Filing a Claim for a Car Accident Head Injury

Head injuries are common in car accidents and can have devastating consequences.

A head injury can range from a mild injury that causes mild confusion, sleep disruption or headaches, to a severe injury that affects a person’s personality or leaves him or her permanently impaired, possibly in a vegetative state.

Because these injuries can have severe consequences and may require extensive medical care, you should always contact a New Jersey car accident lawyer after an accident to learn more about your options for filing a head injury claim and obtaining the compensation you need.

Types of Head Injury

There are two common types of head injuries that can result from a car accident:

• Closed head injuries: These injuries do not penetrate in the skull. Closed head injuries include concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), epidural hematomas, subdural and acute hematomas. Closed head injuries range from mild to life-threatening, depending on the type and severity of the injury.
• Open head injuries: These injuries penetrate the head and scalp’s soft tissue, commonly causing skull fractures. Types of skull fractures that can result include linear, depressed, diastatic and basilar fractures.

Liability for a Car Accident Head Injury

Everyone on the road has a legal duty to drive responsibly and do everything they can to prevent an accident and avoid causing harm to someone else. This means, among other things, that we all must:

If a driver fails to live up to this obligation by running a red light, speeding or drive under the influence, he or she can be considered negligent.

And if another driver’s negligence caused the car accident that caused your head injury, he or she can be held legally liable for the resulting damages.

If you believe that your accident and head injury were caused by another’s negligence, do not hesitate to contact a qualified car accident lawyer to learn more about your legal options.

Gathering Evidence to Support Your Claim

After contacting an attorney, he or she will discuss the details of your accident and determine if you have a case. If you do, your attorney will work with you to gather evidence to support your personal injury case.

Some of the most important pieces of evidence that will need to be gathered include:

Medical Records

You will need detailed medical records from all of your doctors and all facilities that have treated you for your injury. This can include:3

This will be vital for showing the extent of your injuries, the treatment you have undergone and how your injuries impact your life.

Police Report

Police reports provide critical evidence in accident cases. The law enforcement officer’s opinions and judgement are considered impartial when determining who caused the accident.

The report may include a diagram of the accident scene, which will be helpful for reconstructing the scene. The report will also note if any citations were issued for traffic violations contributing to the accident, which could support your claim that the other driver was negligent.

The New Jersey State Police provides information about how to get a crash report online.

Witness Statements

Witness statements may provide details about the accident you were not aware of. Gather names and contact information for any witnesses at the accident scene. Your attorney may contact them to get a statement with more information about the accident.

Photos of the Accident Scene and Your Injuries

The more visual evidence you have to support the claim, the easier it will be for the insurance adjuster, judge and jury to see the damages and injuries you have experienced.

While at the accident scene or shortly after, you should take photos of:

Contact Our Car Accident Attorneys Now

If you or someone you love has suffered a head injury in a car accident, you will need the assistance of a New Jersey personal injury lawyer who has experience handling these types of cases.

The attorneys at Lynch Law Firm, PC have decades of experience handling car accident cases and have recovered more than $300 million on behalf of our clients.*

Schedule your free, no-obligation case consultation now. When pursuing a personal injury case with our law firm, we work on contingency – we only get paid if we recover compensation for you.

Call (800) 518-0508  today.