Teens, Car Accidents, and Traumatic Brain Injuries

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Personal Injury Lawyer Salt Lake City UT

Teens, Car Accidents, and Traumatic Brain Injuries

As children grow up, parents have many situations to worry about. But, if you have a trustworthy teen who knows to make good choices, the anxiety levels may ease slightly. Unfortunately, life is not always as simple as a smart choice. Fate has a way of presenting circumstances which cannot always be avoided and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur frequently in car accidents involving youth. In fact, young adults aged between 15 and 24 have the highest proportion of TBI-related hospitalizations due to motor vehicle traffic-related events.

If your son or daughter has been involved in a car accident and suffered a serious brain injury, you should consider your legal options. If the negligence on the part of someone else contributed to the accident, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. With the exorbitant costs of urgent medical care and long-term rehabilitation and physical therapy costs, a financial settlement can help ease the burden on families coping with their new normal. Speaking with a Salt Lake City, UT personal injury lawyer with relevant catastrophic injury litigation experience is the sensible place to start.

Closed Head Injury

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to damage to the brain caused by an external physical force like a bump, blow or jolt to the head or, a penetrating head injury (i.e. a gunshot wound to the head) that disrupts the normal function of the brain.

A TBI is not caused by something internal, such as a stroke or tumor. Interestingly, it is possible to have a TBI and never lose consciousness. The severe jolting of a head in a car accident causes the brain to unnaturally move around in the skull cavity damaging tissue, nerves and blood vessels. This constitutes a “closed head injury.”

An Altered Lifestyle

The potential harm a victim may endure resulting from a TBI includes amnesia, compromised cognitive, motor, sensation, and emotional skills, or coma.

All this can have an effect on relationships with family and friends, educational studies, future employment prospects, daily household activities, the ability to drive again, and a teen’s overall quality of life.

A TBI is often a permanent injury that may require long-term rehabilitative care. The financial costs of sustaining a victim, especially a young teen, through the course of their life can be burdensome. Retaining the services of a Salt Lake City UT personal injury lawyer will allow you the time to focus on your child while we investigate the circumstances of the crash, gather evidence, and analyze insurance benefits.

If your child has been identified as having a TBI, there may be legal recourse available. The compassionate team at Rasmussen & Miner is made up of experienced personal injury lawyers who will meet with you for free to discuss your circumstances. Our firm has litigated many catastrophic injury and fatal car accident claims over the years and we have a deep understanding of the law and the day to day practical considerations that clients have to face. We will be the advocates you need to fight to win compensation for your child. Call to meet with a personal injury lawyer Salt Lake City UT families recommend today.

Can I Sue Others Involved in My Teen’s Auto Accident?

Even if your teenager’s motor vehicle crash was a single-vehicle accident, you may be able to hold others accountable for the harm your child has suffered. Not all accidents are caused by a negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous motorist slamming into another motorist’s vehicle. Sometimes, accidents are caused by poor weather conditions, ill-maintained roads, defective auto parts, and a host of other factors unrelated to the operation of vehicles traveling on the same road as the accident victim in question. If another legal entity (whether that entity is an individual, a municipality responsible for maintaining roads, an auto part manufacturer, etc.) is at least partially responsible for your child’s accident, the law likely protects your rights to hold that party accountable for their behavior. As a result, whether your teen was injured in a single-vehicle crash or in a multi-vehicle crash, it is worth your time and effort to explore your legal options with the assistance of an experienced Salt Lake City, UT personal injury lawyer. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the harm that your child has suffered, you may be able to hold one or more parties accountable and receive compensation settlements and/or awards accordingly.

What if My Teen Was Partially At-Fault for the Crash?

Please don’t hesitate to explore your legal options if you’re concerned that your teenager may have been partially at-fault for their crash. Most of the time, the law protects the rights of accident victims to pursue compensation even if they are partially at-fault for the harm they’ve suffered, provided that another party that owed them a “legal duty of care” was more responsible for that harm as a result of their negligent, reckless, or intentional breach of that duty. It’s also important to point out that many accident victims and their families are unaware of all factors that contributed to an accident in the immediate wake of that crash. Once our firm’s Salt Lake City, UT personal injury lawyer team has been alerted to your situation and once we secure your permission to do so, we’ll begin investigating the circumstances surrounding your teen’s accident. Once we learn more about what happened leading up to the crash, we’ll be able to provide you with our objective analysis of who (or what) was at fault for the collision, the relative strengths and weakness of a potential personal injury case, and the overall “value” of the compensation you could hope to receive if you pursued legal action. Once you receive this analysis, the decision to move forward with filing legal action or to refrain from doing so will be up to you and your family.

Legal Assistance Is Available

If your teenager has suffered a traumatic brain injury and/or other physical harm as a result of a car accident, please connect with the experienced Utah legal team at Rasmussen & Miner today. Scheduling a confidential, no-risk consultation will allow you to ask questions about filing legal action and our firm’s approach to representation. Our firm prides itself on respectfully, efficiently, and effectively advocating on behalf of accident victims. Our Salt Lake City, UT personal injury lawyer team looks forward to assisting your family during this challenging time.