Sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in an accident can be devastating. Effects of TBI range from mild to severe and can include cognitive problems, emotional and behavioral changes, and loss of physical functioning. Recovery is often lengthy, and medical treatment can be extremely costly.
If your TBI resulted from another party’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. However, insurance companies will often try to lowball TBI victims and get away with paying as little as possible. Don’t let them take advantage of you – know your rights and fight for the full settlement you deserve.
Common TBI Settlement Lowball Tactics
Insurance adjusters use various tactics to lowball TBI settlement offers. Some common approaches include:
Downplaying the Severity of Injuries
Insurers may claim your TBI is less serious than the medical evidence indicates. Minor TBIs like concussions can have long-term effects, but adjusters pretend they are not worth much compensation. Severe TBIs with lifetime implications may be downplayed as moderate or temporary.
Blaming Pre-Existing Conditions
Adjusters scour your medical history for any pre-existing conditions to blame for your current difficulties. They exploit conditions like prior concussions, depression, PTSD, or learning disabilities to minimize the payout.
Claiming Lack of Evidence
Despite doctor reports, insurers may allege there is not enough objective evidence of your TBI and its impacts. However, effects like cognitive deficits, personality changes, and lost income may not always show on diagnostic scans.
Making Low Opening Offers
A low initial offer anchors negotiations and makes victims believe the claim is worthless. Even if you later receive a higher amount, it is still likely less than full value.
Rushing Settlements
Insurers pressure quick settlements before long-term impacts are clear. However, symptoms can worsen over time. Settling too fast forfeits compensation for future medical expenses and lost earnings.
Minimizing Pain and Suffering
Insurers may admit medical costs but refuse reasonable pain and suffering damages for your life-altering injury. But coping with permanent disability and loss of your pre-injury lifestyle deserves substantial compensation.
Questioning Treatment Needs
Adjusters often claim recommended treatments, therapies, and medications are excessive or unnecessary to cast doubt on future medical cost estimates. But doctors know best what a TBI patient requires for recovery.
Disputing Earning Potential
Your future income loss is calculated based on pre-injury earnings. Insurers will argue you have lower earning capacity than evidence reflects to minimize lost wage settlements.
Hiring Defense Experts
Insurers lean on defense medical examiners and vocational experts who dispute the extent of your residual symptoms, disability, and income loss estimates. Their biased opinions support lowballing.
Don’t Settle for Less – Assert Your Rights
The tactics above are meant to scam TBI victims into accepting inadequate settlements. Don’t let insurance companies take advantage of you. Here are some key rights to assert for a fair payout:
- Right to adequate time – Don’t rush into a settlement. Wait until doctors can fully assess your injuries and recovery needs. The Hawaii statute of limitations allows up to 2 years to settle.
- Right to full medical evidence – Present insurers with all doctor reports, scans, and professional evaluations proving your TBI diagnosis, severity, and long-term impacts.
- Right to future costs – Don’t just settle for medical expenses and lost income so far. You are entitled to the full future costs of medications, therapies, home healthcare, and potential lost earnings.
- Right to hidden damage compensation – Even if not visible on brain scans, cognitive and emotional harms like memory loss and personality changes deserve adequate compensation.
- Right to pain and suffering damages – Don’t let insurers pretend your physical, mental, and emotional anguish has no value. Pain and suffering is part of fair TBI compensation.
- Right to necessary treatments – Insurers don’t get to decide what treatments you need. Your doctors know what therapies and medications are essential for your recovery.
- Right to maximum lost income – You deserve payouts reflecting your full pre-injury earning capacity, education level, and earning potential. Don’t settle for reduced projections.
- Right to unbiased expert opinions – Counter insurer experts with renowned independent TBI specialists who accurately evidence long-term impacts.
- Right to have an attorney – Hire an experienced personal injury lawyer to handle negotiations and make sure you receive full and fair compensation.
Partner with a TBI Settlement Expert
Don’t try to take on insurance companies alone – the deck is stacked against you. Partnering with an experienced personal injury attorney levels the playing field. At Daniel T Pagliarini, our Honolulu injury attorneys have successfully negotiated maximum settlements for numerous TBI clients. We know how to counter insurance company tactics and force them to pay what you deserve. Let our TBI settlement experts protect your rights and get justice.
For a free consultation on your traumatic brain injury case, visit our office at 700 Bishop St, Ste 2100, Honolulu, HI 96813.
Or call (808) 745-1592 today.