Charleston Brain Injury Lawyer

Although any type of injury following an accident can mean bad news, suffering a traumatic brain injury in an accident can forever change your life. These injuries can impact your ability to take care of your family, form relationships, and even live the life you once had.

However, if another person’s wrongful, reckless, or intentional actions caused this accident, you should not have to deal with these devastating consequences and financial hardships on your own.

That is why, if you suffered a traumatic brain injury in a Charleston accident, you should reach out to an experienced Charleston brain injury lawyer at Hughey Law Firm as soon as possible. With these skilled legal professionals on your side, you do not have to worry about taking on this situation by yourself. Rather you can focus on what matters most—your healing and recovery, while these lawyers go after the compensation you need and fight for the justice you deserve.

The Hughey Law Firm—Who We Are

Attorney Nathan Hughey founded the Hughey Law Firm to provide legal representation to those who could not help themselves. The Hughey Law Firm takes on their legal fights and goes after the justice they require.

Today, our firm has helped hundreds of clients and secured millions of dollars on their behalf through settlement negotiations and jury verdicts, including a recent judgment of $250,000 for a client who suffered a traumatic brain injury due to a fall at an assisted living facility.

While past results are no guarantee of outcome in all cases, rest assured that when you work with the Hughey Law Firm, you will not have to pay attorney fees if we cannot help you recover money. That is why, if you have been injured in an accident and you believe you have a case, you should let us help you discover what your legal options are.

What Exactly Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury, or a TBI, is an injury that affects how the brain works. This injury generally results from a violent blow or a jolt to the head, and it can also result from an object going through the brain tissues. However, because of these actions, the brain can experience torn tissues, bleeding, bruising, and other physical injuries that can lead to long-term health issues and even death.

Brain Injury Data—The Stats You Need to Know

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 2.5 million individuals sustain a traumatic brain injury every year in the United States. In fact, based on recent statistics:

• About 223,050 TBI-related hospitalizations and 60,611 TBI-related deaths take place in a given year. This accounts for over 610 TBI- related hospitalizations and 166 TBI- related deaths per day.
• People over the age of 75 had the highest TBI-related death and hospitalization rates.
• Males are nearly two times more likely to be hospitalized for a TBI-related injury and three times more likely to die from a traumatic brain injury.
• Traumatic brain injuries disable six times more individuals every year than spinal cord injuries, HIV/AIDs, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis combined.
• Motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of TBI-related deaths for young adults and children aged 5 to 24 years old.
• Currently, around five million Americans have a long-term or lifelong need for assistance to perform daily normal activities due to a traumatic brain injury.

The Statute of Limitations Following a Charleston Brain Injury Accident

The statute of limitations is a law that mandates the maximum amount of time a person has to file a legal claim following an alleged offense. If these individuals do not file their case within that allotted time, they can be barred from pursuing legal action for their harm and injuries.

In South Carolina, the statute of limitations to bring an injury claim following an accident is three years from the accident date. However, there may be exceptions to this rule that can impact this filing period.

For these reasons, you should not wait to reach out to an experienced Charleston brain injury lawyer as soon as possible following your accident. For instance, when you retain the skilled legal professionals at Hughey Law Firm, our attorneys can promptly get to work reviewing your accident and determining how much time you have to file your case. We can also make sure that all your legal motions and documents are prepared correctly and filed before time runs out.

Damages Available in a Charleston Brain Injury Lawsuit

If you suffered a brain injury in a Charleston accident because of another person’s wrongful actions, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm and injuries you sustained. In South Carolina, this compensation tends to include the following damages:

Economic Damages: These damages refer to compensation for objectively verifiable monetary losses, including:

• Medical expenses and care, such as doctor visits, hospital stay, emergency services, surgeries, prescription medications, and assistive medical devices
• Loss of earnings
• Loss of earning capacity
• Loss of income
• Loss of use of property
• Repair costs or replacement of property
• Rehabilitation services
• Costs associated with education
• Custodial care
• Replacement domestic services
• Other monetary losses

Non-economic Damages: These damages refer to compensation for subjective, non-monetary losses, including

• Pain
• Suffering
• Inconvenience
• Physical impairment
• Disfigurement
• Mental anguish
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of companionship
• Reputation injuries
• Humiliation
• Other non-pecuniary damages

In addition, to compensatory damages, a court may award punitive damages.

However, unlike other damages, which compensate the victim for their injuries and losses, punitive damages punish the defendant for their wrongful actions and deter others from committing this egregious act. For a victim to recover these punitive damages in Charleston, their lawyer needs to show through clear and convincing evidence that the injury resulted from the defendant’s reckless, wanton, or willful conduct.

How Much Is a Charleston Brain Injury Case Worth?

Even though an experienced lawyer can tell you what types of damages you can pursue following a Charleston brain injury accident, no attorney can tell you exactly how much money you can collect for your losses and injuries. Too many factors can affect the value of a case and consequently the amount of money you receive.

For instance, our brain injury lawyers would need to consider:

• The extent and the severity of your brain injury following your Charleston brain injury accident
• The cost of medical treatments required after your brain injury accident
• The need for ongoing medical care
• Your ability to work following your brain injury accident
• Your pain and suffering following your brain injury accident
• The defendant’s culpability
• The credibility of the evidence and witnesses presented
• Your ability to live your life as you once did before your Charleston brain injury accident

Although no attorney can tell you precisely how much money you can expect to get following your Charleston brain injury accident, when you work with a knowledgeable Charleston brain injury lawyer from Hughey Law Firm, we can review each factor in detail and figure out how they affect your case. We can then prepare the strongest case in response to them and make sure to go after the maximum financial recovery you are entitled to.

What You Should Do Following a Charleston Traumatic Brain Injury Accident

Due to the nature of these traumatic brain injury accidents, the actions you will be able to take after these accidents will be limited. However, depending on the circumstances of your Charleston traumatic brain injury accident, if it is possible, take these steps to protect your health, safety, and legal rights.

Contact 911 Immediately

After your Charleston brain injury accident, you should call 911 right away. This is the fastest way to alert the police of the accident and get it on record. It is also the best way to notify emergency medical personnel that you or someone at the scene needs immediate medical help.

Once the police arrive, they can perform a preliminary investigation and jot down their findings in their police report. If you decide to bring a legal claim following this accident, this report can provide you and your attorney with valuable evidence regarding what happened and who was at fault.

Get Examined by a Doctor Right Away

Generally, after a brain injury accident, you will likely need immediate medical assistance. However, in rare instances where you believe your injuries appear minor, you should still get to a medical professional right away. This is because brain injuries are hard to diagnose and, at first, may even seem like there is nothing wrong since symptoms may take some time to appear. Yet, the longer you wait to get this injury checked out, the more debilitating and deadly it can become. For these reasons, a doctor should examine you as soon as you can following your accident.

Plus, getting this medical treatment can help your legal claim. Insurance companies are looking for anything they can to use against you and deny your case or reduce the amount of money they offer you. By not getting immediate medical attention, those companies will argue that your injuries are not that serious or a result of a different event.

When you get to a doctor right after your accident, these medical professionals can examine your injuries and write down information regarding your accident and the harm you sustained in their medical report. This provides you with evidence of a direct connection between the injuries you endured and your Charleston accident.

Gather Documents After the Accident

Following your Charleston brain injury accident, you should also try to gather as much evidence from the accident that can help show what happened and the extent of your damages.

This evidence should include:

• The police report
• Proof of time missed from work and lost wages
• Medical bills related to your injury
• Other bills related to your injury

Additionally, photos and videos of the accident scene and witness information can also be helpful to your claim. However, do not worry if you could not get this evidence due to your injury. After you retain a skilled Charleston brain injury lawyer, such as those at the Hughey Law Firm, these lawyers can get to work, gathering this evidence and witness testimony on your behalf.

Watch What You Say to the Insurance Company

It is likely that after your brain injury accident, the insurance company will be calling. Yet, before you answer their phone calls and provide them with a recorded statement, you need to realize that what you say to these insurers may hurt your case and decrease the amount of money you can get from them.

This is because the insurance company is a business, and like other businesses, they want to make a profit. By providing you less money for your injuries and losses, the more profit they make. As a result, the insurance adjuster will try to get you on the phone while you are most vulnerable so that they can try everything they can to get you to admit to something that can hurt your case.

Wait to speak to the insurance company until after you discuss your case with an experienced Charleston brain injury lawyer. The Hughey Law Firm’s brain injury attorneys can help you understand what you should and should not discuss with these adjusters, and can even take on these conversations on your behalf, ensuring that you do not say anything that can hurt your claim. You can contact us online or by phone at any time at (843) 881-8644.