If you have recently sustained a brain injury and there is any possibility that another’s negligent, reckless, or intentionally harmful conduct contributed to the cause(s) of your harm, it is important to explore your legal options as soon as you can. Recovery from a traumatic brain injury—whether that injury involved a moderate concussion, a severe brain bleed, or any other harm to your brain—can be a time-intensive and costly process. If another individual, business, or even government entity should be held legally and financially responsible for your suffering, it is important that your family’s finances not shoulder that burden that belongs somewhere else.
Work-Related Injuries
If your brain injury was sustained while you were engaged in work-related activities, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits at this time. A workers’ compensation settlement may cover medical bills, lost wages, and even retraining if you are no longer able to return to your previous position due to the harm you have suffered. Unless you were drunk, high, otherwise impaired, picking a fight, or trying to get hurt on purpose at the time of your injury, you should be able to collect these benefits even if the circumstances that led to your injury were your fault. This is because workers’ compensation is—with very few exceptions—a no-fault system. If you may be entitled to these benefits, act quickly. Workers’ comp is a uniquely time sensitive legal option.
Additionally, if anyone other than your employer was partially or totally to blame for your harm, you may be in a position to file a personal injury claim as well. Employers cannot be sued for work-related injuries by their employees who are eligible for workers’ comp benefits, but others can be sued by these workers, even though they are collecting workers’ comp benefits as well.
Personal Injury Claims
As an experienced personal injury lawyer – including those who practice at David & Philpot, P.L. – can confirm, many individuals who have suffered brain injuries are entitled to pursue financial damages from others involved in their injurious circumstances but may not know that they have this option available to them. Too often, brain injury victims are under the impression that medical insurance is the only outlet they have for any kind of financial relief. However, the law protects the rights of injury victims to hold negligent, intentionally harmful, and reckless parties accountable for contributing to their harm. It is a potentially significant option that is worth exploring in a risk-free consultation setting.
