A traumatic brain injury changes a person in ways that aren’t always visible. The person standing in front of you may look exactly the same as they did before the accident. But they can’t remember conversations from an hour ago. They lose their temper at things that never bothered them before. They can’t concentrate long enough to do the job they’ve held for a decade. The injury is real. The impact is profound. And yet TBI is among the most contested injury categories in New York personal injury litigation, precisely because insurance companies know how hard these claims can be to prove. Roosevelt residents who’ve suffered a brain injury after an accident deserve to understand what building a strong TBI claim actually requires.
Why TBI Claims Are Frequently Contested
Standard MRI and CT imaging misses many traumatic brain injuries, particularly concussions and mild to moderate TBI. A scan that comes back “unremarkable” doesn’t mean the brain wasn’t injured. It means the injury didn’t produce the type of changes that standard imaging is designed to detect.
Insurance defense attorneys use this gap aggressively. When the imaging is clean and the injured person reports cognitive and behavioral symptoms, the defense argues the symptoms are exaggerated, pre-existing, or unrelated to the accident. The battle in TBI cases isn’t usually about whether an accident happened. It’s about whether the brain was injured and how badly.
What Evidence Establishes a TBI
Building a credible TBI case requires a layered evidentiary approach that goes well beyond standard imaging.
Advanced neuroimaging. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional MRI can detect white matter tract damage that standard scans miss. When neurologists order these studies and they reveal structural changes consistent with the mechanism of injury, the imaging evidence becomes far harder to dispute.
Neuropsychological testing. A neuropsychologist administers a battery of standardized cognitive assessments that measure memory, processing speed, attention, executive function, and other cognitive domains. These tests compare the injured person’s current performance against population norms for their age and background. A significant performance deficit in the domains affected by the injury provides objective, quantified evidence of cognitive impairment that doesn’t depend on the injured person’s self-report.
Treating physician documentation. Neurologists and physiatrists who document specific symptoms, clinical findings, and functional limitations throughout the course of treatment create the treatment record that the damages case depends on. Vague entries help no one. Detailed, specific clinical notes about what the injured person reports and what the examiner observes during each visit are what matters.
Collateral witness testimony. Family members, coworkers, friends, and supervisors who observed the injured person both before and after the accident describe the changes they’ve witnessed firsthand. Their observations are independent of the injured person’s own account and carry real weight in demonstrating how the TBI changed the person’s daily functioning and relationships.
How TBI Meets New York’s Serious Injury Threshold
New York’s serious injury threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d) presents a specific challenge for TBI claimants. A TBI may qualify under the “significant limitation of use of a body function or system” category when cognitive deficits are well-documented and significantly affect the injured person’s ability to function. It may also qualify under the 90/180-day rule when documented cognitive impairment prevented performance of substantially all customary activities during the threshold period.
Getting the threshold documentation right requires the treating physicians to understand what the legal standard requires and to document the relevant limitations specifically.
How Damages Are Calculated in TBI Cases
Damages in serious TBI cases include past and future medical and rehabilitation expenses, lost wages and earning capacity when cognitive impairment prevents return to prior employment, and pain and suffering. A life care planner coordinates with treating physicians to project the full scope of future needs. An economist calculates the present value of lifetime earning capacity loss.
A Roosevelt personal injury lawyer at Rosenberg & Rodriguez works with neurological and neuropsychological experts to build TBI cases that reflect the injury’s true impact. Contact Rosenberg & Rodriguez for a free consultation if you or a family member suffered a brain injury in a Nassau County accident.
