Virginia Traumatic Brain Injury Cases the Firm Handles

What types of traumatic brain injury cases does this law firm handle? In short, Correll Law Firm handles brain injury claims from car crashes, commercial truck and commercial vehicle crashes, catastrophic injuries, and wrongful death. This guide explains each type in plain words. It also covers symptoms, deadlines and who may be responsible. The firm has offices in Winchester and Harrisonburg. It serves people across the Shenandoah Valley, Warren County, Richmond and Henrico County.

What Counts as a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is damage to the brain caused by a blow, jolt or penetrating force to the head. Severity ranges from mild to severe.

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons says mild injuries and concussions can change a person’s mental state or consciousness. They can also cause headache, dizziness, balance trouble, and problems with thinking or speech.

The Virginia Department of Education notes that a brain injury may bring a range of impairments. These include cognitive, behavioral, sensory, motor and speech problems.

Some symptoms may not show up until hours or days after a crash. A medical evaluation is how the injury gets documented. Whether an injury is a traumatic brain injury, and how severe it is, turns on the medical facts of each person’s case.

Brain Injuries From Car Accidents

The firm handles traumatic brain injury claims that arise from car accidents. That includes drivers, passengers, pedestrians and others struck in a collision.

In many crashes, the head strikes a windshield, window, steering wheel or interior part. In others, the brain moves hard inside the skull during rapid speeding up and slowing down, even without a direct hit.

Many people feel shaken but not hurt right after a crash. That feeling can lead them to skip a medical check, which makes the injury harder to document later.

A brain injury may be one part of a larger set of injuries. The firm reviews it together with the person’s full medical records, so the picture stays complete.

Brain Injuries From Truck and Commercial Vehicle Crashes

The firm handles traumatic brain injury cases that arise from commercial truck and other commercial vehicle crashes. These crashes can involve more than one driver or company, which makes the facts harder to sort out.

Federal trucking rules create records that may matter. Except for a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), a motor carrier must require each driver to record duty status for each 24-hour period (49 CFR 395.8). Carriers, except for a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), must also keep inspection, repair and maintenance records for each vehicle they control, retained where the vehicle is either housed or maintained for a period of 1 year and for 6 months after the motor vehicle leaves the motor carrier’s control (49 CFR 396.3).

These records can show driving hours and the condition of a vehicle. That information may help explain what happened on the road.

Which parties may be responsible in a truck crash depends on the facts of each crash.

Catastrophic Brain Injuries

A catastrophic brain injury is a severe injury that can cause lasting changes to thinking, memory, movement, speech or the ability to live on one’s own. The firm handles catastrophic injury matters, and severe brain injuries are among them.

Severe injuries can include a skull fracture with bleeding, bruising of brain tissue (a contusion), or diffuse axonal injury. Diffuse axonal injury is damage to nerve fibers spread through the brain.

No one can predict how a particular person will recover from a severe brain injury. Medical providers track that picture over time.

Records from the scene, emergency care, imaging and follow-up visits all help show how the injury affects daily life. The firm’s catastrophic injury work also covers other serious harms, such as spinal cord injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury in Wrongful Death Cases

The firm handles wrongful death cases, and some arise from a crash in which the person died of a traumatic brain injury.

A Virginia wrongful death action is filed by the decedent’s personal representative within two years of the death (Va. Code §§ 8.01-50(C), 8.01-244(B)), on behalf of the family members the statute protects.

Virginia wrongful death damages cover the family’s sorrow, mental anguish and loss of the decedent’s companionship, guidance and care; lost income and services; medical expenses from the injury; funeral expenses; and, for willful or wanton conduct, punitive damages (Va. Code § 8.01-52).

They do not file the action themselves. The statute names who shares, starting with the surviving spouse and the children of the deceased (Va. Code § 8.01-53). Families often face these questions while grieving.

Timing, Reporting and Shared Fault Questions

How long a brain injury case takes depends on the facts, including medical treatment and legal deadlines.

Virginia generally allows two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (Va. Code § 8.01-243(A)); the clock runs from the date of injury, not the date of discovery, with narrow exceptions. Some claims carry notice requirements that run out sooner.

Virginia requires a driver involved in a crash with injury or death to stop and report it to police immediately (Va. Code §§ 46.2-371, 46.2-894). The two-year period is the deadline to file a lawsuit, not to report a crash (Va. Code § 8.01-243).

Virginia follows contributory negligence: if you are found even partly at fault, you may be barred from recovering, with limited exceptions. Talk to a lawyer about your facts.

Frequently Asked Questions