Chicago Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer

With more than 2.7 million inhabitants, Chicago is a busy place full of adventurous opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Unfortunately, the congestion on area roadways and the number of attractions available in the city increases the risk of accidents and injuries. One of the most serious injuries an individual can incur is a traumatic brain injury. If you or your loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury because of someone else's negligence, an experienced Chicago traumatic brain injury lawyer from Zayed Law Offices can assist you with your claim. Call us for your free, no-obligation case evaluation to determine what we can do for you.

About Zayed Law Firm

Established in 2009, Zayed Law Firm specializes in personal injury cases emphasizing truck accidents, car accidents, medical malpractice, and construction accidents. Our zeal for justice propels our attorneys to guide clients through the complexities of the law and seek maximum compensation for their injuries. We are trial attorneys on a mission that differentiates us from other law firms. We are not afraid to take on the most complex and catastrophic cases in the name of justice. We are also not interested in profiteering off the misfortunes of our clients. Instead, we are interested in bringing integrity and experience to every challenge and responsibility that comes with representing our clients' cases. If you've experienced an injury in the Chicago area, we're here to help. We have the resources, manpower, and insight to pursue the best result in your case.

Our Case Results Speak for Themselves

We are relentless in our pursuit of justice, and our case results demonstrate the success we are capable of achieving on behalf of our clients. From commercial truck accidents to rideshare accidents and medical malpractice suits, we have helped our clients receive fair and just rewards for their injuries. Here are just a few of our recent successes:

• $1.77 million for a driver who was injured by a Cook County Sheriff's vehicle
• $1.30 million for a wrongful death claim
• $1.00 million in damages awarded to clients injured by a reckless truck driver
• $685,000 awarded after a car crash that caused our client disability and long-term suffering

These are just a few of the many cases that we have successfully closed on behalf of our clients. This list is a small representation of the many types of personal injury cases we handle, so don't be deterred from giving us a call about your injury.

What Exactly Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) involves damage to the brain due to a violent blow to the head or body. This is often called a catastrophic injury due to the high likelihood a TBI sufferer has of experiencing permanent disabilities. As explained by the Brain Injury Association of America, the brain is an incredibly complex and important organ responsible for controlling the body's function and involuntary responses. Despite this, the organ only has a limited ability to heal from damage, meaning that many of the deficits incurred by the injury will be permanent. These deficits vary depending on the injured area of the brain. A medical professional can better explain this information and give you a complete diagnosis, but brain injuries are often characterized by which part of the brain is affected. The brain consists of several sections—known as lobes—tasked with controlling certain body functions. A look at the different lobes and the deficits commonly incurred through injury to these brain segments are as follows.

• Frontal lobe: Located at the front of the brain, as its name suggests, the frontal lobe is responsible for controlling functions such as attention, concentration, organization, self-monitoring, expressive language (speaking), personality, inhibition of behavior, planning, judgment, and awareness of one's abilities. Injuries to the frontal lobe often result in deficits such as controlling one's behaviors and impulses, difficulties communicating through spoken language, and memory loss.
• Temporal lobe: Located along the sides of the brain beneath the temples, the temporal lobe controls functions such as memory, receptive language (the ability to understand spoken language), sequencing, hearing, and organization. Damage to this area can result in deficits such as memory loss and the inability to understand spoken communication.
• Parietal lobe: The parietal lobes, located at the uppermost part of the brain, are responsible for your sense of touch, spatial perception (also known as depth perception), the ability to identify sizes, shapes, and colors, and visual perception. Injuries that create damage in the parietal lobes can result in impairment to the body's five primary senses of sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste.
• Occipital lobe: Located in the back part of the brain is the occipital lobe, which is primarily responsible for controlling the body's ability to see. Injuries to the occipital lobe can result in blindness or difficulty seeing and perceiving the size and shape of objects.
• Cerebellum: Near the bottom of the brain, just above the brainstem, is the cerebellum. It is responsible for controlling the body's balance and coordination, and these are the functions that are typically impaired by an injury to this part of the brain.
• Brainstem: At the base of the skull, where it connects to the spinal cord, is the brain stem. The brainstem controls all the body's involuntary functions, such as breathing, consciousness, heart rate, and the sleep/wake cycle. Injuries to the brain stem generally result in death because the body can't function independently without these involuntary actions.

If somebody caused a brain injury that resulted in any of those symptoms, our Chicago traumatic brain injury lawyers can help you seek compensation so that you don't have to pay for the treatment you or your loved one needs for support and recovery.

Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries in Chicago

Motor vehicle accidents are a common cause of traumatic brain injuries. Nearly 250,000 car accidents take place in Illinois each year. Around one in five of these accidents will involve injuries, and around 13 percent will include incapacitating injuries. With more than a million households in Chicago and more than 291,000 businesses within its city limits, there are plenty of places where one can slip and fall. Falls are another leading cause of TBI, often resulting from the failure of a property owner to ensure that their property is free from hazards that can cause injuries to guests. Falls are most likely to occur among the very young, who are not yet experienced walkers, and the very old, who are susceptible to falls due to age-related changes in vision, energy, and strength. Other common causes of traumatic brain injuries in Chicago include:

• Intentional violent acts, such as assault or child abuse
• Sports and recreation-related activities such as playing football or diving
• Combat-related incidents, such as blast activities or transportation incidents

Complications Associated with TBI

A TBI can cause debilitating deficits, but the injury also commonly requires expensive medical treatment to avoid further damage. Some complications commonly associated with traumatic brain injuries include:

• Comas, vegetative states, minimally conscious states, or even brain death.
• Seizures, which are most likely to occur shortly after the onset of the injury, though they can continue to recur or even begin occurring years later in some circumstances. Medical providers will often administer anti-seizure medication as part of the early treatment of the injury. Recurring seizures following a TBI are known as post-traumatic epilepsy.
• Hydrocephalus, which is a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid on the brain that can increase pressure and cause further damage if not treated promptly.
• Damage to the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the brain, resulting in strokes, blood clots, and other issues.
• Chronic headaches or dizziness that linger long after the sufferer has “recovered.”

Brain Injuries Can Affect Every Part of Your Life

Living with a traumatic brain injury can cost between $85,000 and $3 million. However, the cost of the injury is not the only burden, as this type of injury typically affects every part of the sufferer's life. Here are some of the difficulties faced by more than 5.3 million TBI sufferers in the U.S.:

• The ability to work: The unemployment rate for adults with traumatic brain injuries is at around 60 percent two years after the onset of the injury, as the deficits are too severe for many sufferers to be able to return to the workplace.
• For children, the injury can affect the ability to attend school without accommodating the injury through modified testing procedures, a paraprofessional to help the child stay organized and on-task at school, and shortened schedules to address fatigue, which is commonly experienced after a brain injury.
• The ability to obtain needed assistance with the financial and emotional aspects of the injury, which can affect the entire family. More than half of the nation's homeless population suffers from a brain injury. For some, the injury occurred due to the harsh and sometimes violent conditions of homelessness. However, for many others, the injury and its associated effects cause homelessness.
• The loss of friends and general happiness due to physical challenges that make physical activity impossible. Friends will often fade away due to no longer having much in common with the injured person.
• Changes to the relationship with family members, who often must provide caregiving tasks.

Seeking Compensation After a Chicago Traumatic Brain Injury

If you or your loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury in Chicago due to the careless actions of another, you're entitled to seek compensation through the personal injury claims process. This process usually begins when your attorney submits a demand package to the at-fault party's insurance provider. The demand package provides details of the case, documentation of expenses, and a demand for the overall value of the claim. Upon receiving and reviewing the package, the insurance provider can either approve the claim for payment, deny the claim, or offer a settlement. If the insurance provider pays the claim, then the case is resolved. If they deny the claim, then you and your attorney will likely discuss your next option, which can be filing the claim in court as a personal injury lawsuit. If the provider offers a settlement, your attorney will generally negotiate in an attempt to get that settlement amount as close to the value of your claim as possible. If the insurance provider has failed to offer a fair settlement by the time the two-year statute of limitations on your claim draws near, your attorney will likely file the lawsuit while continuing to work with the insurance company on a negotiated settlement. Settlement agreements can be reached during any time of the process, even during trial, as long as the court has not yet rendered a decision on the matter.

Who Was Liable for Causing the Injury?

To have a successful Chicago traumatic brain injury claim, you must be able to show that the at-fault party was liable for your injury. Showing these elements in your claim can do this:

• The at-fault party had a duty to take reasonable actions in a given circumstance to avoid injury to others.
• There was a breach in this duty when the at-fault party took careless or reckless actions.
• This breach resulted in the accident in which you suffered a traumatic brain injury that caused expenses and suffering, as well as the likelihood of additional financial and psychological costs in the future.

What Type of Compensation Can You Seek?

In Illinois, personal injury claimants can seek compensation for the expenses (known as economic damages) and negative effects (known as non-economic damages) of their injury. The valuation of a claim following a catastrophic injury such as a traumatic brain injury must account for the future expenses that will likely be incurred as a result of the injury, in addition to the financial and psychological costs that the claimant has already experienced. Commonly claimed expenses in traumatic brain injury cases include:

• All past and future medical expenses associated with treating the injury and addressing the complications that the sufferer experiences due to the injury.
• Wage loss for the time the claimant is too injured to work.
• Loss of future earning capacity as a result of the disabilities incurred due to the injury.
• Property damage sustained in the accident, such as damage to the vehicle the claimant was driving in a car accident.
• Physical pain and suffering.
• Emotional distress.

Let Zayed Law Offices Help You With Your Chicago TBI Claim

Each day, the residents and visitors of the nation's fifth-largest city face hazards that can—in an instant—lead to a traumatic brain injury. An experienced Chicago traumatic brain injury lawyer from Zayed Law Offices can help you understand the process of seeking compensation for your injuries and the services we can provide to assist you. Founded by managing attorney Adam J. Zayed in 2009, Zayed Law Offices are proud of our reputation for providing vigorous and compassionate representation to our Chicago neighbors. For your free case evaluation, contact Zayed Law Offices online or by calling (312) 726-1616.