Salt Lake City Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer
With Personal Injury Law Offices in Sandy, Utah
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Client Testimonials
Brad is fantastic! So pleased with all the help he has been giving me in such a stressful hard time with my accident. He definitely treats his clients like family and wants what is best for them. Would recommend him to anyone.
Ashley Richey
I contacted Brad a couple of times with some questions regarding our accident and what our rights were. He gave us valuable and helpful suggestions and was so friendly and knowledgeable.
Aimee Ballif
Went above and beyond to not only help me with my case but to reassure me as I was struggling with my anxiety. He was very kind and supportive and wasn't afraid to offer as much help as possible. One of the best you'll meet here and I highly recommend!
Linzie Builds
ABOUT BRAD DEBRY
7 Mistakes That Ruin Personal Injury Cases
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A traumatic brain and spinal injury can have lifelong, devastating effects–regardless of who is at fault. Given their importance, any level of damage to these crucial body parts can impact the victim’s quality of life. In extreme scenarios, it can lead to worse cases such as paralysis and sometimes death. In such situations, it is common to feel devastated and wonder whom to turn to. That is where an expert personal injury attorney like Brad DeBry comes in.
With Personal Injury Law Offices in Sandy, Utah
Accidents, by their unexpected nature, are scary, even when they only startle us. When an accident causes serious injury—especially to the brain— they can have lifelong implications.
If you are reading this, you may have sustained a traumatic brain injury. You may be in pain. You have probably missed work and are expecting to miss much more, causing stress over paying the bills. You are probably looking for someone to help with a traumatic brain injury claim.
We are here to help. Our firm offers free legal consultations. Call our Salt Lake City traumatic brain injury lawyer to schedule a free legal consultation.
The information on this page will help you better understand important aspects of your traumatic brain injury claim. First, you will read about common mistakes we see people making in their traumatic brain injury claims in Salt Lake City; then, we’ll share a client story to give you some additional insight. Make sure you read to the end to get as much from the information as possible.
Common Brain and Spine Injury Claim Mistakes
Most people are unaware of the many ways a traumatic brain injury claim can be damaged. Read through each of the errors listed below to preserve the value of your case.
Not Going to the Hospital Because You Don’t Feel a Lot of Pain
While it may seem unlikely you would be unaware of a traumatic brain injury, it’s possible. Whether your injury only appears superficial or you can’t see any injury at all, it’s always important to check for internal damage just in case.
One of the reasons people decline medical attention after a traumatic brain injury is that they really don’t know how badly they’ve been injured. Their body was flooded with stress hormones at the time of the accident to help protect them. These stress hormones block out some of the pain we would normally expect with a serious injury.
This stress response was helpful 12,000 years ago when people had to worry about being hunted by large predators. During modern times, it mostly gets in the way. You may find that you do not feel very much pain right after the accident occurs. You may even experience newfound energy and possibly have more strength than usual. This does not mean you’re fine, however. It is adrenaline rushing through your system. Let the doctor inform you that you are fine.
In addition to putting your health at risk, failing to get a medical exam puts your traumatic brain injury claim at risk.
A medical exam will provide valuable evidence of your injuries on a timeline that matches up with the accident. Without it, the insurance company can try to cast doubt on when and how you were injured. If they succeed, they may get away with paying you less than they should in compensation.
This is especially true with brain injuries. This type of injury can be elusive, surfacing after some time has passed. A doctor’s diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury will help validate the possibility that additional cognitive issues could arise down the road from your specific type of injury.
Failing to Follow the Doctor’s Treatment Plan
The treatment plan your doctor gives you when you leave the hospital is your roadmap for helping with your own recovery. Do not make the mistake of assuming it will not matter and disregard it.
Your doctor may prescribe medications that must be taken to completion to be effective, physical or occupational therapy appointments — there are many forms and combinations of treatment that an aftercare plan can take. It is important to diligently adhere to what the doctor advises.
If you stop your treatment plan, you’ll again be putting your health and your claim at risk.
Remember that the insurance company will try to lower the value of your claim if they can prove you haven’t been participating in your own recovery.
If, for instance, your recovery hits a snag and you haven’t followed the plan, they will try to blame you, instead of the accident, for any decline in your health.
In addition to taking medications and getting treatments, you need to be careful not to return to former activities before you’re ready. If you’re found to be overdoing it, that will also come back to “bite you.”
Don’t give the insurance company any help in damaging your claim. Get the rest you need and follow your doctor’s treatment plan.
Allowing an Insurance Provider to Record Your Statement
After the accident, you can expect an insurance adjuster to call and ask to record your statement. Don’t be lulled into thinking this person is interested in your welfare. The insurance company is looking out for its bottom line. They do this by searching for anything in your statement that can be used against you to lower the value of your claim.
If you’ve sustained a traumatic brain injury and you let your guard down and speak to the insurance rep, before you know it, you may be talking about how you knew the injury was serious because it felt the same way when you got a concussion on the football field…
Oh, so this isn’t the first time you’ve had a head injury?
Now the adjuster has information to suggest that some of your difficulties may be left over from an old concussion, not the injury you sustained in the accident.
As you can see, conversations with insurance adjusters are tricky. Adjusters are well-trained in interview tactics, and you’re probably going to be more than a little vulnerable when speaking to them right after the accident.
The best solution is to decline the call. Many people don’t realize this is allowed; they’re afraid if they don’t give a statement, their case will stall. The opposite is actually true, however. Your case will remain stronger when you don’t give the insurance company any information. It’s best to leave the conversation with the insurance company to your Salt Lake City traumatic brain injury lawyer.
Dragging Your Feet on Hiring a Lawyer
Many people don’t worry too much about how long it takes them to hire an attorney because they go by the state’s statute of limitations for filing.
There are two problems with this. One is the exceptions you may be unaware of.
The statute of limitations for filing in Utah is four years. If your claim is against a city, county, state, or agency affiliated with one of these municipalities, however, you’ll have far less time to file. The statute of limitations for filing against a municipality is actually only one year, which can pass quickly, especially when you’re recovering from serious injury.
The larger concern, however, is that well before you run out of time to file, you may find yourself running out of evidence. The longer you wait, the less evidence there will be.
If you don’t hire an attorney as soon as possible, chances are the scene of the accident will be cleaned up. Evidence may be misplaced, videotapes may be recorded over, witnesses may relocate or have a tough time remembering details.
The more time your Salt Lake City traumatic brain injury lawyer has to conduct an accident investigation and gather evidence, the stronger your case will be.
Choosing a Lawyer Who’s Not Experienced in Personal Injury
Choosing an attorney who doesn’t spend a significant amount of time working in personal injury is almost as detrimental to your claim as not hiring a lawyer at all.
Historically, people with attorneys are awarded many times the amounts those without attorneys are awarded. Even so, it’s important to make sure the lawyer you hire fits your needs.
Like doctors, there are many practice areas in which lawyers work. Lawyers who spend the majority of their time in another practice area may be excellent, but not for your case.
The lawyer you hire should be a personal injury trial attorney. It’s true that most personal injury claims are resolved via settlement, but some go all the way to the courthouse. If your case ends up in front of a jury, your lawyer should be someone with a long and successful record at trial.
Salt Lake City Traumatic Brain Injury Client Story
We are sharing the following client story to give you additional information about personal injury claims like yours. Be sure to read it to the end to get as much out of it as possible. The names and specifics have been edited to protect our client’s privacy, but the information is still helpful.
When you’ve finished, we urge you to call and schedule your free legal consultation so we can answer the questions you have about your specific case.
On a chilly evening in December not too long ago, Marshall Wallace went into a home improvement store in Salt Lake City to look for a Christmas tree. He’d planned to get a real tree, but he’d run out of time. He and his wife Nancy would be leaving for Florida in a week and he didn’t want to leave a real try in the house unattended to dry out and become a fire hazard.
Whether or not the tree was real wasn’t a priority this year, anyway. Their first grandchild was due in ten days and he and Nancy would be staying to help out for at least two weeks. They couldn’t wait to meet little Zoe Louise.
The store parking lot was bustling as shoppers rushed into and out of the store, preparing for the holidays. Marshall spotted an employee on a ladder stringing Christmas lights and rolled slowly up to a spot beside him in front of the store. He asked the young man which entrance was closest to the fake trees and was pointed to the garden center door on the west end of the building. Marshall went that way, parking as close to the garden center entrance as possible.
As Marshall looked through the artificial trees, he was surprised there were so few left. He was even more shocked at the prices.
“How come so expensive this year?” Marshall asked a guy working in the garden center whose name tag said ‘Jefferson.’ “Aren’t you guys a ‘big box’ store?”
“We don’t carry a big inventory on Christmas trees. When they’re gone, they’re gone,” said Jefferson.
Marshall shook his head and stared at the small selection. They were all pre-lit. He sighed and picked out an attractive 7.5-foot “spruce” that was marked “on sale.” At least it was something. When he checked the shelves along the wall, however, no trees of that model were left. He went back to Jefferson and confirmed that what was on the shelves was all they had.
“When it’s gone, it’s gone,” Marshall repeated as Jefferson nodded.
“What about this floor model? Can you sell me that?” Marshall asked.
“Uh, I guess?” Jefferson said, making it a question.
“Well, if you don’t have any more on the shelves, and there’s none in the back, and you’re not getting any more in, the display tree is of no use to you unless you sell that too, right, maybe at a discount?”
Jefferson shook his head, smiling. I can’t do the discount, but you can buy this one if you help me carry it out. There’s no box.”
Marshall and Jefferson hefted the tree, but as Marshall started in the direction of the garden center registers, he felt Jefferson resisting.
Tipping his head to the east, Jefferson said, “All the trees have to go out through the main doors,” he said, adding, “Loss prevention.”
“Of course, because Christmas trees are inconspicuous and can be shoplifted so easily,” he laughed, realizing with a sigh he’d have to run all the way back to the garden center side of the lot to retrieve his truck once they got through checkout.
After he quickly swiped his card and grabbed the receipt for the tree, Marshall managed to get Jefferson to wait out front while he jogged over to get the truck.
When he returned, Jefferson waved him into a spot designated for loading that was, ironically, the same spot Marshall had originally pulled into to ask the guy on the ladder where he should park.
When everything was loaded up and Jefferson was back inside the store, Marshall took a final look at the receipt. In the rush to get his purchase through checkout and into the truck, he hadn’t realized he was charged for the wrong tree. He’d paid for a tree that was $50 more than the one he was leaving with.
Frustrated, Marshall hoped out of the truck again, leaving it locked with the engine running to allow it to warm up and hopefully discourage anyone passing by from grabbing the tree out of the back.
“Loss prevention,” he laughed to himself as he turned to go back inside to wait in line at the customer service desk.
Walking carefully around the ladder, he looked up to tell the guy stringing lights he’d be right back, but the ladder was abandoned; the guy had gone.
Fifteen minutes later, Marshall emerged, worn out from the excursion but happy to have his $50 restored.
Rounding the back of the pickup, he rechecked the tie-downs and decided to tighten them. It was an exceptionally windy day, and the last thing he needed was his way-too-expensive tree taking flight and causing an accident on the Belt as he drove home.
With his back to the store as he climbed into the truck bed, Marshall had no idea the ladder was coming down behind him. He woke up in the hospital with the mother of all headaches.
He blinked at his wife, who was sitting beside him staring as though at a ghost. He was extremely confused, and her behavior didn’t help. As Marshall opened his mouth to ask what was going on, his wife jumped up and ran from the room, crying, “He’s awake! Nurse!”
Soon afterward he learned that as he was securing the tree, a gust of wind toppled a ladder had been left unattended and unsecured against the front of the store. He was struck in the head as it crashed to the ground.
Marshall had been in a coma for ten days.
“You were very lucky, Marshall,” Nancy said, wiping tears from her cheeks with her sleeve. “If you hadn’t been so high up when the ladder hit you, the force would have killed you instantly.” Her pretty face was gaunt with worry. She looked exhausted.
As the days progressed, signs of Marshall’s injury came and went. His emotional reactions were off; he’d find himself spontaneously crying or laughing for no specific reason. He’d been astonished to discover that he’d forgotten how to read, write, and walk, and began working with a physical therapist daily.
The doctor said these things were to be expected as the brain reset itself. He was told it would be a while before they had a better idea of whether the damage to his brain could recover completely or not.
In the weeks that followed, Marshall’s progress felt more like one step forward, two-steps back. He was relieved to recover his walking and writing skills fairly quickly, but reading was still a struggle.
He tried to describe his frustration to Nancy.
“It’s like when you’ve got a thought on the tip of your tongue— it’s almost there, but you can’t catch it… I guess that makes sense, given my memory problems,” Marshall admitted, referring to the memory loss he’d been experiencing since the accident.
He could recall things from the past clear-as-day, and thankfully he remembered his loved ones, but he frequently found himself searching for words and thoughts even as he opened his mouth to speak. The doctor assured him that this, too, was probably temporary, but it scared him nonetheless. He also worried that the memory loss would prevent him from returning the level of reading he’d enjoyed before getting injured.
Tom was a voracious reader, and the idea of losing that was a kind of death to him. The doctor reassured him that it was unlikely his episodic memory lapses would interfere with his relearning to read, but he had to be reminded, because he’d forget the doctor had reassured him, which made him anxious and aggravated his memory issues. It was a vicious cycle and Marshall was growing despondent.
“You’re already reading again, Marshall. Even if it takes time for you to recover your vocabulary to the point it was at a month ago, I don’t think your memory issues will hinder your progress. Besides, the brain is a tricky thing; you may wake up one of these days and realize your reading skills are completely back to normal.”
The doctor also told Marshall if things continued to progress, he’d be moved to a rehabilitation center in another week to continue the memory work. Marshall supposed that was good news, but after three weeks in the hospital, he just wanted to go home.
On one of Nancy’s daily visits, she and Marshall had a video chat with their son, Max, his wife, Gina, and their new baby, Zoe. That’s when Max suggested his parents contact us.
“The firm has a solid record of success. They helped Joe get full compensation in a car accident claim back in college,” Max said.
“Your college roommate, ‘Joe’?” Marshall asked.
“The one and only. He highly recommends them, said they took care of the whole case, all he had to do was focus on his recovery.”
“And you never told us about your roommate’s car accident because…?” Nancy asked, alarmed.
“Because I wasn’t with him in the car, I swear,” Max laughed.
That afternoon, Marshall and Nancy called us to schedule a free consultation. They said their main concerns were how much it would cost to hire a lawyer, how much Marshall’s case was worth, and how long it would take.
We met them in Marshall’s hospital room the next day.
How much will it cost to hire a Salt Lake City traumatic brain injury lawyer?
“Before we get too far, we need to know what you charge. We’re retired and on a fixed income,” Marshall said as we sat down.
“Completely understandable question,” the layer said, “we work on a contingency fee model, so there is no upfront charge. We only get paid when we bring you a successful resolution to your case.”
“That’s good to hear,” Marshall replied. “Can you give us an idea of what this case may be worth?”
We explained that it’s all but impossible to accurately estimate the value of a claim at the very start. “Before any lawyer worth their salt can tell you the value of your claim, they need to do an accident investigation and have a clear understanding of your damages.
“We’d start with gathering evidence and speaking to witnesses, working up your case as if it were going all the way to court.
“We’d also need to be crystal clear on your damages. These are all the economic and non-economic ways your injuries have impacted your life. To figure the damage out, you need to reach maximum medical improvement. This is a fancy way to say, ‘get back to a normal level of health.’
“If your old ‘normal’ is no longer attainable, then maximum medical improvement will be when you’ve reached a new ‘normal.’ It will also mean you don’t need any more surgeries and we have a clear picture of what your future medical care will look like,” said the lawyer.
“Surgeries… Nancy, did I have a surgery?” Marshall asked sheepishly for the seventeenth time since waking up from his coma. He assumed he’d asked her the question before.
“Yes, you have. The doctors had to operate when you arrived to relieve pressure on your brain,” Nancy answered patiently.
“So, what can I do to help?” Marshall asked, sincerely hoping there was some way to be useful. He was about ready to climb the walls.
“Right now, your entire focus should be channeled into your recovery. Get as much rest as possible and go to all your PT appointments, follow whatever the doctor orders,” the lawyer said.
“Well, that’s easy in here, and when I finally get sprung, I’ll go straight into a rehab facility,” Marshall laughed.
“Seriously though, you have my commitment to do whatever it takes to help with my recovery,” he promised.
How long will my traumatic brain injury case take?
Nancy finished writing some notes so she’d be able to review what they discussed later if Marshall forgot any of it. She looked up from her notebook and asked, “How long can we expect a case like this to take?”
The lawyer explained that there really are no ‘typical’ cases, because every case is unique.
“So, I can’t give you a ‘typical’ timeline. But I can tell you is the two things your case timeline will depend on,” said the lawyer.
“The first is how long it takes Marshall to reach maximum medical improvement. So far it looks like you’re making great progress, Marshall. I know it probably feels like a snail’s pace to you, but considering that you’ve only been awake for two weeks, your progress so far is encouraging.
“Of course, we’re not medical professionals, but we have a lot of experience handling traumatic brain injury cases. Just keep focusing on recovery and rest.
“Once you reach maximum medical improvement, we’ll know your damages and send a demand letter to the insurance company. From there, your case timeline is going to depend on how the insurance company responds to the letter. If they agree to our request for fair and reasonable compensation for your damages, we’ll be all set to bring your case to a resolution.
“If they don’t want to ‘play nice,’ we’ll take them to court. Don’t let this possibility concern you, however. We’ve won cases against this insurance company before and they remember us. I doubt they’ll want to take us on again in front of a jury.
“Either way, we’ll be ready,” the lawyer said. “That’s why no matter who you choose to handle your claim, we recommend a personal injury trail lawyer with a successful track record.”
Marshall and Nancy retained our firm, and today we are happy to say we got Marshall eight times more than what the insurance company initially offered him.
Call Our Salt Lake City Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer Today
We hope the information on this page has given you some answers about your traumatic brain injury case. Since every case is unique, we encourage you to call us to schedule a free legal consultation to discuss your claim as soon as possible. You’ve got enough to handle right now; let us help. Don’t worry about paying upfront to get the answers you need. Give us a call anytime and schedule your free legal consultation.
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