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When a traumatic brain injury changes your life in an instant, you face not only devastating cognitive and physical limitations but also overwhelming medical expenses, lost income, and an uncertain future. Traumatic brain injuries rank among the most catastrophic injuries a person can suffer, often resulting in permanent cognitive deficits, personality changes, and lifelong dependence on medical care and rehabilitation services.
At Smiley Injury Law, our Louisiana traumatic brain injury lawyers help brain injury victims and their families pursue maximum compensation from negligent parties. Understanding traumatic brain injury classifications, causes, and long-term consequences helps you recognize the full value of your claim and what evidence will prove the lifetime damages you deserve.
A traumatic brain injury occurs when an external force disrupts normal brain function, damaging brain tissue through impact, penetration, or rapid acceleration and deceleration. The brain controls every bodily function—from breathing and movement to memory, emotion, and personality. When brain tissue sustains damage, victims may lose cognitive abilities, motor function, sensory perception, or emotional regulation—sometimes permanently.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports approximately 214,110 TBI-related hospitalizations occurred in 2020 and 69,473 TBI-related deaths in 2021—representing more than 586 TBI-related hospitalizations and 190 TBI-related deaths per day. Louisiana’s busy highways, industrial workplaces, and active recreational culture contribute to the state’s share of these devastating injuries.
The severity of a traumatic brain injury depends on the mechanism of injury, the location and extent of brain damage, and how quickly the victim receives appropriate medical treatment. Mild traumatic brain injuries may resolve within weeks, while moderate and severe injuries often cause permanent impairment affecting every aspect of daily life.
Unlike broken bones or soft tissue injuries that follow predictable healing patterns, brain injuries are notoriously unpredictable. Two patients with seemingly identical injuries may experience vastly different outcomes. While medical advances have improved survival rates and rehabilitation techniques for brain injury patients, current medicine cannot fully regenerate damaged brain tissue or guarantee recovery of lost function.
Traumatic brain injuries are classified by their mechanism, severity, and the specific brain structures affected. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) provides the standardized severity classification used by medical professionals worldwide. Understanding these classifications helps determine your prognosis, treatment needs, and the compensation you deserve.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (Concussions) involve brief alterations in consciousness or mental status. Victims may lose consciousness for less than 30 minutes or experience no loss of consciousness at all. Despite being classified as “mild,” these injuries can cause significant symptoms lasting weeks or months, including headaches, dizziness, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, and sleep disturbances. Post-concussion syndrome affects many mild TBI patients, causing persistent symptoms that interfere with work, relationships, and daily activities. Multiple mild TBIs—common in contact sports and certain occupations—can cause cumulative damage exceeding any single injury.
Moderate Traumatic Brain Injuries involve loss of consciousness lasting 30 minutes to 24 hours, post-traumatic amnesia lasting one to seven days, or a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 9-12. These injuries typically cause lasting cognitive, physical, and emotional impairments requiring extensive rehabilitation. Many moderate TBI patients cannot return to their previous employment and require ongoing support with daily activities.
Severe Traumatic Brain Injuries involve loss of consciousness exceeding 24 hours, post-traumatic amnesia exceeding seven days, or a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 3-8. These injuries frequently result in coma, prolonged unconsciousness, permanent disability, or death. Survivors often require lifelong medical care, may never regain independent function, and face dramatically shortened life expectancies.
Closed Brain Injuries occur when the skull remains intact but the brain sustains damage from impact or violent movement. The brain strikes the inside of the skull, causing bruising (contusions), bleeding (hemorrhages), and diffuse damage to nerve fibers. Closed injuries include contusions (brain bruising at the impact site or opposite side), diffuse axonal injury from rotational forces tearing nerve fibers, hematomas (blood collections) compressing brain tissue, and secondary injuries from swelling and oxygen deprivation.
Penetrating Brain Injuries occur when an object breaches the skull and enters brain tissue. Bullets, bone fragments, and sharp objects can destroy brain tissue along their path, introduce infection, and cause bleeding. Penetrating injuries often cause focal damage—specific deficits depending on which brain regions are affected—though secondary complications can cause widespread damage.
Concussions represent the most common traumatic brain injury, occurring when the brain shifts rapidly within the skull. While many concussions resolve completely, repeated concussions cause cumulative damage linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and long-term cognitive decline.
Contusions are bruises on the brain surface, typically occurring at the impact site (coup injury) or the opposite side where the brain rebounds against the skull (contrecoup injury). Large contusions may require surgical removal to prevent dangerous swelling.
Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) results from rotational forces that stretch and tear axons—the nerve fibers connecting brain cells. DAI causes widespread dysfunction affecting multiple brain functions simultaneously. This injury commonly results from high-speed vehicle accidents and violent shaking.
Intracranial Hemorrhages involve bleeding within or around the brain. Epidural hematomas (bleeding between the skull and brain’s outer covering) can cause rapid deterioration and death without emergency surgery. Subdural hematomas (bleeding beneath the brain’s outer covering) may develop slowly, causing delayed symptoms. Intracerebral hemorrhages (bleeding within brain tissue) destroy surrounding tissue and increase pressure within the skull.
Second Impact Syndrome occurs when someone sustains a second concussion before fully recovering from the first. This rare but catastrophic condition causes rapid, severe brain swelling and frequently results in death or permanent severe disability.
Different brain regions control specific functions, and damage location determines which abilities are affected.
Frontal Lobe Injuries affect executive function, personality, judgment, impulse control, motor function, and speech production. Victims may exhibit dramatic personality changes, inappropriate behavior, inability to plan or organize, and difficulty initiating activities.
Temporal Lobe Injuries affect memory formation, language comprehension, emotional regulation, and auditory processing. Victims may struggle to form new memories, understand spoken language, or control emotional responses.
Parietal Lobe Injuries affect spatial awareness, sensory processing, reading, writing, and mathematical ability. Victims may have difficulty recognizing objects by touch, navigating familiar environments, or performing calculations.
Occipital Lobe Injuries affect visual processing, causing partial or complete vision loss, visual hallucinations, or difficulty recognizing faces and objects despite intact eyes.
Brainstem Injuries affect consciousness, breathing, heart rate, sleep cycles, and basic survival functions. Severe brainstem injuries often result in coma or death.
Cerebellum Injuries affect balance, coordination, and motor learning. Victims may experience severe balance problems, tremors, and difficulty with coordinated movements.
Traumatic brain injuries result from various traumatic events, many caused by another party’s negligence. Identifying how your injury occurred helps determine who bears legal responsibility for your damages.
Motor vehicle crashes cause approximately 20% of all traumatic brain injuries nationwide, with this percentage significantly higher for moderate and severe TBIs. Louisiana’s highways see numerous severe accidents annually, with high-speed collisions on I-10, I-12, and other major routes frequently producing brain trauma. Vehicle accidents causing traumatic brain injuries include high-speed collisions causing occupants’ heads to strike steering wheels, dashboards, windows, or other interior surfaces, rollover accidents subjecting occupants to multiple impacts and rotational forces, T-bone collisions at intersections causing violent lateral head movement, commercial truck accidents involving massive impact forces, motorcycle crashes where helmets cannot prevent all brain injury from severe impacts, and pedestrian accidents throwing victims against vehicles or pavement.
Falls represent the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries overall, accounting for approximately 48% of TBI-related emergency department visits. According to the CDC’s TBI Facts page, older adults and young children face particular risk, as age-related factors affect both fall likelihood and injury severity. Fall-related traumatic brain injuries occur from construction site falls from scaffolding, ladders, and rooftops, slip and fall accidents on dangerous property conditions, falls from defective or improperly maintained stairs and walkways, nursing home falls due to inadequate supervision or unsafe conditions, workplace falls in industrial settings, and falls from beds, furniture, or playground equipment.
Being struck by or against objects causes approximately 17% of traumatic brain injuries. These events occur when falling objects strike victims’ heads, when victims’ heads strike stationary objects, or when moving objects collide with victims. Common struck-by scenarios include construction site accidents involving falling tools, materials, or debris, workplace accidents with improperly secured equipment, recreational accidents with balls, bats, or other sports equipment, falling merchandise in retail stores due to improper stacking, and tree limbs or other objects falling due to negligent maintenance.
Acts of violence, including assaults and gunshot wounds, cause approximately 10% of traumatic brain injuries. Blunt force trauma from fists, weapons, or being thrown against surfaces causes closed head injuries, while gunshot wounds cause devastating penetrating injuries. Violence-related traumatic brain injuries may support civil claims against criminal perpetrators (though they may lack resources to pay judgments), property owners who failed to provide adequate security, bars or establishments that overserved intoxicated patrons who subsequently caused harm, and employers who failed to protect workers from workplace violence.
Recreational activities cause significant numbers of traumatic brain injuries, with contact sports, cycling, and water sports presenting particular risks. Louisiana’s extensive recreational opportunities create traumatic brain injury risks from football, soccer, hockey, and other contact sports, cycling accidents causing riders to strike their heads on pavement or objects, boating accidents throwing occupants against vessel structures or into water, ATV and off-road vehicle accidents, horseback riding falls, and diving accidents causing head impact with pool bottoms or submerged objects.
Medical errors can cause or worsen traumatic brain injuries through oxygen deprivation, surgical mistakes, or failure to diagnose and treat brain conditions promptly. Medical malpractice cases involving brain damage include anesthesia errors causing oxygen deprivation during surgery, birth injuries from improper use of forceps, vacuum extractors, or delayed cesarean sections, failure to diagnose strokes, aneurysms, or brain bleeds requiring emergency treatment, surgical errors during brain or spinal procedures, medication errors causing adverse reactions affecting brain function, and failure to monitor patients for signs of brain herniation or increased intracranial pressure.
Louisiana’s industrial economy—including petrochemical plants, construction sites, and maritime operations—creates numerous traumatic brain injury hazards. Workplace accidents causing brain trauma include falls from heights at construction sites and industrial facilities, struck-by accidents from falling objects or equipment, explosions and blasts at industrial facilities causing both impact and blast wave injuries, forklift and heavy equipment accidents, maritime accidents aboard vessels or at port facilities, and exposure to toxic substances causing brain damage.
Traumatic brain injuries affect victims in numerous ways that extend far beyond the initial injury. Understanding these effects helps calculate the true value of your claim and ensures your compensation covers lifetime needs.
Brain injuries frequently cause lasting cognitive deficits including memory problems affecting ability to learn new information or recall past events, difficulty concentrating and maintaining attention, slowed processing speed making tasks take longer, impaired problem-solving and decision-making abilities, language difficulties including word-finding problems and comprehension issues, and executive dysfunction affecting planning, organization, and task completion.
Physical effects of traumatic brain injuries include chronic headaches and migraines, dizziness and balance problems, fatigue and sleep disturbances, seizures and epilepsy (post-traumatic epilepsy affects 2-5% of closed head injury victims and up to 50% of penetrating injury victims), motor impairments including weakness, coordination problems, and paralysis, sensory changes including vision problems, hearing loss, and altered taste or smell, and chronic pain syndromes.
Brain injuries often cause dramatic changes in emotional regulation and behavior, including depression and anxiety, irritability and mood swings, impulsivity and poor judgment, personality changes that may be unrecognizable to family members, social inappropriateness and loss of empathy, apathy and loss of motivation, and increased risk of substance abuse.
According to the CDC’s information on moderate and severe TBI, traumatic brain injury victims face elevated risks for numerous secondary conditions including Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, hormonal imbalances from pituitary damage, increased stroke risk, sleep disorders, and shortened life expectancy.
Traumatic brain injury lawsuits require proving another party’s negligence caused your injury and demonstrating the full extent of your damages. Your Louisiana traumatic brain injury attorney must establish each element to recover the substantial compensation these cases warrant.
Louisiana personal injury law requires demonstrating: Duty of Care—the defendant owed you a legal obligation to act reasonably; Breach of Duty—the defendant failed to meet their legal obligations through negligent action or inaction; Causation—the defendant’s breach directly caused your traumatic brain injury; and Damages—you suffered actual harm requiring compensation.
Medical Records and Expert Testimony: Complete medical documentation from emergency treatment through ongoing care establishes injury severity and prognosis. Medical experts—typically neurologists, neuropsychologists, or physiatrists specializing in brain injury rehabilitation—explain your injuries, treatment needs, and permanent limitations to juries.
Neuroimaging Studies: CT scans, MRIs, and advanced imaging techniques like diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional MRI can reveal brain damage that may not be visible on standard imaging. These objective studies help prove injury existence and severity, particularly for mild TBIs where damage may be subtle.
Neuropsychological Testing: Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations document cognitive deficits in memory, attention, processing speed, executive function, and other domains. Baseline comparisons—when available from pre-injury testing—powerfully demonstrate injury-related decline.
Life Care Planning: Certified life care planners evaluate your medical needs and create comprehensive plans projecting lifetime care requirements. These detailed documents itemize every future expense—from cognitive rehabilitation to attendant care—ensuring your compensation covers decades of needs.
Economic Analysis: Economists calculate lost earning capacity when traumatic brain injuries prevent returning to work or force career changes to less demanding positions. They project what you would have earned over your working life, accounting for raises, promotions, and benefits you’ll never receive.
Testimony from Family and Coworkers: People who knew you before your injury can describe changes in your abilities, personality, and daily functioning. Their observations often provide compelling evidence of injury effects that don’t show up on medical tests.
Traumatic brain injury cases present unique challenges that require experienced legal representation. “Invisible” injuries may not show obvious physical symptoms, making them easier for defendants to dispute. Mild TBI victims often appear normal to casual observers despite significant impairment. Pre-existing conditions may complicate causation arguments if you had prior head injuries, psychological conditions, or cognitive issues. Delayed symptom onset means some brain injury symptoms don’t fully manifest until days, weeks, or months after the initial trauma. Defense medical examinations often minimize injuries through examinations by defense-hired physicians seeking to downplay your damages.
Taking appropriate steps after sustaining a traumatic brain injury protects both your health and your legal rights.
Seek Immediate Medical Attention: Any blow to the head or violent jolt potentially causing brain injury requires immediate medical evaluation. Brain injuries can worsen rapidly, and prompt treatment improves outcomes. Don’t refuse ambulance transport or emergency room evaluation, even if you initially feel fine.
Follow All Medical Recommendations: Attend every appointment, complete prescribed rehabilitation, follow cognitive rest instructions, and take medications as directed. Gaps in treatment allow defendants to argue your injuries aren’t as severe as claimed or that you failed to mitigate your damages.
Document Your Symptoms: Keep a daily journal documenting headaches, memory problems, mood changes, sleep issues, and other symptoms. Note how symptoms affect your daily activities, work performance, and relationships. This contemporaneous documentation proves invaluable in demonstrating injury effects.
Preserve Evidence: Don’t repair or discard vehicles, equipment, or other items involved in your injury. Photograph the accident scene, your injuries, and any visible damage. Preserve clothing, helmets, and other items you were wearing.
Avoid Recorded Statements: Insurance adjusters may contact you seeking recorded statements shortly after your injury—often before you fully understand your condition. Politely decline until you’ve consulted with an attorney, as these statements often get used against injury victims.
Contact a Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney: Consult with an experienced Louisiana traumatic brain injury lawyer before the prescriptive period expires. As of July 1, 2024, Louisiana law provides a two-year prescriptive period for most personal injury claims under Louisiana Civil Code Article 3493.11. Early attorney involvement ensures evidence preservation, arranges appropriate medical evaluations, and protects your rights throughout the claims process.
Traumatic brain injury cases demand specialized legal representation with the resources, expertise, and determination to secure maximum compensation for these catastrophic injuries.
Catastrophic Injury Experience: Our attorneys have successfully represented Louisiana traumatic brain injury victims against negligent drivers, property owners, employers, and medical providers. We understand the medical complexity of brain injuries, the subtle ways they affect every aspect of victims’ lives, and the substantial compensation these cases warrant.
Resources for Complex Litigation: Traumatic brain injury cases require extensive expert testimony—neurologists, neuropsychologists, life care planners, economists, accident reconstructionists, and vocational experts. Litigation costs often exceed $100,000 before trial. Smiley Injury Law has the financial resources to fully develop your case without cutting corners.
Network of Medical Experts: Years of handling catastrophic injury cases have built relationships with leading neurologists, neuropsychologists, and brain injury rehabilitation specialists whose testimony proves injury severity, treatment needs, and lifetime prognosis. Our experts’ credentials and communication skills establish credibility with juries and insurance companies.
Understanding the “Invisible” Injury: Brain injuries don’t always show on imaging studies or present obvious physical symptoms. We know how to prove injuries that defendants try to minimize or deny, using comprehensive medical evidence, neuropsychological testing, and testimony from those who know you best.
Personalized Attention: Despite handling complex litigation, we never forget that your traumatic brain injury devastated your life and family. You’ll have direct access to your attorney, prompt responses to questions, and compassionate support throughout your case.
If you or a loved one sustained a traumatic brain injury due to someone else’s negligence, Smiley Injury Law can help you pursue the maximum compensation you deserve. Our experienced catastrophic injury attorneys understand what’s at stake and fight tirelessly to secure your future.
Call Smiley Injury Law today at (504) 822-2222 to schedule your free case evaluation. Let us help you take the next step toward justice and peace of mind.
RECENTLY ASKED TOPICS
Most Louisiana traumatic brain injury lawyers, including Smiley Injury Law, work on contingency—meaning no upfront costs and no fees unless we win your case.
Our fee is a percentage of your recovery. This allows TBI victims to access quality legal representation regardless of their financial situation.
Most TBI claims settle without going to trial. However, if the insurance company refuses to offer fair compensation, we are prepared to take your case to court.
Having trial-ready attorneys often motivates insurers to settle for higher amounts to avoid litigation costs and uncertainty.
Do not accept any settlement offer without consulting a Louisiana TBI attorney. Insurance companies make quick, low offers before you understand your injury’s full extent.
TBI symptoms can worsen over time, and early settlements may not cover future medical needs. Once you accept, you cannot seek additional compensation.
Proving a TBI claim requires evidence showing: the defendant owed you a duty of care, they breached that duty through negligence, their breach caused your brain injury, and you suffered damages.
Evidence includes medical records, accident reports, witness statements, expert testimony, and diagnostic imaging.
Louisiana TBI victims can recover economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, future care costs, home modifications) and non-economic damages (pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium).
In rare cases involving egregious conduct, punitive damages may also be available.
Yes. Louisiana’s pure comparative negligence rule allows TBI victims to recover compensation even when partially at fault.
Your damages are reduced by your fault percentage—if you’re 30% responsible for a $500,000 claim, you receive $350,000. An attorney helps minimize your assigned fault and maximize recovery.
TBI symptoms include headaches, dizziness, confusion, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, sleep disturbances, nausea, sensitivity to light or sound, and loss of consciousness.
Symptoms can appear immediately or develop days to weeks after the accident. Seek medical attention after any head trauma.
For injuries occurring on or after July 1, 2024, you have two years from the injury date to file a lawsuit.
Injuries before this date have a one-year deadline. The “discovery rule” may extend this if your TBI symptoms were delayed, but consulting an attorney immediately is essential to protect your rights.
Louisiana TBI settlements typically range from $100,000 to $150,000 for mild injuries (concussions) and can exceed $1 million to $5 million for severe injuries causing permanent disability.
Value depends on injury severity, medical costs, lost income, pain and suffering, and the defendant’s available insurance coverage.
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