Fremont, CA Brain Injury Lawyers

A brain injury is the injury that follows you home. The fractures heal and the scans come back “unremarkable,” and you still cannot read for more than ten minutes, cannot sleep, snap at your kids and forget the conversation you had this morning. Insurers know this, and they treat a brain injury with no visible wound as a claim to be minimized.

Our Fremont brain injury lawyers have represented people with traumatic brain injuries from car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, falls and workplace incidents for more than 40 years. GJEL has recovered more than $980 million for injured clients, and we build brain injury cases the way they have to be built: with the medicine first.

How brain injuries happen in Fremont

Most of the brain injury cases that come to our Fremont office begin with a crash. High speed rear end and side impact collisions on Interstate 880 and Interstate 680, truck collisions on the I-880 freight corridor, motorcyclists thrown from their bikes on Mission Boulevard and Niles Canyon Road, and cyclists and pedestrians struck on Fremont Boulevard, Paseo Padre Parkway and Decoto Road. A person does not have to hit their head to suffer a brain injury. The violent acceleration and deceleration of a crash is enough to tear the connections inside the brain.

The rest come from falls on commercial property, from falling objects and equipment at the industrial and construction sites in Warm Springs and Pacific Commons, and from assaults where a property owner failed to provide security. Each has a different responsible party and a different deadline, and the first job is to identify both.

The types of brain injury we see

Concussion and mild traumatic brain injury

“Mild” describes the initial presentation, not the consequences. A concussion is a brain injury, and a meaningful share of people who suffer one develop post concussion syndrome: headaches, dizziness, light and noise sensitivity, memory and concentration problems, mood changes and sleep disruption that last months or years. Standard CT and MRI scans are often normal, which is exactly what the insurer will point to. We prove these injuries with neuropsychological testing, treating provider records and the accounts of the people who know you.

Moderate and severe traumatic brain injury

Contusions, diffuse axonal injury, bleeding inside the skull and skull fractures. These injuries mean intensive care, surgery, inpatient rehabilitation and, for many people, a permanent change in who they are able to be. The value of these cases is measured in lifetime care, and the fight is over how long and how expensive that lifetime will be.

Penetrating and anoxic brain injuries

Objects that enter the skull, and injuries caused when the brain is starved of oxygen, for example in a near drowning or a crash that caused cardiac arrest. Rarer, and catastrophic.

Where Fremont brain injury patients are treated

Most people injured in Fremont are seen first at Washington Hospital on Mowry Avenue or at Kaiser Permanente Fremont. Severe head trauma is usually transferred to a designated trauma center, and neurological rehabilitation often continues for months at facilities across the Bay Area. The medical records from every one of these providers, and the bills, are the backbone of the claim. We collect them, organize them and make sure the story they tell is complete. If your doctors have not referred you to a neurologist or a neuropsychologist and your symptoms persist, we will make sure that referral happens.

What a Fremont brain injury claim has to cover

A brain injury claim that only counts the bills to date is a claim that has been undervalued. A complete claim includes:

• Emergency, hospital, surgical and rehabilitation care already received.
• A life care plan: the future medical care, therapy, medication, equipment and attendant care the injury will require, priced over a lifetime by a qualified planner.
• Lost income and lost earning capacity, including the difference between the career you had and the work you can do now, established by vocational and economic experts.
• Household services and care provided by family members who have become caregivers.
• Pain, suffering, disability and the loss of the life you had. For a brain injury this is often the largest component, and it is the one insurers fight hardest.
• A spouse’s loss of consortium claim.

California places no cap on these damages outside of medical malpractice. When a brain injury is fatal, the family’s claim is handled by our Fremont wrongful death lawyers.

How insurers fight brain injury claims, and how we answer

The playbook is consistent. The scan was normal, so there is no injury. The symptoms are from stress, or a prior condition, or age. The gap between the crash and the first complaint of cognitive symptoms means they are unrelated. The claimant looks fine in the recorded statement.

We answer with evidence. Neuropsychological testing that measures the deficits objectively. Advanced imaging where it is indicated. Treating physicians who can explain why a normal CT does not rule out a brain injury. Employment records, school records and the testimony of family, friends and coworkers who describe the person before and after. And we do not let our clients give recorded statements to the other side. A person with a brain injury is the last person who should be cross examined by an adjuster.

Deadlines for Fremont brain injury claims

Two years from the date of injury for most claims under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Six months to file a government claim under Government Code section 911.2 if a public agency is responsible, for example a dangerous road maintained by the City of Fremont, Alameda County or Caltrans, or a crash involving an AC Transit bus. Brain injuries also raise the discovery rule: when symptoms emerge or are diagnosed later, the clock can start later, but relying on that is a risk no one should take. Call early.

How our Fremont brain injury lawyers handle your case

1. We meet you and your family at home or in the hospital, at no cost, and a lawyer takes the case from the start.
2. We preserve the crash evidence: vehicles, data recorders, camera footage, the police report and, in truck cases, the carrier’s records.
3. We make sure you are seen by the right specialists, and we coordinate the medical records from every provider.
4. We retain the experts a brain injury case needs: neurologists, neuropsychologists, life care planners, vocational experts and economists.
5. We identify every source of recovery, including the defendant’s umbrella and employer policies and your own underinsured motorist coverage.
6. We manage medical liens and health plan reimbursement claims so the recovery reaches you.
7. We prepare for trial in Alameda County Superior Court. Insurers pay full value to firms they know will try the case.

Why Fremont brain injury clients choose GJEL

GJEL Accident Attorneys has represented people with catastrophic injuries across Northern California since 1972, with more than $980 million recovered and a 99 percent success rate. Our lawyers are recognized by Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, and managing partner Andy Gillin has handled brain injury cases against drivers, trucking companies, property owners and public agencies. Our Fremont office at 39159 Paseo Padre Parkway serves Fremont, Newark, Union City and the rest of southern Alameda County.

Brain injury cases usually begin as one of our other Fremont practice areas: Fremont car accidents, Fremont truck accidents, Fremont motorcycle accidents and Fremont bicycle accidents. For the medicine and the statewide view, see our California brain injury lawyers page and our guides to concussion injuries and post concussion syndrome.

Fremont brain injury questions we hear most

My CT scan was normal. Can I still have a brain injury claim?

Yes. Standard CT and MRI scans frequently miss concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries. The diagnosis rests on symptoms, clinical examination and neuropsychological testing. A normal scan is the insurer’s favorite argument, and it is answered every day in Alameda County courtrooms.

My symptoms started days after the crash. Does that matter?

Delayed onset is common with brain injuries and does not defeat a claim. It does make prompt medical follow up important. If you are noticing headaches, memory problems, mood changes or sleep problems after a crash, see a doctor now and tell them about the accident.

How long do I have to file a brain injury claim in Fremont?

Two years from the injury in most cases, six months to file a government claim if a public agency is involved. Evidence disappears long before either deadline.

How much does a Fremont brain injury lawyer cost?

Nothing up front and nothing unless we recover money for you. We advance the cost of the medical and economic experts a brain injury case requires. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, agreed in writing.

Talk to a Fremont brain injury lawyer today

Call (510) 794-9441 or send us a message. A GJEL lawyer will listen, explain your options and tell you honestly what your case involves. Free, confidential and available 24 hours a day. If it is easier, we will come to you.