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Oregon Brain Injury Lawyer

Call (888) 471-5989 to speak with a personal injury attorney.

Brain injuries are among the most devastating injuries that a person can sustain. Thus, it is important to protect your head from injury, whenever there is real potential to injure it. If you or a loved one has experienced any kind of trauma to the head, and you suspect the possibility of brain injury, the most important thing is to seek medical attention immediately. It's also important to see an attorney as soon as possible after your medical evaluation.

Amazingly, there are around two million head injuries every year in the United States. 1.5 million of them are nonfatal traumatic brain injuries, not requiring hospitalization, while 300,000 brain injuries are severe enough for hospitalization, and 99,000 of those result in a long lasting disability. 56,000 die every year because of a traumatic brain injury, and account for 34% of all injury deaths in the United States. Traumatic brain injuries affect males at twice the rate they affect females, with a higher mortality rate. People who are aged 15-24 have a high risk of traumatic brain injuries, as well as people over 60 years of age.

Brain injury is considered a personal injury case, and if your brain injury was the result of another person's negligence, you may have a valid lawsuit. Most personal injury attorneys will take the case on a contingency basis, which means that you will not have to pay anything until after your case is settled.

Make sure that the attorney you hire has experience in litigating brain injury cases. Representing a brain injury case may be vastly different, and more complex, than representing other types of legal cases, even medical cases. After all, a brain injury directly impacts a person's life, is extremely traumatic for the suffering individual and his or her family, and may have serious long-term consequences.

In the state of Oregon, you and your attorney have to prove that the person who caused the injury was negligent and failed to use reasonable care. Additionally, you must prove that you sustained damages as a result of the injury.

Oregon has a comparative negligence law, which means that if you are the one who is found to be
careless or your carelessness was what contributed to your injury, you may not be permitted to recover any damages. Under the Oregon modified comparative fault rule, if you are 51% or more at fault, you cannot recover any monetary damages. If, however, you are 50% or less at fault, you may recover some damages at a reduced rate.

The statute of limitations in Oregon gives you two years to file a lawsuit against the individual or entity who caused you injury. If your brain injury lawyer is not able to settle the case with the insurance company, then you will definitely have to file a lawsuit before the statute of limitation runs out.

In a recent potential brain injury case, a major sports brand had to recall a brand of football helmet chin straps, because there were 18 reports of the chin strap breaking, resulting in concussions, facial lacerations needing stitches, and a broken nose. They were recalled because the chin strap's plastic cup could break because of contact, making it so a player could be exposed to facial or head injuries.

Under Oregon law, the person who caused you injury has to pay for your past, current and future estimated medical expenses, time lost from work including time spent to meet medical appointments and therapy, the cost of hiring anyone to help you, any permanent disability, emotional distress, and any future earning ability due to the injury.