Category: News

Few people fully understand the serious nature of brain injuries. Even a minor injury could affect your cognitive functioning for life, making it impossible for you to do the things you once did. Brain injuries affect people differently, and yours could affect your concentration or make it difficult to express yourself.

It’s imperative that you seek medical attention immediately following a traumatic brain injury—early care can help limit the damage a brain injury could cause. In many cases, medical treatment following a serious blow to the head could save your life.

How Brain Injuries Occur

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can occur in a number of ways, but they nearly always involve trauma or an impact to the head. In some cases, you could receive brain trauma as a direct result of your head striking a solid object.

In other cases, the force of your head being snapped forward or backward on your neck could cause brain trauma as your brain connects with your skull. In this example, your head doesn’t actually have to strike an object for a brain injury to occur. These types of injuries often happen in car accidents.

The following are several common ways people obtain brain injuries:

• Sports injuries
• Vehicle collisions
• Slip-and-falls
• Falling from a great height
• Construction accidents
• Falling objects

Signs You’ve Suffered a Head Injury

Anytime your head forcefully connects with another object, you could have suffered a serious brain injury. Many people don’t take head trauma seriously, thinking they’ll be fine. But many signs and symptoms of brain injuries don’t show up right away. This leads some people to not seek medical attention at all.

Keep an eye out for these symptoms and seek medical care immediately if you notice any:

• Slurred speech
• Headache
• Memory problems
• Difficulty concentrating
• Sleepiness
• Woozy or nauseated feeling
• Dizziness
• Behavioral changes

How a Head Injury Could Impact You for Life

The trauma from a head injury can impact your cognitive functioning at different levels and in various ways. The effects from your injury could be quite mild to very severe. Some people will recover in time, while others will be permanently changed. Here are some of the long-term effects of a serious brain injury:

• Memory loss and amnesia
• Changes in personality, mood, and behavior
• Difficulty with focus and concentration
• Speech and communication issues
• Physical limitations, such as trouble walking

Any of one of these effects could change your entire life. Your injury could change who you are as a person; your ability to work could be gone forever; you may not be able to engage in pursuits you once enjoyed; and you may actually lose important memories.

Help for Brain Injury Victims

Brain injuries can affect your cognition for life. If your brain injury was the result of someone else’s negligent actions, you can file a personal injury claim to recover fair compensation. You deserve compensation for the losses you’ve suffered because of your head injury, including medical expenses, missed wages, and disability.

The Kindley Firm, APC, is ready to discuss the details of your case. We offer free consultations so you can get an idea of how much your claim is worth. Call us at 619-550-1313 or complete the online contact form below.

More than 700,000 civil cases of all kinds make their way into the California court system every year. More than 56,000 of those are personal injury suits of various kinds, including motor vehicle personal injury claims, claims for property damage, premises liability cases, dog bite cases, and others.

While 80 percent or more of those cases will be resolved before a trial even begins, it’s important for plaintiffs to understand how the process works as they consider or pursue a personal injury claim.

The Clock Is Ticking …

One key thing to be aware of is that civil suits, including personal injury claims, are governed by statutes of limitations. This means that the injured party in any case has only a limited amount of time to file a claim; otherwise, all rights to collect damages will be lost. In California, the statute of limitations for personal injury claims is generally two years from the date of the injury.

There are a few exceptions, some shorter and some longer, which is why you should waste no time getting in touch with an attorney who can get started on any filings that need to be made. Claims against healthcare providers, for instance, have only a one-year window, while claims against government entities are even more restricted (six months).

Getting the Ball Rolling

One of the first things you or your lawyer will need to do is open a claim with the responsible insurance company (your own or someone else’s, depending on the type of claim and the circumstances).

At the same time, you’ll need to be examined and get treatment for your injuries. That’s ultimately what many cases are built on: the injuries and the costs of treatment and recovery. It’s vital that every step—every exam, every diagnosis, every treatment, every prescription—is carefully documented, which is an important part of the process an experienced attorney can help with.

At this point, your attorney will organize all the material collected so far about the incident and the injury into a demand package, or demand letter, which he or she will submit to the insurance company. This is the part of the process when you put a value on your injury and back it up with solid documentation.

Settle or Sue?

In the face of a solid claim (supported by a solid demand package), most defendants will choose to settle. Of course, they might not accept your demand at face value and might make a counteroffer; your attorney and theirs may be able to negotiate a settlement that both sides accept.

But some defendants will take a case to trial, for various reasons. Some might be unwilling to accept responsibility and will fight on principle. Others might recognize their own culpability but will feel the requested settlement is too large; they’ll take a chance that they’ll win in court and have to pay less (or nothing at all).

Still others might simply hope that the plaintiff is unwilling to get involved in a lengthy court proceeding and will abandon the case or accept a reduced settlement instead.

These tactics might deter some plaintiffs, but those with strong cases will persist. Even when a case goes to trial, most will still settle: In a typical year, less than 3 percent of all cases filed in California go all the way to a jury verdict or a judge’s ruling.

San Diego Personal Injury Lawyer

The end-to-end process of pursuing an injury claim can be very complicated, and there are many moments when even a simple mistake can derail a claim, sometimes permanently. To make sure your case has the best chance of success and that your settlement is what you deserve, it’s important to contact an experienced personal injury law firm.

The Kindley Firm, APC, focuses on personal injury law, and we offer a free consultation to all clients to discuss every unique case. Give us a call today at 619-550-1313 or complete the form below to learn more or schedule an appointment.

Seat belts and airbags save thousands of lives every year. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that seat belts have saved more than a quarter of a million lives since 1975. In their first twenty-five years of widespread availability, frontal airbags prevented another 40,000 deaths.

But while these and other technologies make cars safer all the time, no safety device can guarantee 100 percent security and survivability in every situation. It’s also an unfortunate fact that seat belts and airbags can, in rare cases, cause injury or make an injury worse.

Airbag Problems Well-Known

An airbag works by igniting a small explosive charge that fills a safety cushion with gas in a tiny fraction of a second, reaching its full size at a speed close to 200 miles per hour. That’s lethal under the wrong circumstances, which is why cars have included airbag safety warnings for years: Don’t sit too close, don’t put loose objects on the mechanism, and don’t put small children nearby.

Defects in design and manufacturing can cause problems with airbags, too. That’s the reason behind the largest automotive recall in history, which has now affected 42 million vehicles worldwide.

Faulty airbags, which can explode without cause and with too much force, sending metal shards at the people they’re supposed to protect, are known to have killed eleven people in the United States and seriously injured close to 200.

Seat Belt Problems, Too

A seat belt can also cause several kinds of injury, either because of a defect or malfunction or because it was used improperly. Malfunctions typically involve a latch or tension device, but manufacturing defects have been documented: A 2016 recall was issued for nearly 3 million vehicles when it was discovered that the rear passenger belts had the potential to come loose in a crash.

Most seat belt injuries are minor, but not all of them. They can include simple cuts and bruises, as well as bruised ribs, broken bones, dislocated joints, and various internal injuries.

San Diego Car Accident Lawyer

When you or someone close to you has been injured in a car accident, an important part of the recovery is to make sure that all the medical expenses and rehabilitation costs are paid for by the people who caused the injuries.

That’s not always easy, which is why it’s vital that you work with an experienced car accident lawyer who understands every factor that can be involved in this type of crash, whether that’s something as obvious as a speeding drunk driver or as seemingly minor as a seat belt defect.

Get in touch with the The Kindley Firm, APC, to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case. Fill out the online contact form at the bottom of this page or call 619-550-1313 to learn more.

It’s difficult for most of us to imagine abusing a senior citizen, but the sad truth is that many of our most vulnerable elders are abused every day. According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), as many as one in ten Americans over age sixty have been the victims of some form of elder abuse; as many as five million elders might be abused in any given year. Preventing abuse is extremely important, but it’s also important to help in the recovery after abuse has happened.

Elder Abuse Has Many Victims

When an elder is abused they can suffer in many ways. Abuse might take the form of psychological bullying or terrorizing, or it might be actual physical abuse—or even sexual abuse. Financial abuse of our seniors has also seen a dramatic rise in recent years.

But an abused elder is not the only victim. When an elder is abused, his or her family and friends often suffer as well, experiencing feelings of guilt or shame, even if they were not to blame. Caregivers might suffer in the same way and might also be harmed financially if they are held accountable, such as if a rogue or negligent employee caused the harm, leading to fines and legal judgments against them.

Recovering from Abuse

It’s difficult to put a number on the total cost of all forms of elder abuse. One analysis suggests financial abuse alone might cause as much as $36 billion in damages each year.

When an elder has been abused, whether emotionally, physically, or financially, it’s not the end of the world, regardless of how difficult the situation might be at the moment. It’s important for all of those involved to take steps toward recovery.

California’s Department of Justice has a unit dedicated to helping the victims of elder abuse and prosecuting their abusers, and you should contact them for assistance. Here are some other actions that might help a victim and those around her recover:

• File a Protection Order – If the abuse is ongoing, you may be able to get a court to issue an order to protect the elder from the abuser. Other legal actions might include a court order to remove an abuser from the home or the filing of a criminal complaint against an abuser. Any abuse, of course, past or ongoing, should be reported to the local adult protective services agency.
• File a Complaint – If financial abuse has happened, you should file a legal claim against the abuser for the amount taken. In California, if the amount is under $10,000, it can be pursued in small claims court. Above this, you should seek legal advice on how to proceed.
• Therapy Can Help – All forms of abuse (even financial) can lead to severe psychological and emotional issues. Depression, anxiety, shame, and embarrassment are common. Meeting with a counselor or therapist to discuss what happened and how to move forward can be an important part of any recovery process.
• Improve Monitoring – Caregivers and those responsible for seniors may need to become more involved, especially after an abuse incident. They should check in more frequently and be more diligent in learning what is going on around the elder. This can help in the recovery and also lower the chance that future abuse will follow.

San Diego Elder Abuse Lawyer

Elder abuse comes in many forms, and even though you do your best to protect yourself or an elder in your care, abuse might still take place. If it does, it’s important that you hold abusers accountable, both by filing criminal charges when possible and by pursuing remedies in civil court.

The Kindley Firm, APC, has experience with elder abuse law, and we’ve helped many clients reach successful settlements in cases of this kind. Call us at 619-550-1313 or contact us online through the form below to learn how we might be able to help you and to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.