A brain injury is typically referred to as a catastrophic injury, as it affects one of the most important parts of the body. Depending on its severity, a traumatic brain injury can impact a victim for life. For this reason, brain injury lawsuits in Connecticut are often worth a significant amount to allow the victim to pay for years or a lifetime of losses. Find out how much your brain injury case might be worth by contacting a brain injury lawyer in Waterbury.
The Myth of the Average Settlement
First, it is worthwhile to note that you will not find an “average” brain injury settlement amount online that you can reliably assume is accurate for your case. If an insurance company offers you a settlement that it says is average for your type of injury, don’t believe it. Every personal injury case is unique. At no time is this truer than with a brain injury case.
No two brain injuries are alike. How a brain injury impacts a victim is unpredictable. Even two patients who are diagnosed with the same type and level of brain injury can experience very different symptoms and effects. For this reason, it is imperative to speak to a brain injury attorney to find out how much your brain injury case is worth rather than relying on an average settlement amount.
An attorney will take the time to carefully review the facts of your case and how your injury has impacted your life before giving you an accurate estimate of your case value. Only then will you be prepared to take on the insurance settlement negotiations process, as you will know how much your case is actually worth. If an insurance company tries to offer less than you deserve, you and your attorney can fight for better results.
What Damages Are Available?
Seeking fair financial compensation for a brain injury starts with creating a list of your compensable damages, or losses. The damages that you may be able to obtain for your brain injury can be both economic and noneconomic. Under Connecticut law, you may be entitled to the following types of damages:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation
- Occupational therapy
- Medical devices and medications
- Permanent brain damage or disability
- Lifetime care costs
- Special education (for a child)
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional distress and mental anguish
- Psychological trauma
- Reduced quality of life
- Loss of consortium
- Wrongful death benefits
- Punitive damages
It is important to create a comprehensive list of your damages to submit in your demand letter to an insurance company during a brain injury case. Leaving anything out could put you at risk of accepting less compensation than you deserve for a severe or catastrophic brain injury.
How Are Brain Injury Settlements Calculated?
Calculating economic damages requires adding up all of the medical bills, out-of-pocket costs and financial losses connected to an injury, as well as estimating future expenditures. With a brain injury, these costs can be substantial. Some brain injury survivors have millions of dollars in lifetime costs for permanent brain damage or live-in care.
Calculating noneconomic damages is more difficult. Damages such as pain and suffering are given a value based on evidence such as medical expert testimony, the survivor’s pain journal and storytelling by an attorney who can demonstrate how significantly the injury has impacted the victim’s life.
Ultimately, it is a jury’s decision how much to award in pain and suffering for a brain injury. However, you can give yourself the best odds of achieving fair and full financial compensation by hiring an attorney to represent you. An experienced attorney will know how to optimize your monetary recovery as a brain injury survivor in Waterbury. If your case requires going to trial, for example, an attorney won’t back down from a fight. Contact us to find out how much your case might be worth.