A New York construction worker left severely disabled after a van struck him was awarded $40 million in a New York Supreme Court verdict this summer. A van traveling 50 miles an hour hit 53 year old Matthew Falcone near his home four years ago. As he languished in a coma, doctors did not even expect him to live. When he awoke, it was clear that he not only suffered brain damage, but also that he suffered partial paralysis. The verdict will help him leave a nursing home and move in with family, and obtain all the nursing care he will need for his lifetime.
Our firm has experience representing clients who have suffered this type of life-altering brain injury, and in working with all the medical and rehabilitation professionals who must be organized to testify in support of a brain injury victim. In fact, we won a record brain injury verdict for a gas station manager who suffered severe brain damage after being hit by a Norfolk Southern train, and have represented a number of other clients who have suffered traumatic brain injury/damage.
According to the Brain Injury Association of America, injuries to the brain are among the most likely to result in death or disability. Severe brain injury results in symptoms including partial or complete paralysis, speech problems, amnesia, short term memory loss, difficulty concentrating, job loss, coma and huge medical debt. Emotional symptoms can include irritability, apathy and depression or seem to change the individual’s personality completely.
But even mild traumatic brain injuries may cause long term problems with severe symptoms that are not always easily observed. They are sometimes called “invisible” injuries. Emergency personnel treat urgent and life threatening injuries so a potential brain injury can be overlooked at the scene of an accident. In fact, 90 percent of concussions do not involve a loss of consciousness. Yet cognition problems can develop and reveal themselves with devastating consequences. It often requires a jury verdict to achieve proper compensation in brain injury cases, as companies and their insurers simply fail to recognize the horrible ramifications of brain injury from both a psychological and financial impact perspective.
CW