inside the skull or directly damages the brain or skull through penetration.
- Acquired Brain Injuries: These occur at a cellular level and are often caused by internal factors such as strokes, tumors, or oxygen deprivation.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer at Munley Law
Call Us At 844-686-5397 Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries can happen in a variety of environments. Some TBIs develop from one incident, while others develop over time through repeated head injuries.
Common causes of TBI include:
Car and Truck Accidents
Car and truck crashes are some of the most common causes of traumatic brain injury. This is because crashes produce a significant impact, jarring the passengers inside vehicles. The force of an impact in a head-on, rear-end, or other collision can cause the head to move forward and back at high speed.
Sports Injuries
Athletes often experience traumatic brain injuries from colliding with other players. In fact, sports and other recreational activities were found to be the leading cause of nonfatal traumatic brain injuries in teens. Football players in particular experience a very high rate of brain injury. In fact, the significant impact and repeated blows to the head that these athletes often experience can lead to something called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Hockey players, soccer players, and cheerleaders are also at high risk for concussion and other brain injuries.
Sports injuries present unique challenges both because they often impact the still-developing brain of teenagers and because their full scope is often not immediately apparent.
Slip and Falls
Falls are easily the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries in adults over the age of 65. They are also a fairly common cause of traumatic brain injuries in young children. Accidents in this category can include anything from falling down stairs to falling when getting in and out of the shower, and much more.
If you experienced a serious fall at someone’s residence or place of business due to a preventable hazard, the property owner can be held responsible.
Physical Violence
Unfortunately, domestic and other types of violence can often result in TBIs.
Young children are especially at risk for violence-induced traumatic brain injuries, given their still-developing brains. While we hope it never happens, caregivers should always be vigilant. Shaken baby syndrome, which typically occurs when someone shakes a child, is a type of traumatic brain injury in infants that can cause lasting damage.
Explosive Blasts and Combat Injuries
The pressure wave generated by an explosive blast can cause significant damage as it passes through the brain, though the science of this is still somewhat unclear. Active military and law enforcement personnel are also at a high risk of penetrating brain injuries from bullets or shrapnel. Construction workers can also experience explosive blasts that result in traumatic brain injuries.
“Since 1959, we have secured over $1 billion in
compensation for our clients.”
Daniel W. Munley
How Can You Identify a Traumatic Brain Injury?
It can be difficult to spot a brain injury, as they are not always immediately obvious. Symptoms may appear hours, days, or even weeks after the incident. Common symptoms of brain injuries vary depending on the type and severity of the injury sustained and may not appear immediately.
Mild injuries typically result in temporary side effects that include headaches, confusion, memory problems, and nausea. Symptoms of moderate injuries last longer and can be more pronounced. A severe brain injury can result in cognitive, behavioral, and physical disabilities. Regardless of the degree, brain injury victims usually experience symptoms that fall into four main categories: cognitive, perceptual, physical, and behavioral/emotional.
Common symptoms of a brain injury include:
Cognitive Symptoms
- Difficulty processing information
- Difficulty expressing thoughts
- Difficulty understanding others
- Shortened attention span
- Inability to understand abstract concepts
- Trouble expressing or understanding speech
- Impaired decision-making ability
- Memory loss
Perceptual Symptoms
- Change in vision, hearing, or sense of touch
- Spatial disorientation
- Altered sense of time
- Disorders of smell and taste
- Balance issues
- Heightened sensitivity to pain
Physical Symptoms
- Persistent headaches
- Extreme mental fatigue
- Extreme physical fatigue
- Seizures
- Sensitivity to light
- Sleep disorders, which can appear as difficulty falling or staying asleep, or difficulty waking up.
- Sudden and unexplained slurred speech
- Loss of consciousness or fainting
Behavioral and Emotional Symptoms
- Irritability and impatience
- Reduced tolerance for stress
- Sluggishness
- Flattened or heightened emotions and reactions
- Denial of disability
- Increased aggression
Any type of brain injury requires immediate medical attention to stabilize the patient and prevent further injury. The symptoms of a brain injury are so difficult to predict, and you may not always be able to detect symptoms right away yourself. Therefore, if you or a loved one is injured due to someone else’s negligence, you should always seek medical treatment, even if you feel that the injuries were mild.
What Can a Reading Brain Injury Lawyer Do For You?
Put simply, a brain injury attorney ensures that you have the resources you need to recover properly from your injury and to rebuild your life. An experienced Reading personal injury lawyer can determine how much your case is worth. They will then handle getting you the compensation you deserve, while you and your family stay focused on moving forward.
But following a brain injury, not just any personal injury lawyer will do. The brain is one of, if not the, most complex organ in the body. Therefore, brain injuries are far more complex than many other types of injuries. For that reason, while there are hundreds of personal injury lawyers in and around Reading, it’s important that you have a lawyer experienced with and comfortable bringing a brain injury lawsuit on your side.
This is because the law is both unique and complex, and the medical evidence necessary to prove your injuries and the ways that they will impact your life will be extremely technical. To ensure you receive the full compensation you deserve, you will need a lawyer familiar with TBI diagnoses and the unique challenges they pose.
How Munley Law Helps Brain Injury Victims
We know the last thing you want to do when dealing with a traumatic brain injury is think about lawyers. That said, if you or a loved one is suffering from a traumatic brain injury, working with a lawyer can truly make the process of moving forward to obtain financial compensation much easier.
The best way to learn how we can help is to contact our office for a free initial consultation. It won’t obligate you to do anything or cost you a dime. But below are just some of the ways we at Munley Law can help you.
We can help early after an injury to answer your questions and help you negotiate with the person who caused the injury and any insurance companies involved.
After any brain injury, you will have questions. What happens with insurance? Do you accept the deal you are being offered? What should you do if the person who caused the injury says that you all can just “work it out?” Our attorneys at Munley Law will answer your questions and deal with insurance companies on your behalf so that you may focus on your healing process.
You may not need to file a lawsuit after a traumatic brain injury. In fact, working with a lawyer can help you avoid a lawsuit. We can write demand letters, become involved early in the negotiation process to make sure your interests are represented, and present your case informally. Through these methods, early advocacy can get you the relief you need, quickly and without formal litigation.
At Munley Law, we have helped obtain record-breaking settlements on behalf of people who have suffered serious brain trauma. We work with medical experts to calculate the full scope of your damages from medical care to assisted living, lost earning power, and pain and suffering.
What Happens if Your Brain Injury Claim is Denied?
If your TBI claim is denied or early advocacy doesn’t get you the results you need, Munley Law’s experienced attorneys are ready and willing to take the case to court. You aren’t just another case to us, so no matter the opponent, Munley Law is ready to see your case to the end.
Our lawyers at Munley Law do some of their best work in the courtroom. We’ll gather evidence, structure your case to be persuasive to a jury, and ensure it withstands scrutiny from our opponents. Our brain injury lawyers will keep all of your personal information confidential.
Furthermore, you can rest assured that you will not pay anything up front or out of your own pocket. We do not charge a fee unless we recover compensation for you, and our fee is directly deducted from what we recover for you. Furthermore, contacting us won’t obligate you to do anything.
Frequently Asked Questions for Reading Brain Injury Attorneys
Is Concussion Considered a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A concussion is usually considered a mild TBI. Usually, the effects of this type of brain injury are temporary, but the impact can be long-term if someone experiences multiple concussions or does not take the first one seriously.
Every concussive incident causes some amount of stretching and tearing of nerve fibers in the brain. The more this happens, the higher the likelihood of lasting impact. For that reason, it’s important that everyone, even athletes, take every concussion seriously.
Can I Have a TBI and Not Know It?
Yes, it is possible to have a traumatic brain injury and not know it right away. Because many TBIs result from closed head injuries (meaning there are no cuts or open wounds), they are not always immediately apparent, especially if the victim does not lose consciousness.
If you are experiencing any or multiple of the symptoms of a brain injury discussed above, or even if you just generally don’t feel “right” or “normal” after an injury, you should go to a doctor immediately for further examination and treatment. The longer a brain injury is left untreated, the more serious the complications can become. For that reason, it’s always better to have a medical professional check it out.
Furthermore, the medical records following these examinations can be invaluable in any future brain injury lawsuit.
How Long Do I Have to File a Brain Injury Claim in Pennsylvania?
In most personal injury cases, Pennsylvania law allows a claim to be filed within 2 years of the date of injury. However, exceptions that may alter this time frame include the Discovery Rule (the delayed onset or realization of a TBI) or if a minor got a TBI.
What Damages Can I Recover in a Brain Injury Lawsuit?
Compensation may include medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, and long-term care needs. However, once a case settles, additional compensation is typically unavailable – even if the symptoms worsen. That’s why it’s critical to work with a lawyer who accounts for future medical needs before resolving the claim.
Do Brain Injury Claims Require Expert Witnesses?
Yes. Medical experts are often essential for explaining the severity of the injury, the prognosis, and how the brain injury impacts daily life and employment. Munley Law works with independent medical experts when working on a case, meaning you don’t have to pay additional medical costs to get evidence to support your claim.
What Can I Do for a Loved One Experiencing a TBI?
Some of the ways you can help a loved one experiencing a serious brain injury are very simple, such as keeping your communication clear and direct. State your name when you greet them, speak slowly, and allow plenty of time for your loved one to respond. If your loved one is searching for a word, give them a minute to find it; if they haven’t found it by then, you can guess what they’re trying to say so they don’t reach a point of frustration. You can also help your loved one feel grounded and connected to their life by singing familiar songs and showing pictures of friends and family.
The Mayo Clinic has a helpful set of guidelines for additional ways to support your loved one. And of course, you can help ensure that they receive the compensation owed to them by hiring the experienced attorneys at Munley Law. We receive no payment unless we win for you. Contact us today for your free consultation.
Contact Munley Law’s Reading Brain Injury Lawyers
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury, contact us to speak to one of our Reading brain injury attorneys for a free, no-obligation consultation.
You can rest assured that you will not pay anything up front or out of your own pocket. We work on a contingency basis and do not charge a fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Daniel W. Munley
Daniel W. Munley is an award-winning personal-injury attorney and champion of plaintiffs’ rights. For decades he’s won multi-million verdicts and settlements and is recognized as a national leader in truck and rideshare litigation,including a record $26 million truck settlement in Northeastern Pennsylvania and a $20 million recovery in 2024 for life-altering commercial-vehicle injuries.
